Observations At PetsMart

If you attend a bird fair or bird organization meeting the topic of PetsMart invariably comes up. Local conversation does not center around the supplier of PetsMart birds, Kaytee Preferred Birds. Rather, it centers on the declining condition of the birds once they reach the stores.

PetsMart prices parrots 50% higher than birds raised by breeders in the local area. Most serious buyers research their purchase and deal with a local breeder. This leaves the bird in the store to be purchased by an uninformed impulse buyer or a person that buys the bird to save it from PetsMart.

The staff may be trained to handfeed birds on schedule but the staff turns over rapidly. PetsMart is a revenue driven pet-related department store. The incentive is not to cuddle and pamper the live animals in the store...it is to move them out the door.

The last 3 parrot buyers I have spoken to indicated that the bird they purchased from PetsMart was stressed(as indicated by their feathers) or partially mutilated. All three buyers received substantial discounts on their birds by the store manager. It would seem that if the store priced the birds correctly to begin with that they would have moved the bird sooner and the bird would not be in as poor condition.

Better yet, if the stores referred potential customers to qualified breeders, the customers would still buy cages, toys and food from the store. The buyer would get a better bird and better training and the store would retain a customer.
- posted by J-Birds @ 10:22 PM |