does-petco-sell-dogs[/caption]10 Things Pet Stores Won't Say
1. "You'd save serious kibble buying elsewhere."
Consumers may find it's cheaper to browse other retailers' pet-supply aisle than make a trip to a dedicated pet store. Dollar stores usually carry tug ropes and plush toys, at a discount of 50% or better, says Teri Gault, founder of TheGroceryGame.com, a price-tracking site. Big-box stores, drugstores and supermarkets tend to have better supply prices, too. At Wal-Mart, an "intermediate"-size Remington plastic pet carrier is $38.67, versus $49.99 at PetSmart. Target edges out pet store Wag.com on the ScoopFree Ultra self-cleaning litter box with a price of $135.49 instead of $144.49.
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Pet food and treats require more diligent shopping, especially if you're buying a mass-market products, says Paris Permenter, author of "Barkonomics." Pet stores' regular prices do often beat out those of supermarkets and other stores, for example. According to The Grocery Game, a three-pound bag of Purina One Beyond cat food regularly costs $8.99 at Petco and PetSmart, while Safeway has it for $9.99. But more frequent sales give an edge to supermarket pricing, Gault says. When it's on sale, the same bag goes for $5.49 at Safeway and $6.45 at Target. At Petco, a recent sale reduced the price to $6.99. (Online pet store prices can be even cheaper, but shipping charges often add to the price. Free shipping offers typically exclude food.)
Audio
Kelli Grant discusses what pet stores won't tell you -- on WSJ's Lunch Break.
Pet stores counter that they offer a wider selection and more knowledgeable employees. "They have one pet aisle. We have over 20,000 unique products," says David Zhang, site leader for online store Wag.com. A spokeswoman for Petland, which operates stores in 21 states, says its knowledgeable staff sets it apart from general retailers that sell pet supplies. A Petco spokeswoman says their prices are competitive, and that the store will match competitors' deals.
2. "Do as we say, not as we do."
When she found herself between jobs, toxicologist and iguana owner Ann Schnitz got a part-time job as a reptile specialist at a major pet store chain. She was surprised to see the store used bark chips on the bottom of the reptile cages, which many experts caution against. "They can ingest those," she says, and trigger a deadly intestinal block. She suggested using a replaceable tank liner instead. But the store held firm. "They thought this looked better, and it sold more bark," Schnitz recalls.
Displays vary widely from store to store, but good pet stores make an effort to meet the animal's needs, says Michael Maddox, a vice president at the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. "In terms of the enclosure sizes, you do have to take into account that there's a difference between a temporary housing environment and a permanent housing environment," he says. Petco uses veterinary and engineering experts to design its displays, a spokeswoman says, and products placed in them are reviewed for safety by in-house and independent veterinarians and other experts.
To be safe, Permenter and others suggest talking to a vet or another animal expert about what food and supplies are necessary for the animal's health and happiness -- before buying that animal. Maddox says store employees should also be prepared to share that information, and provide care sheets. (Petland and Petco both say they do.) It can also help to check with animal fancier groups and retailers that specialize in a particular animal, especially if it's exotic, Kaplan says. "Pet stores don't always know everything about the animals they're selling," she says.
3. "Fido came from a puppy mill."
Pet stores that sell dogs usually say their puppies come from U.S. Department of Agriculture-licensed breeders. The Animal Welfare Act requires any breeder with four or more females and that sells to pet stores be licensed, and the USDA is responsible for conducting regular inspections. "There's always room for improvement in any regulatory standard," says Maddox, but "by and large, the standards are good." Animal-welfare groups disagree. Federal care standards are so minimal and enforcement so irregular that licensed kennels still include many so-called puppy mills, which breed and house animals in inhumane conditions, says Cori Menkin, senior director of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' puppy mills campaign. "Most pet store puppies come from puppy mills," she says.
A 2010 audit of USDA enforcement by the Office of the Inspector General found that the department didn't properly cite breeders' violations, and that the enforcement process was ineffective at curbing repeat violators. Dave Sachs, a spokesman for the USDA, says that has improved. "One problematic breeder is one too many, so we stay on top of those individuals and make sure they adhere to the regulations," he says.
Pet-store purchasers do risk getting an unhealthy puppy from a bad breeding facility, says veterinary specialist Dr. Justine Lee, associate director of the Pet Poison Helpline. Pet store puppies can cost upwards of $1,000, but bad living conditions at puppy mills and too-early separation from their mothers often make puppies sick (see #4). Muddled breeding lines can bring out congenital defects, she says. A 2011 study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Best Friends Animal Society also found that puppy mill puppies often have longstanding psychological damage leading to fearful and compulsive behaviors.
Instead of a pet store, consumers may want to look to either a reputable local breeder or an adoption group, says Melanie Kahn, senior director of the Humane Society's puppy mills campaign. Petco, which does not sell dogs or cats, agrees that adoption should be the first option. "Petco always recommends that anyone looking to add a new pet to their family consider adopting a companion animal in need of a loving home -- rather than purchasing one -- even if it's an animal we sell in our stores," a spokeswoman says.
But Patti Strand, national director of the National Animal Interest Alliance, says buying from a pet store shouldn't automatically be out of the running. "There are some very nice commercial kennels that work really hard and take excellent care of their dogs," she says. Pet stores can be the sole source of particular breeds in some areas, and a better alternative than buying sight unseen. Ask the pet store for information on the breeder and check those records against its inspections at the USDA's site, Strand says. Petland's spokeswoman says the store's policy is to source puppies only from local adoption groups, hobby breeders (as defined by the Animal Welfare Act), and USDA-licensed breeders with no direct violations on their latest inspection report. Company employees often inspect breeders' facilities themselves, she says.
4. "Brace yourself for that vet bill..."
"Puppies and kittens from pet stores are not necessarily healthy," says Dr. Lee. The laundry list of illnesses includes respiratory infections and parasites, which can make the rounds among small mammals, reptiles and birds as well. For puppies, there's also parvovirus and distemper, viruses that can lead to lifelong complications or death. All can be expensive to treat. Dogs from commercial breeders may have more extensive congenital defects -- like heart disease, blood disorders and hip dysplasia -- that may not become apparent for several years, she says. It's not just purchased animals at risk. Dogs and cats adopted from stores' rescue partners can have those same health problems, too. "A lot of those animals are actually shipped from somewhere else in the world, where there are more strays," Lee says. "They bring up a whole totally different range of infectious diseases." After Hurricane Katrina, for example, rescued dogs sent to other states for adoption spread ringworm and heartworm.
The stores say veterinarians regularly check animals' health. Sick animals are monitored closely and quarantined while they recover, according to Petland and Petco.
Shoppers should still carefully examine the animal for physical symptoms and unusual behavior before buying. But not all problems are obvious, and animals are good at hiding pain, Lee says. "As soon as you get your pet, bring them to your veterinarian," she says. Many states have "lemon laws" covering pet owners' veterinary bills for illnesses and injuries existing at the time of the animal's purchase, Menkin says. Some allow claims as far as two years after purchase if the pet is found to have a congenital or hereditary defect. Stores may also include "warranties" with similar coverage. But in either case, the pet store's liability is typically capped at the animal's purchase price, she warns.
5. "...and a doctor bill for you, too."
Some diseases affecting pet store animals can also make you sick, whether you take the animal home or just pet it in the store. Puppies, kittens and other mammals may transmit parasites, while reptiles and amphibians can carry salmonella, says Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh, a veterinary epidemiologist with outbreak response and prevention for the Centers for Disease Control. Ongoing salmonella outbreaks linked to contact with turtles and African dwarf frogs have sickened 124 and 241 consumers, respectively. (Although the Food and Drug Administration prohibited the sale of turtles measuring less than 4 inches in 1975, some ill consumers still report encountering them in pet stores, she says.)
In recent years, the government also traced outbreaks of monkeypox (a virus in the smallpox family) and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (a form of meningitis) to pet store animals. And live animals aren't the only risk. Since August, the CDC has tallied 46 cases of salmonella linked to pet owners handling frozen feeder mice, while another 22 fell ill with it after contact with contaminated dry dog food.
Consumers' best recourse is limited contact with store animals and pet food, and vigorous hand-washing immediately after, says Barton Behravesh. "You can't look at an animal and tell if it's contaminated with salmonella," she says, "and you can't look at dog food and tell, either." Petland and Petco both offer hand-washing stations, and Petland requires their use before and after handling animals. "The chance of getting a disease from animals at Petco is much lower than that from handling raw chicken or beef from your local grocery store," a spokeswoman says. An FDA spokeswoman says consumers should also be on the lookout for recalls. Wag.com's Zhang says the site pulls recalled items from the site and emails all customers who purchased affected food, offering them a free -- safe -- replacement.
6. "Are you sure you want to buy him?"
After a day of holiday shopping, Laura Finlayson of Westwood, N.J., and her niece stopped by the pet store to see the puppies on their way out of the mall. "We saw this little one that looked like a teeny teddy bear," she recalls, and couldn't resist taking the Poodle-Shih Tzu mix out of his cage to play. When another couple expressed interest, Finlayson decided to buy the $1,700 puppy, right then and there. "I wasn't planning on getting a dog at all," she says.
Finlayson turned out to be a dedicated dog owner -- Yogi even has his own Twitter feed -- but experts say such impulse pet purchases don't always end well. Live animals aren't often returnable, and so they may end up at shelters when the family discovers, say, that their new puppy is too energetic or that baby Easter bunny grows into a rabbit, says the Humane Society's Kahn.
Impulse buys aren't rare, either. "Pet stores for the most part want to make money, and that means they're not going to turn away potential customers," says the ASPCA's Menkin. There's generally no application, interview or home visit like consumers would encounter with a breeder, adoption center or rescue group, Kahn says. Most transactions are completed in minutes. There are a few exceptions: last year, several New York City pet stores changed their policies to prevent inebriated customers from buying or even holding puppies. But the onus is primarily on consumers to research their prospective pet and decide if they're ready to own one, they say.
"A good pet store is screening any customer that's buying an animal to make sure it's a good fit," says Maddox. That includes telling customers that the animal they want isn't right for them. A Petco spokeswoman says the store empowers its employees to refuse to sell to customers who seem unfit to own animals. The store's policy is to take back any healthy animal sold or adopted at the store, no matter how long the customer has had that animal. (The animal is quarantined until its health is confirmed, and then placed for adoption.)
7. "The pets are loss leaders."
Of the $51 billion spent on pets last year, just $2 billion -- or 4% -- was for the animals themselves, according to the American Pet Products Association. (That's down from about 5% of $43.2 billion spent in 2008.) The figure underscores the relative commitment of pet owners' spending once they acquire the animal itself, says Peter Wahlstrom, an analyst covering the industry for Morningstar. Pet stores' animals may be attractively priced, but the stores don't advertise the real cost of ownership. "Parents equate cheap with easy: if the animal cost $10, it must be easy to care for," says "Iguanas for Dummies" author Kaplan.
But experts say that's not the case. By the ASPCA's cost-to-own estimates, a guinea pig ($35 at PetSmart) will set its owner back $705 in the first year and $635 each year thereafter for its typical four- to six-year lifespan. Even a handful of $1 tetras and $3 fancy guppies or fantail goldfish cost, on average, $200 for a tank setup. Although on-site adoption revenue goes to the rescue group, stores also benefit from such partnerships with supply sales.
Pets can also be longer-lived than buyers might anticipate, underscoring the need for research in advance of buying. Former pet-store employee Schnitz's iguana Frodo is 19 years old and four-and-a-half-feet long -- a size that prompted her to give him free run of the dining room. "Of course, when people come to the store, they see these cute little green lizards," she says. "They don't think about that commitment."
Petco and Petland both say they work to make sure consumers are aware of the animals needs and lifespan. "Our mission is to match the right pet with the right customer and meet the needs of both," says a Petland spokeswoman. Maddox says part of stores' employee training typically includes discussions of both an animal's needs and potential cost.
8. "Spot's family-member status keeps us afloat."
Couponing expert Gault can knock a $150 grocery bill to $50. But when it comes to Marley, the family's four-year-old dog, Gault splurges on bags of premium brand AvoDerm, which sells for as much as $56 for a 26-pound bag. "Dobermans have dry skin, so he needs that food for his coat," she says. "He's a prettier boy because of it, and healthier."
Stores and manufacturers have carefully cultivated consumers' inclination to consider pets as family members or children, says Deborah Mitchell, a clinical associate professor of marketing at Ohio State University. "The pet industry is one of the most sophisticated out there in the way marketers segment and appeal to consumers," she says. Recent pet innovations have included electric toothbrushes, educational toys and designer fashion labels. The food market has also broadened to show human nutritional concerns and gourmet tastes, she says, with organic and sustainably-sourced ingredients, filler-free recipes and even raw-food diets.
Fido-as-family appeals have translated into sales, says Morningstar's Wahlstrom. "This is an industry shown to be if not recession proof, than recession resistant," he says. Spending on pets rose from $43.2 billion in 2008 to $45.5 billion in 2009, at the height of the recession, according to the American Pet Products Association. This year, the industry group expects a 4% jump to $52.9 billion. But even if money is no object, experts say it behooves shoppers to budget. "This is a category where you want to read labels, educate yourself and comparison shop," Mitchell says. There's such a rush to capitalize on trends that claims about nutrition, price and need may not hold up, she says.
"Our customers do consider their pets to be family members and this is reflected not only in the way we communicate with them through our marketing messages, but mostly in the breadth and quality of our products and services," says a Petco spokeswoman.
9. "But we're still bracing for the next downturn."
Pet stores have been working harder in recent years to give consumers regular reasons to visit, even when they're fully stocked on food, says Wahlstrom. Grooming, training classes and events like pictures with Santa or veterinary clinics are common. Even pet hotels and doggy (and kitty) daycare are making inroads. "It's creating a cycle of dependence," he says. "It's not like you're not going to get your dog's hair clipped or nails cut during the next downturn." Of course, most of the services also come with add-ons (pay an extra $5 to let your dog watch Animal Planet in the store? Or an extra $3 more for high-end filtered water?) And while you're in stores, that opens the opportunity for impulse buys on toys, treats and other products.
Services can be attractively priced, for consumers who are able to steer clear of unnecessary extras. Permenter says she got a month of private lessons at the local outpost of a large chain for $200 -- about half what it is for six weeks of private lessons at a local trainer, she says. Stores often also have the reputation for having great quality on such services, says Kimberly Gauthier, founder of pet blog KeeptheTailWagging.com. When she was looking for a trainer for her youngest dog, all the people at the dog park were buzzing about a popular trainer at Petco. A Petco spokeswoman says such services are a growth area for the company.
10. "No one's monitoring us."
Consumers have plenty of complaints about pet stores, but laws regulating pet stores are few and far between. With a few exceptions, the USDA-enforced Animal Welfare Act doesn't cover pet stores, which leaves regulation to the states, says USDA spokesman Sachs. The act covers only licensing and inspections for commercial dog breeders that sell to pet stores, and pet stores that sell wild or exotic animals. But the latter has a narrow scope, he says -- the Animal Welfare Act doesn't include birds, reptiles or amphibians, among other creatures, in its definition of "animals." "If there's a pet store that's selling sugar gliders, we would regulate the sale of those," he says. And then, inspectors wouldn't only be looking for problems in the store directly related to care of the exotics, not say, the hamsters in the next cage over.
State laws vary on standards of care that must be provided, and inspections can be as infrequent as once a year. Or never. Massachusetts, for example, is one of several states that doesn't require a license to sell fish. Michael Cahill, director of the division of animal health for Massachusetts, says state law defines pet stores as any place that keeps mammals, reptiles or birds for sale, and so that's where the division focuses its efforts. "Any complaint we get from anyone is followed up by an inspection," he says. Michigan eliminated pet store inspections and licenses in 2009 to save an estimated $150,000 a year in the state budget. The state currently directs consumers with complaints to local animal control officials. "We would love to be able to be out there doing [the inspections], but we also have to look out for our greater mission of food safety and greater animal diseases," says Dr. James Averill, a veterinarian and the director of the Animal Industry Division in Michigan's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. He says the state still gets involved in cases of animal disease at pet stores.
But some states are notoriously tough, Sachs says, and have regulations that set a higher bar than those at the federal level. Earlier this year, the Humane Society pointed to Virginia, Pennsylvania, Oregon, New Hampshire and Washington as the top five states with strong standards of pet care for breeders and stores, and laws that protect consumers who buy puppies. Stores also say they self-monitor. "We have a dedicated live animal vendor certification department, whose members visit every vendor facility each year to ensure our vendors are upholding Petco's standards for animal care and husbandry," says a Petco spokeswoman.
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