This is prob a stupid question..

But I am just educating myself on this now.

We are not supposed to buy animals from pet stores, correct? I know a little bit about puppy mills and am starting to read about it...

The best thing to do is to adopt an animal from a shelter? That is what we will prob end up doing when we get a dog (within 2 years prob!).

However...what ends up happening to the pet store animals if they aren't purchased? Do they eventually end up in a shelter? Or at the pet store until they are older? Or do most get sold?

I totally understand the reason for not purchasing through a pet store but are there ANY good ones out there that are genuine? I feel badly as well for the puppies/kittens that aren't bought. It isn't their fault they are where they are, if that makes sense...

If anyone can enlighten me that would be great!

ps-I am from Lynbrook originally. Every time I am home I see "shake a paw" pet store. My sisters have gone in there so many times to see the animals and everyone leaves feeling sad..DH won't go in it, he gets upset. (he is a huge animal lover). This is kind of what made me think about all of this..

Message edited 4/4/2008 11:58:50 AM.

Re: This is prob a stupid question..

You can try and do a search, as I think someone with first hand experience answered it once, but from what I have been exposed to many times the animal is brought to a shelter, or even a breed specific rescue. NSAL used to take them in, and they are a no-kill shelter. Sometimes employees of the store are given the chance to buy the dog at a discount or adopt it themselves.

The problem is, and I know this is going to cause some flames, but for every puppy or kitten purchased, 3 more will be bred to meet the demand. That is why it is so important to try and eliminate the demand so that the millers will become obselete.

ETA: Not a stupid question at all.

Message edited 4/4/2008 12:09:38 PM.

Re: This is prob a stupid question..

Posted by MsMBV

You can try and do a search, as I think someone with first hand experience answered it once, but from what I have been exposed to many times the animal is brought to a shelter, or even a breed specific rescue. NSAL used to take them in, and they are a no-kill shelter. Sometimes employees of the store are given the chance to buy the dog at a discount or adopt it themselves.

The problem is, and I know this is going to cause some flames, but for every puppy or kitten purchased, 3 more will be bred to meet the demand. That is why it is so important to try and eliminate the demand so that the millers will become obselete.

ETA: Not a stupid question at all.

Re: This is prob a stupid question..

Definitely not a dumb question and I applaud you for educating yourself before going out and getting a puppy. So KUDOS to you!!!

There are a few places to get a puppy. One, is a shelter, two is a breeder and three is petfinder.com.

Try and avoid craigslist and sites of the like as most of the time the people "selling" pupppies there are either BYB (back yard breeders - which is also bad) or puppy brokers.

BYB - are people who breed as a hobby and who most likely don't follow good breeding practices.

Brokers - are people who work with puppy mills. Basically what they do is try to pass themselves off as a reputable breeder when in fact all they are is a middle man for the PMs. They most likely will offer to ship you your dog and will not have any info on the parents of the pup you're interested in. Additionally, these people will have websites set up to look like they are a reputable breeder. They're very sneaky people.

Puppies that are not purchased from a pet store sometimes wind up at shelters others may be given away or worse yet, killed.

Also, there is no such thing as a "good" pet shop (when it comes to selling animals). Any that sell puppies or kittens (or any animal for that matter)are getting them from mills. The reason for this is that a good, reputable breeder wants to know where their puppies are going and they will more than likely keep in touch with their pups new family. Also, they will want that adoptive family to know they can contact them whenever they may have a question regarding the pup (be it health related or anything else). If they sold their pups to a pet store, they would never be able to do this as they wouldn't know who purchased their pup. Make sense?

As for shake a paw...ugh, nothing good comes from that place, your DH is smart for staying away from there.

Lastly, Oprah is doing a show today on PMs, if you want, try and catch some of that and you will see what a PM is all about. Warning - it is NOT pretty, though.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask, we'll be more than happy to help where we can!!

Re: This is prob a stupid question..

mo--i've solved your problem. you can have one of my mom's cat's instead. for free. her name is mandy and she's a p isser.

in all seriousness--pet stores = bad. shelter pets, in general, are no less healthy than a bred pet. in fact, they are often healthier because they haven't been inbred and kept in horrible conditions. look at holly's lucy--they spent thousands on her and she's always been sick and has been completely blind for about 3 years. and their whole reason for getting her was that she'd be healthier than a shelter dog. and my little abu, who was a scrawny little shelter cat, lived a happy and healthy 12 years. and jasmine is still kicking after 14 years!

it's great that you're educating yourself. your best bet is to visit shelters and speak with the workers there. tell them what type of pet you are looking for. they won't push an animal on you. they will truly help you find the right one for your family. you can hold the dog, and play with him in a separate area before you have to make any decision. you normally just pay a nominal fee to adopt and they are already fixed and have their shots. i think you'd be amazed at how clean and nice many shelters are.

i agree--shake a paw is the saddest place. i won't even look in the windows when i pass it. i wish they would shut it down.

if you want, we can take a ride to NSAL when you're home again and you can get a feel for what a good shelter is like.