Quote:
Originally Posted by tabooh
I have no clue about pets smart, but I do know that Pj's pet store here in Toronto are buying there dogs from not so great sources . very sickly dogs at times, and years back when I was completely green about puppy mills and pet stores, will I did get one and the vets office nearly became my home for the four months that I had the pup. and will over $2,000 later and this experience had taught me first hand just how lousy pet stores are at least when it came to selling puppies.  |
Tabooh.... do you live in Tacoma, WA or in Toronto? I'm confused. As for PJs, you are absolutely correct. They get their dogs from puppy mills. I know this because my 14 year old Shih Tzu is a Quebec born/bred puppy mill puppy I purchased from PJs when he was only 8 weeks old. I paid $1200 for him over 14 yrs ago. He was that "doggy in the window" syndrome that I couldn't leave the store without. LUCKY for me, Pigi (pronounced like Gigi, only with a "P") has been 100% healthy and I have never had a lick of trouble with him. I know I am LUCKY. Had I known then (I was "green" back then too!), what I found out after the fact, I would not have gotten him and I would have missed out on one of the best pets I have ever had. He has been my BFF, and loyal companion all this time. It's such a double-edged sword. You want to get that puppy because you know you can provide a waaaayyy better life than how the puppy's life started out... at the same time, when you DO purchase that puppy, you are supporting the puppy mills.
As for PetSmart in Toronto, I can only assume their policies are the same as in the States, although I have no "proof"...
I DO know this. When SUPERPET was here in Toronto a few years back (they have since pulled out of Canada) they "hatched" their own parrots. My CAG Mackie was just such a parrot. He was purchased as a fertilized egg, put in an incubator in the store's "baby room" and once hatched, hand fed by staffers until he was weaned. They never taught him to fly either. From research I have done, fertilized eggs TODAY go for around $50 for CAG... so 7+ years ago I would imagine they were much cheaper. He was purchased for $1800.... the markup is unreal.
I know PJs in Pickering has a "baby room"... but I do not know for sure if they purchase fertilized eggs, or if they buy baby parrots and finish the hand feeding/weaning process themselves....
PetSmart in Toronto does not deal in birds larger than Conures... they mostly carry Cockatiels, Parrotlets, Budgies and Finches.