Pet's Mart Selling Again

[Suesue]

I was at Pet's Mart and they are back to selling birds this week. I noticed that there were no tiels at all but the birds they had looked picked very badly and some were sitting in the corners of the cages breathing very very heavy. I was a little scared looking at them just wondering if they are sure they should be putting them on the market again. They had never removed them from viewing or out of the cages in all these months of them not being for sale. It just looked now like the birds are in worse health than before they started selling them again.

They have some male diamond doves and I would love to get one but I am not sure it is worth the risk at all.

[Poohsbirds97]

Our local Petsmart is back selling birds also. They did however clean all the cages and such because at one time there were no birds at all. They have a Nanday and a few cockatiels there. Hope they are healthy.

[Maggie F.]

Around here they are not allowed to sell the larger birds, just the small ones. I wish they didn't sell any. The quaker at the one store has been there for way too long.

[slim]

I work at petsmart we have parakeet and finch and dove there also we are get cockatiel.

[Icednova625]

I don't like chain pet stores selling birds. They take way too long to sell and Imo they don't get anything but food, water and a few toys. They don't give them any attention at all. I think its wrong for them to sell birds.

[PowerBBS]

Our local PetCo, the people there are quite "awesome" with the birds they sell. I have yet to walk into the store where at least one of the store personell (whether it be a manager or associate) isn't walking around with at least one of the birds on their shoulders.

They walk up to customers and interact with them, people ask questions and are allowed (after a quick hand sanitization rub) to get some "hands on" with the birds. It socializes them very well. They also offer free "classes" on a monthly basis on "how to care and love your new bird" and offer the class to new bird owners as well.

There are a couple of times the birds are there for quite a while tho (I know of a Pionus that was there for 18 months). I feel bad for that, but those birds are treated as family there, so it's not very upsetting. Members of our local PetCo store take "ownership" of the birds and bring in salads, treats and even their own birds to keep a "lone" one accompanied. They all go thru a required vet checkup before they can even get to the sales floor. You'd be surprised at the amount of interactivity that get's offered by some stores (it's just you're not always there to see it).

I can guarantee if it's chains or private stores the neglect can appear anywhere. Even with breeders, santuaries and rescues it's sometimes there. Breeders end up not selling a few birds and santuaries or rescues get too many to handle, so the neglect just happens out of not being adequately prepaired for the over stock. One of our locally owned pet stores has a Goffin Cockatoo and a Congo African Grey that sit at the front of the store. I've NEVER seen them out of their cages - in fact the Goffin is plucking itself (you can see blood stains in it's feathers - and numerous bald spots). A local breeder here doesn't care who get's her birds. It's just who ever is willing to pay the most. When we talked with her to get a bird we basically were told "make an offer" and found out later she was basically treating it like a silent auction giving the bird to the highest bidder. So... I'm never quick to judge one against the other - I think I'd be extremely naive if I did. I just know I'm not going to crusify any one "type" of sale based on an assumed level of care.

[birdsnreps]

the petsmart near our house has started selling birds again too, although they all look healthy, active and normal. so far they have tons of budgies, finches, weavers and a gcc.

[Icednova625]

Thats weird power bbs, Petco up here is the absolute worst for it Imo. They keep the birds behind glass, never bath them so they look scruffy and dirty. Never have them out of thier glass compartments. Semi dirty cages, maybe 2 or 3 toys for a conure, the tiel's and parakeets get about the same for maybe 20 budgies, and maybe 8 tiels.
They get thier birds out with nets and gloves...the customer can't even hold the birds.
I go by what I see, not what I don't see.

There is a local superpetz that does really well with the larger parrots they get in, They are always out of their cages, interacting with people. Now with the tiels and budgies even there they don't do so hot Imo.

[greencinacheeks]

i have a petco here that has a jenday/cockatiels/nanday/sun conure and tons of finches/budgies....

the naday and jenday have been there almost 8months...:( and they never look happy...although i i always go and give some attention when i'm there...

[kellywess]

We have Pet Smart here which I think is like a sister company and they have started selling birds again as well. I agree they are terrible, the ones here too are behind glass and nobody handles them and there are little to no toys in the cages with them. You can NEVER find someone who works that department. A couple of weeks ago me and my husband were inthere and notice that one of the finches had been plucked so BAD by its cage mates that the whole top of his head was raw and bloody. Of course we reported it to the store manager but it shouldnt have gone un-noticed for so long. I only go in there for supplies for my kitty... thats pretty much it.