Pet Stores Kill

[selfprodigy]

My fiancee brought home a bag the other day. She put it on the table and I asked whats this? She said oh one of the customers at the store noticed all the chinchilla pictures in my station and brought that in for me. Apparently her chin died last week and she doesn't plan on getting another one.

Here are the items i pull out.

Peach Wood Rings ( has a pic of a chin on it some are missing from package)

Vanilla Scented Dust & Cucumber Scented Dust ( Yumbo! )

Fiesta Chinchilla Mix ( Fortified with omega 3 and all sorts of colorful stuff)

Bag and bags of yogurt treats and other garbage i would never feed my chin

I looked at my girlfriend and said no wonder the chin died have you looked at any of this. She gasps oh my god.

We throw the entire bag away.

Almost every product in that bag had a pic of a chin on it. Including the peach wood rings. How can pet stores get away with stuff like this?

 

[~SG~]

Poor Chin

Some people have no conscious and are just after $$

I purchased fresh eucalyptus for my sugar gliders and asked the vendor if it was safe for my rabbit. He wrote back saying yes and that he had people buy it just for rabbits. When I got it in I posted that my suggies didn't seem to care for it but my rabbit did. People immediately started telling me to take it away from the rabbit as it was poison. When I did research it plainly says that it was poisonous to rabbits and most everything else.

I contacted the vendor and asked him why he lied, he still says it's fine for rabbits and if I don't like it don't buy it. I posted on the forum where he was selling so everyone else would see it (including the forum moderators) and no one seems to care.

 

[menagerie]

Almost every product in that bag had a pic of a chin on it. Including the peach wood rings. How can pet stores get away with stuff like this?

You need to start higher up the food chain than the pet store level with your questions. The question should be "how can manufacturers get away with producing crap like that and marketing it to inappropriate animals?" Unfortunately, the answer is the all mighty dollar. They want to generate income no matter the cost to unsuspecting people and their animals. This is why it's so important that caretakers and consumers educate themselves on what they are buying and not take everything at face value. Just because it has a picture of a [fill in the name of any species here] on it, does not mean it is appropriate for that particular species.

 

[CJR]

They get away with it because a) people will buy it, and b) there is no regulation on it. That's... pretty much how it goes. Sad, but true.

 

[Leowyldemi]

i have seen peach wood chews for chinchillas at the pet store before and chinchilla food with CORN in it, i think people just don't do research on the animals they are providing products for =/

 

[ticklechin]

Its up to the consumer to make informed purchases, that goes for pet OR human purchases. Human stores sell items that cause cancer yet people still buy them.

 

[Rimbaum]

I really wish there was regulation on pet food and treats. There are still LOTS of people out there that do no have access to the internet, or are illiterate, and will buy anything with a picture of their pet on it, assuming that it's safe for them. I can't imagine how many pets die each year because the wrong products are marketed for an animal.

Personally, I'm a bit of an internet addict, and I've specifically avoided buying certain toys for Freya in local pet stores because I didn't know if the wood it was made from was toxic for chins. If I want to buy it, I find out what is safe and what is not first.

I have the entire internet to tell me what I should use, and alternate resources for buying food/toys/treats/dust/etc... even if it might cost me a little more in shipping. A pet is part of the family - it's worth the extra effort to make sure they stay safe and healthy.


EDIT: Ticklechin - The difference between what people buy for animals and what people buy for other people is that the stuff for people is required, at least in the U.S., to be marked as hazardous. Pet food has no regulation that requires manufacturers to say something like "Warning: Feeding your chinchilla ______ may cause tooth problems, GI stasis, or death" on the package or a commercial.

 

[ticklechin]

So do you need to have that warning on a box of raisins too? How about on banana chips? The pet owner needs to do their research before buying the pet, and if not before at least after the fact. Everyone here on this forum are "responsible" chinchilla owners, they got off their boodies and went on the net to research their chinchillas care, we can't expect the goverment to require every single thing that passes a chinchillas lips to have a warning label on it, its up to the owner to figure it out. The OPs person was too lazy to do research, they are to blame, not the goverment.

 

[CTChin]

I've always been amazed at how obsessed our culture is with giving our pets treats. If I'm walking through the toy/treat department at Walmart, there are always plenty of people buying garbage treats for their pet. I swear some of these "edible" treats look like plastic instead of food. I'm not talking about the "edible" bones but the actual food treats. The cat treats aren't much better. There are tons and tons of treats. I guess I'm cruel. My cats don't get treats. I feed them expensive, holistic food and they are always battling weight issues anyway. They don't need treats.

I sold a chin to a coworker once (always a big mistake lol). The chinchilla at a few years old started having teeth fall out and other dental issues. Come to find out she and her mom were constantly feeding this poor chin yogurt treats and other crap. Every time someone walked by, they got a treat. She had been warned at the time of the sale, not to do this but did it anyway.

 

[Spoof]

at the pet store before and chinchilla food with CORN in it

Almost all chin/rabbit feed has corn in it, unless it specifies so on the bag. Even the ones that specify no corn often use the cob (grain by-products) as a filler.

Most of that stuff isn't bad in moderation, like anything else. Healthy? Probably not, but one peach wood ring is not going to kill a chinchilla. A combination of all of those would give anything's digestive system a hard time.

 

[Rimbaum]

So do you need to have that warning on a box of raisins too? How about on banana chips? The pet owner needs to do their research before buying the pet, and if not before at least after the fact. Everyone here on this forum are "responsible" chinchilla owners, they got off their boodies and went on the net to research their chinchillas care, we can't expect the goverment to require every single thing that passes a chinchillas lips to have a warning label on it, its up to the owner to figure it out. The OPs person was too lazy to do research, they are to blame, not the goverment.

I won't dispute that fact. However, raisins and banana chips are meant for people, first and foremost, and as a kid I was always told not to give people-food to my pets. Even cat and dog owners give foods that aren't healthy to their animals, not knowing that it's poison. People give dogs onions, chocolate, and dairy food! None of these are good for their pets.

But concerning the foods and toys that are meant specifically for pets, there's no warning labels on any of them. There aren't required to be like there are for humans. And that's dangerous for pets of all varieties. It's no substitute for just doing your research, but I hope that eventually marketing laws will change so that companies have to label their pet foods and supplies more accurately.

 

[Ash]

I won't dispute that fact. However, raisins and banana chips are meant for people, first and foremost, and as a kid I was always told not to give people-food to my pets. Even cat and dog owners give foods that aren't healthy to their animals, not knowing that it's poison. People give dogs onions, chocolate, and dairy food! None of these are good for their pets.

But concerning the foods and toys that are meant specifically for pets, there's no warning labels on any of them. There aren't required to be like there are for humans. And that's dangerous for pets of all varieties. It's no substitute for just doing your research, but I hope that eventually marketing laws will change so that companies have to label their pet foods and supplies more accurately.

These are natural products that come from NATURE. Many "exotic" animals require fruits and vegetables in their diets, so it's not a far fetched belief that chinchillas would need these also. Even most veterinarians are ill-informed on this topic, as they compare chinchillas to rabbits and guinea pigs. I've heard it said that a chinchilla's digestive tract is very similar to a horses, so a logical (albeit wrong) assumption would be that you could feed your chinchilla apples and fresh grass and such.

A lot of people have a hard time believing that pet stores would carry things that aren't good for their pets. They want to believe that, if these people market and carry the treats and products, they HAVE to be good. Also, there is a lot of BAD research out there on animals. For every 1 page of good chin information on the internet, there are 20+ bad ones. It's not so much that people aren't doing to research, but the fact that an overwhelming amount of the information is wrong.

 

[Rimbaum]

Raisins and banana chips do not occur in nature. Grapes and bananas do - and they occur in very, very different environments. The stuff packaged and processed in a grocery store is meant for human consumption, not for animals. Humans have very different dietary requirements than our pets, and I wish people would remember that.

 

[AZChins]

Most people I talk to about chinchilla supplies and things have no idea that anything from the petstore could be bad for their chinchillas. They usually ask why the petstores would even sell the treats and other items if they aren't good for the chins. A lot of people just don't have the time to research their chins' needs and just go with what they are told at the petstore. I'm glad when I get to talk to them because not only can I tell them exactly what they are going to need and that will benefit the chins but I also get to save people a lot of money.

Back about six years ago I had a customer tell me about her experience with a petstore. She went in to find out what her chinchilla would need and asked a sales associate to come help her. When she added up everything the chin "needed" per month the cost was about $60! When I went over everything with her the total came out to under $10 a month. Most of the time the toys are the most expensive part of the whole deal!

I do wish that petstores would be more honest with people, but, let's just face it, it wouldn't be worth it for them to just sell what the chins need. Pellets, hay, dust and plain wood toys aren't as profitable and markupable as the huts and treats and cheapie things made in China.

 

[Ash]

Raisins and banana chips do not occur in nature. Grapes and bananas do - and they occur in very, very different environments. The stuff packaged and processed in a grocery store is meant for human consumption, not for animals. Humans have very different dietary requirements than our pets, and I wish people would remember that.

Raisins and dried banana chips are the dehydrated versions of grapes and bananas. While they may not be found in that EXACT form in nature, for the most part they aren't all that different from their original form and are still a "natural" treat in most people's eyes. Yes, when purchased in the store, they tend to have extra sugar added to them, but there are many people who sell non-preservative filled raisins and banana chips and think they are still OK because they don't have the added sugars. Again, it's not the fault of the owner when it's a logical assumption from a vet telling them the animal needs/should have fruits and vegetables as a part of their diet. There are ranchers who still give raisins when needed for cases such as constipation and other things as well. I'm not saying it's right to give them to them, but I am showing that it doesn't necessarily mean the owner is stupid or ill-intentioned.

 

[AZChins]

And, they don't really occur where the chins' digestive system adapted to dried grass and extremely occasional sugary fruits. Bananas and grapes aren't really around in the high and dry elevation mountain climate that they are best adapted.

 

[Ash]

I know that. My point is that when a vet/website/book tells somebody that fruits and vegetables should be a part of the chinchilla's diet, it's not a far jump for them to think that dried fruits and vegetables are as well. You can't knock people for a "lack" of research when there more sources than not that say those ARE ok for chinchillas.

 

[~SG~]

um, Raisins do naturally occur in the wild, I can prove this in a couple weeks if you like.

Also I don't know about exactly where Chins are found in the wild but here the wild grapes do just fine in higher regions. Some grapes like a 'wet foot' and some like a 'dry foot'. We have plenty of the latter here in the mountains and a few of the former as well. For most grapes the more rain we get the worse the grape crop is.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

i think its too cold where chins naturally live for grapes, i might be wrong though.

 

[~SG~]

as I said, I don't know exactly where the chins wild range stops and wild grapes start