Can they afford to live?

December 30, 2008 5:50 AM

How do pet stores handle sick animals, especially when the cost of care seems like it would be more than the cost of the animal?

I often see seriously ill birds at pet stores. (I'm quite experienced with birds so I know the difference between a bird resting/sleeping or being seriously ill. I'm not accounting for the birds that could be ill but are not yet showing it, or birds which might be pregnant.) More often than not, it is finches or budgies which are ill... which happen to be the cheapest birds.

I know I can report pet stores if they are not caring for their animals properly, and I do that. That's not my question.

Today I saw a terribly ill Zebra Finch. It cost $20. It got me wondering... the cost of vet care for the finch, at least for a pet owner, would be far more than $20. How do pet stores handle this? Do they have some sort of bulk deal or flat rate with vets? Do they have their own vets? Or if the cost of an animal's medical care would wipe out their profits or cost them money, do they just let it die?

posted by Nattie to pets & animals (8 comments total)

I don't know about birds, but my friend's sister works at a pet store chain and when they have sick dogs they either give them away (to employees or friends or family of employees) or they dramatically reduce the price (again, selling to employees or their friends/family). This probably just adds to your question, since the loss they incur is even greater if they never get paid or paid fully.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:02 AM on December 30, 2008

Anecdotal evidence where when I was a small child. My parents got me a hamster for Hannukah. It died on the last day of the holiday, I think from wet ear (is that a hamster disease? It's what's coming to mind after two decades). My dad went back to the store and all the other hamsters had died the day after we got mine.

It's become something of a Hannukah legend in my family, the hamster who was supposed to only live for one day, but lived for eight. Made a 6 year old feel better about the short time with his pet at any rate.

I don't know if the pet store knew they were sick, but if they did their plan seemed to be sell them while they could, then let them die, at least for cheap hamster.
posted by yellowbinder at 6:10 AM on December 30, 2008 [4 favorites]

Or if the cost of an animal's medical care would wipe out their profits or cost them money, do they just let it die?

Not necessarily. The animal hospital I work at sees all the avian and exotic animals from a local mega pet store, and they often spend more on caring for a lizard or bird than the animal will cost to purchase. They have a monthly budget for medical care (per department), and that budget can go to one animal or be spread among many. I'm not sure how willing they are to go over their budget -- I presume they'd be in for a little talking to from their Regional Manager or whatever. That said, they are not really interested in taking heroic measures -- if one of their animals is very sick, they are much quicker to euthanize the animal than a regular owner would be.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:13 AM on December 30, 2008

Sick puppies and kittens usually get sent back to the puppy/kitten mill they came from, where they are euthanized or just folded into the "breeding" program there. I have no idea about birds, but I doubt pet store birds come from ethical bird breeders, since no ethical dog or cat breeder would ever sell to a pet store.
posted by biscotti at 6:19 AM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

When I was little, I saw a sick fish in a pet store. I pointed it out to the store clerk, who was like, hmm. He scooped the fish out of its tank and dropped it into the tank of a bigger fish, who promptly ate it. I'm scarred for life, basically.
posted by sweetkid at 6:36 AM on December 30, 2008 [12 favorites]

As a former employee of a very large pet store in the late 90s I can share my experiences:
Lizards - Never noticed when they were sick. Usually just found them dead.
Small rodents - Usually found them dead already or half eaten by the others in the cage. Always euthanized.
Fish - Did a "dead pull" minimum twice per day. If we noticed a sick fish we isolated and tried to treat it with whatever we had available.
Birds - This is particularly interesting to me. In three years I cannot remember a single sick bird although there was one major injury where an employee caught a $1200 cockatoo's foot in the door and broke it's leg very badly. The store must have spent thousands in treatment and care for that bird. It was actually quite the story about how well this bird was taken care of and how friendly it became. That was probably more than worth the cost in local word of mouth PR.
Dogs/Cats - Didn't sell these.

The store I worked at had some very dedicated employees and we did work very hard to keep the facilities clean and hygienic so that may have something to do with the lack of sick birds in my memory.
posted by Octoparrot at 7:49 AM on December 30, 2008

This doesn't directly answer your question, but I imagine that whatever the profit margin is on the actual animals at the store, there is much more profit made by selling you all the accessories, food, grooming services, etc., that you'll also need. So even if they sell a parakeet for a loss, (assuming it gets proper care and survives, and assuming you are a loyal customer) they will more than make up for that loss over the lifetime of the bird.
posted by katieinshoes at 8:49 AM on December 30, 2008

I work at a big chain pet store. If we see an animal that is sick, we take it off the floor and put it into a hospital area in the backroom. If it's just doing a little poorly (a bite mark,low weight, listless, a lost tail on a lizard) we just give it extra care, extra food, until it can be back on the floor.

If it needs a vet, we have a vet we call who comes and examines them and administers treatment. Sometimes, if the animal recovers but is 'damaged' (missing a limb, but doing fine without it, or too old to be 'cute' now) we will adopt it out rather than sell it. This, and the vet bills, means we sometimes do take a loss on cheap animals like mice and hamsters, but we have very high standards of ethics, and are very wary of PETA, so we would much rather take the loss than be seen as cruel to the animals.

If you see a sick animal in the store, bring it to the staff's attention, and, since you are probably more knowledgeable about birds than they are, politely give advice, like, "That finch is sick; I think it's showing signs of Finch Flu. You should isolate it and keep it extra warm, and see about getting some FinchFluExian for it." If the staff person is "meh" then ask to speak to a manager.
posted by The otter lady at 12:33 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite]