Is buying items other than animals at pet shops contributing to kitten/puppy mills and pet overpopulation?

shelly: Is buying items other than animals at pet shops contributing to kitten/puppy mills and pet overpopulation?
Is buying kitty litter or rabbit food from petco or petsmart or other places also bad as buying a real cat or dog from a pet store, which gets animals from puppy/kitty mills? I don’t want to support pet stores and mills, so which are good places to shop for pet items that doesn’t support puppy mills and kitty mills? Also, why can’t pet stores sell or promote animals from shelters/rescues rather than puppy mills? That way, they can do checks, adoption papers, screening, etc to avoid pet overpopulation?

Answers and Views:

Answer by mathaowny
Any place that sells pets has a chance of getting their animals from mills. So we buy our food as places that don’t actually sell the animals– even feed stores can order the good stuff for the pets and they never get puppy mill animals.

Answer by Kimmie
As long as pet stores make money, they’ll continue to buy petmill animals. So yes, buying supplies from pet shops still keeps the company in business and if they are open, they have animals!
Pet stores won’t sell or promote animals from shelters because they don’t make big $ $ on that.
Pet stores have one thing in mind…

MONEY !!!

Answer by KKingS
Petsmart does not sell any dogs or cats. They in no way promote puppymills or backyard breeders. And…they actually do team up with the local shelters. Petsmart usually runs their adopt-a-thons once or twice a month, when people from the shelters bring many animals to the store to find homes. The store I shop at most often actually keeps cats and kittens from the shelter on display throughout the week.

As far as Petco goes…I’ve never been there, so I couldn’t tell you. I would imagine any store that is supporting bybs and puppymills would only be helped by any money you give them…even if it’s only for toys.

Answer by humor4fms
KKings is so WRONG!!! Petsmart just euthanized all their birds due to PBFD from buying from a bird mill on the west and east coast. YES they do buy from a bird mill out of florida. And pet store chain promotes the buying and selling of mills, whether it’s small animal or big animals it’s all promoting the same thing, higher profits at low costs. Whether it’s dogs, cats, to mice, hamsters, birds, or supplies. Don’t be so narrow minded to just look at what interests you, broaden your horizen to other species of the animal world.

Petsmart and petco didn’t become a BIG pet store chain by dealing with back yard breeders, come on now think with common sense here. You can also go to their web site and see where they buy their live stock, and then go to another web site and see the inhumane treatment of petsmarts back room and see the sick and dieing animals that were NEVER treated by a vet for days on end and left to die!!!

Answer by Joanne A
i do not buy items from stores that sell puppies, kittens, or rabbits. here in maine we have pet quarters which is an awesome store with a knowledgeable staff & they do not sell any of the above. beyond that i work to make sure everyone knows about the mills & the terrible heartbreak that can come from buying an animal from a pet shop. buy from a reputable breeder! if you must have a breed. i firmly believe that the best pets are mixed breeds & there are too many animals put to death in shelters to justify purchasing a pet. there are lots of pure breds available in shelters….