UhHuhHer
Well-Known Member
I try to avoid looking at animals in pet stores. I try to avoid even going into open cage stores like Petland where people can just pick animals up. But, I was out with friends who were going in, and the rats needed food anyway so my sister and I went in, too.
I spent most of the time with my sister Katie, who was cringing by the guinea pig cage and instructing the children on how to handle them properly.
I heard one of the little kids say something about a hamster having a naked tail and that worried me so I went over to look at her. I picked her up to examine her bum and immediately noticed a pair of testicles. I hoped it was an all-boy cage, so I picked up another one and she was definitively female. Her belly was naked and she had some pink spots. I started checking them each, to figure out the extent of what I needed to report to the staff. I found four girls and two boys. Only the first girl had the red blotches on her belly, but the other male had massively swollen, infected testicles. They were three times the size of the other male's and there was a gash. One looked like it had collapsed.
The lady working with the rodents took it very seriously and took the injured boy and sick girl to the vet next door, but there wasn't much she could do to separate the healthy boy because they only have that one cage for those particular hamsters.
Meanwhile, my sister had picked up a guinea pig that a small child had startled badly and was comforting her. She noticed the guinea pig had some very nasty scabs on her back and also mentioned that to an employee. Katie then went to untangle one of the little thing's feet from her shirt and, what do you know, noticed two obvious testicles. There was a pretty even male to female ratio, upon further inspection.
We didn't check the super tiny hamsters or the rabbits, but I imagine the situation was the same there.
The rodent lady there was a new employee. She was very gracious when we explained the problems and went around trying to find someone to tell her how to fix this. And I don't blame the employees, because they probably don't know much better, but I'm still just so furious. As kind as she was being, it was so hard for me to talk to her calmly. I was shaking. I still feel sick. My friend played with the rats in the feeder bin, since no one ever does, but I didn't even want to see it. I never want to even stand too close to a Petland again.
I spent most of the time with my sister Katie, who was cringing by the guinea pig cage and instructing the children on how to handle them properly.
I heard one of the little kids say something about a hamster having a naked tail and that worried me so I went over to look at her. I picked her up to examine her bum and immediately noticed a pair of testicles. I hoped it was an all-boy cage, so I picked up another one and she was definitively female. Her belly was naked and she had some pink spots. I started checking them each, to figure out the extent of what I needed to report to the staff. I found four girls and two boys. Only the first girl had the red blotches on her belly, but the other male had massively swollen, infected testicles. They were three times the size of the other male's and there was a gash. One looked like it had collapsed.
The lady working with the rodents took it very seriously and took the injured boy and sick girl to the vet next door, but there wasn't much she could do to separate the healthy boy because they only have that one cage for those particular hamsters.
Meanwhile, my sister had picked up a guinea pig that a small child had startled badly and was comforting her. She noticed the guinea pig had some very nasty scabs on her back and also mentioned that to an employee. Katie then went to untangle one of the little thing's feet from her shirt and, what do you know, noticed two obvious testicles. There was a pretty even male to female ratio, upon further inspection.
We didn't check the super tiny hamsters or the rabbits, but I imagine the situation was the same there.
The rodent lady there was a new employee. She was very gracious when we explained the problems and went around trying to find someone to tell her how to fix this. And I don't blame the employees, because they probably don't know much better, but I'm still just so furious. As kind as she was being, it was so hard for me to talk to her calmly. I was shaking. I still feel sick. My friend played with the rats in the feeder bin, since no one ever does, but I didn't even want to see it. I never want to even stand too close to a Petland again.
