RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:31 am

Why Some People Who Work At Pet Stores Should Die.

I'm glad me and my boyfriend decided to rescue this little guy and his brother.

When we first went to the pet store to pick out a mouse, we bought a little brown and white one located in the tank below the little fellow that I am about to show you.

WE named the little brown mouse rongkai and he obviously was being beat on by a more dominant male.

We went back to the pet store a few days later to see that the meaner male that had attacked rongkai was in the tank with this guy and his poor brother. So we bought them both.

This is what the little guy looked like when we FIRST got him

Nice normal looking mousy with just a few scabs on his tail right? No big deal.... now the strange thing I noticed is that he felt really hard all over his backend and his tail was stuck to his side..it was crooked. It was like a shell..I just figured it was a few scabs clustered together and that his tail was deformed

Boy was I off. Those clusters of scabs were actually one gigantic scab that led to this (this is the scab beginning to fall off)

And that eventually led to this

The scab is coming off..but c'mon these mice would have died if I didnt buy them. Employees need to take a course in animal behavior or somthing. WHen I bought him and his brother they were apparantly stressed and terrified. The bigger meaner male was pushing them around and wo uldnt let them eat or go on the wheel...

people ~_~

Luckily his brother only had a damaged tail. The little grey man had a swollen front foot and he couldnt use his backfoot too well.

He seems happy now, even though helooks like he is going to die. I put neosporin on him and his scab seems to be coming off nicely (yes nicely...and disgustingly :/ )

All in all I think he will be ok. He is active, attempts to run on his wheel (but cant due to his swollen feet and the scab) and is eating well. Him and his brother still live together and get along great. Never had males that NEVEr fought before this.

Hopefully this will be a happy ending

Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:02 am

OMG OMG

*urk*

the poor baby!

Has he been to the vet?!

(I edited your post title, those are very graphic pix.)

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:28 am

If you haven't already, please take him to the vet to see if he needs oral antibiotics. That's an ENORMOUS wound for such a tiny critter. Sad

Be sure to report the pet store. That's thoroughly disgusting.

Edit: Thanks Kate, I was about to edit the title myself.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:09 pm

He has been to the vet...I mean the only person around here that would look at mice anyway :/

The vet is the one who suggested the neosporin and he said that its going to look really nasty for the next couple days but its just a scab falling off so it should be fine...and to just be sure to put it on twice a day. Thats it. I was like wow ok...O_o

If you think that this is probably bs I will defiently try to find someone else!

Little mousy has had it for a long time, but this is just the scab falling off. I mean if you look at the first picture you cant even tell there is really anyting wrong with him..so imagine my shock when I go to take him out one day and it looks like his body is falling apart.

The petsmart closest to me isnt that great. This is the only situation I've seen like this though.

The other petsmart near me is the best pet store I've seen. Its super clean, and its the only place where they dont pick up the mice by the tails...

but yeah

I am going to report this one...this is just sick...:/

There were alot of baby mice in another tank.. I just hope they didnt put the male in with any of them

I mean the male tried to attack the lady and the mice when she was taking the 2 boys I bought out of the tank. That tells you somthing right there...

Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:43 pm

If the Neosporin is working and the mouse is acting okay now -- eating and drinking and popping okay, playing too -- then I'd say no worries. You could always try getting a second opinion by phone or e-mail from a vet. They can't diagnose or prescribe anything but they could at least tell you if the treatment is advisable or if he'd need to be seen again.

You can get Petsmart to pay for his treatment if you have all of this documented, and I'm sure that the merest mention of threatening to take those photos to the local paper would have the store paying up pretty quickly.

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:38 pm

Geez, that's terrible. Sad

I've seen similar situations in pet stores before...a feeder bin full of males and females, with two or three males getting picked on and harrassed until they're near death. When I see those situations, I usually go ahead and buy the mouse ( a buck fifty isn't really a huge investment.) so they can at least die in peace, without their cagemates worrying them. I used to take them to the vet, but they NEVER made it, and the stress always seemed to make it worse for them, so I just stopped. I'm glad your little guy is doing okay, though.

I'm really surprised this happened at a Petsmart... my Petsmart isn't perfect, but its one of the nicest pet stores I've come across. They at least get their animals to the vet when they need it.
Its amazing how much stores vary from location to location. There have to be some sort of rules or regulations as to the treatment and care the animals recieve in corporations like that...even franchises, I know have something to follow. Its too bad they don't put more effort into enforcing them. Sad

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:49 pm

Poor little meece! That looks so painful. Blink

I hope he recovers well.

Wed Oct 12, 2005 10:06 pm

i'm going to go cry now.....

poor little man! keep us updated on how he's doing....

_________________

i miss you dove, oz, briar and fern. liam, my love, i 'll never forget you.

Wed Oct 12, 2005 11:45 pm

Him and his brother are doing really wonderfully! And trust me I am suprised. I know they would have died if I left them in there.... When I took them home, they barely moved for a week...they were so stressed out.

In the cage at the petstore, his brother was sleeping on top on his waterbottle to stay away from the meaner male, and the little grey guy kept trying to run in the wheel but kept getting attacked.

I thought the little brown boy was originally worse off so I planned on buying him...then I saw that the grey one was getting attacked too so I took them both.

They are so cute together, they never leave each others side, they never fight, and they always have to eat off the same food block.

Truly they are happy little guys now, always in there wheel or doing some sort of other mousy activity.

And yes, petsmart will get theres. > Sad

(like I said the other petsmart by my house is clean and everyone is super nice to the animals)

Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:46 am

I'm glad the boys are doing well!

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:58 am

Well, I think the reason that PetSmart (and some others) have problems like that with some of the animals because they only sell one sex.

Now, most of the female only stores don't have anywhere near the problems that the male only stores have. They don't seem to realize that if you have a group of males already living together, and you add another male (or another group of males) to the existing males, they will fight like that.

Not only does that apply for male mice, but also for hamsters especially. I have actually witnessed a petstore employee put a male Syrian hamster in with a female dwarf hamster that was brought back by a customer. The customer actually asked if they would be okay, as the Syrian was already harrassing the poor little girl - and the employee said they would be fine!! Not only were they 2 different species of hamster, but Syrians are solitary and will kill any other hamster put in with them (except for when mating).

It almost seems that petstore employees can be some of the most ignorant people ever - and some are supposed to be "experts" in animals. That always makes me laugh.

I am glad that you saved that poor little boy, and I really hope he recovers. That is just horrible, and if you haven't reported that store yet please do! When you do report it, make sure you include that you have pictures and vet documentation as evidence of neglect.

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Shanna
~ Serendipity Rodentry ~

Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:17 pm

*twitch* That's horrible. That poor little guy. I hope he's doing better. Sad

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Shadow Brook Rodentry

Bridge Ratties: Samson, Wraith, Aiko, Kasper - I <3 you & miss you.

Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:43 am

Generally Big petstores here in the UK like pets at home are very considerate! They actually train in basics of the animal behaviour for the animals they sell. My friend works in a pets at home branch and he too got training for the basics for rats, mice, hamsters, parrots, snakes, spiders, rabbits etc. Unless these places get reported there will be more of those mice. Unless they change. Btw isn't there an org. called PETA in America that you can report this to?

Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:27 am

PETA.

Fat lot of good they are. PETA is good for sensationalism and propaganda, but useless for actually getting anything done and using their multitudes of resources for anything other than billboards and commercials that no one even sees because they get banned from airing.
Ingrid Newkirk's heart was probably in the right place at some point, but the whole organization is now little more than a radical group of weak mindeds who know little other than what's fed to them. The few people with sense who find themselves working for PETA quickly leave the group 9 times out of 10.

Don't even get me started on PETA.

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--Brittany

"He who breaks a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom."

Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:31 am

Poor meece. How are they now? Looking better?

PETA makes me sick. I refuse to endorse or support such an asinine "organization". Sure, intentions are "good" but all they do is make animal lovers look like crazed morons.

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Cait

+

~~~Hendrix and Sambora~~~

Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:35 am

We also have a UK branch of PETA as well...

I think you have it right, Ratsicles, that their heart was probably in the right place to start off with... but they have ended up resorting to sensationalism, propaganda and half truths. I think my major problem though is that they don't condemn those who commit terrorist acts, such as the ALF, and misrepresent what these people actually do. The below is part of their FAQ:

Quote:

“How can you justify the millions of dollars of property damage caused by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF)?”

Throughout history, some people have felt the need to break the law to fight injustice. The Underground Railroad and the French Resistance are examples of movements in which people broke the law in order to answer to a higher morality. The ALF, which is simply the name adopted by people who act illegally in behalf of animal rights, breaks inanimate objects such as stereotaxic devices and decapitators in order to save lives. ALF members burn empty buildings in which animals are tortured and killed.

I certainly don't regard car tampering, letter bombs, threatening to kill children at a nursery school, or stealing the body of a someone's grandmother from her grave as being harmless, nor do I think that releasing hundreds of mink from a fur farm into the wild as being humane (for the mink or the local wildlife). I'm all for humane treatment of animals, for people to choose to be vegetarian or vegan, to work towards alternatives to animal testing - but, unlike some of the extremists, I don't regard human lives as being worth less than animal lives.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:44 pm

that was so horrible. im so happy they have a nice home... poor poor guys. how could the employees just let that happen....tsk tsk.

Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:20 pm

Is there an update to this? How they doing now?

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Tails and her RAM byting Rats
Linux & Apple Mac
Angel rat

Maxie & Pepper

Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:57 pm

Poor guy... I hope he is doing better.

I agree with Britt and Andy on PETA. It does absolutely nothing about anything. Releasing domestic animals into the wild is not humane, as are most of the things they do Sad

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Rosie

* * *

I miss you Tut, Goldy, and Raoul Angel rat

Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:44 pm

OMG...is all that i can say with out getting in trouble Banghead

Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:08 pm

Goodness Ijust looked at those pics again. Its hard to imagine him like that.

HIm and his brother are now perfectly fat healthy mice sharing a cage with 2 other boys

I went back to petsmart and talked to them about how they housed their males.

They seemed to listen to me and now there are 2 different cages for males.

Guess that helped a bit to prevent over crowding and fights.

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<3 to my Fats and my Meeces

Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:32 pm

What great news, both about the boys and the store! Thanks for the update!

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Sat Dec 17, 2005 6:24 am

You're welcome. Its so strange, there is no way you could even tell that he was injured. His hair is a bit thin around his backside but thats it. Hes nice and fat now and seems happy. He doesnt like to be handled much but I can't blame him. He was in so much pain when I first got him and unfortunately I had to pick him up alot to put medicine on his back. I was gentle but there was no way that it couldn't have hurt Sad

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<3 to my Fats and my Meeces

Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:21 am

OMG that is so horrible! And people are always saying that Petsmart is a good place and treats their animals very well! I am so glad you found him! Im really glad you reported them!

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2 rats ~Pheona~Clover~
4 Bunnies~Twinkletoes~Honeybee~Honeybunny~Marlo
2 Mice~Bovine~Roo~
2 Ducks~Hara~Bazil~

www.freewebs.com/ratsitter

Sat Dec 17, 2005 9:22 am

And Little Willow yes freey animals that are tortured and neglected and stuck in a tiny little cage truely is terrorism.

_________________
2 rats ~Pheona~Clover~
4 Bunnies~Twinkletoes~Honeybee~Honeybunny~Marlo
2 Mice~Bovine~Roo~
2 Ducks~Hara~Bazil~

www.freewebs.com/ratsitter