My Google Review of Westgate Petco

In April, I posted the following Google review for Westgate Petco. I can see it because I’m always logged into the site from my LG phone, but Facebook friends can’t, so, from what I’ve found while researching the problem, Google isn’t posting my review for all to see because it thinks I still work there, making me a biased reviewer. I’ll fix that when I have time. Until then, here’s the review is in its entirety.

My Google Review

I’m a freelance writer and editor who started working retail to help make ends meet in 2017 because I often wind up working for clients like Destination Cleveland who say they’ll pay me “sometime this fall.”

During my four months at Westgate Petco, at least one mouse, one gecko, one snake, two birds, and several hamsters died in addition to a slew of fish. I say “at least” because a) I wasn’t there every day, and b) I rang registers for weeks until the manager of the small animals department got into a shouting match with the store manager and quit, and I was trained to take up his slack until he was replaced.

Illnesses and injuries included:

• baby ferrets that were diagnosed with respiratory infections;
• numerous guinea pigs that went to the vet w/crusty eyes and noses;
• a lizard with fungus jokingly referred to as “leprosy” that spent several months in a back room until it was well enough to be adopted rather than purchased;
• a dwarf hamster w/a ruptured eye;
• a snake w/a prolapsed rectum;
• a snake w/mites in its eyes; and
• a bearded dragon that suffered a broken arm for God only knows how long before someone noticed.

That one even struck my manager as strange. “How do you not notice his arm’s all bent back like this?” she asked, imitating him, when she trained me how to care for the animals in the so-called Wellness room.

But I wasn’t surprised. A hamster’s toe turned black and fell off after an employee injured him on the sales floor.

The Blame Game at Westgate Petco

Hamster with ruptured eye.

Managers blamed the breeder for some of the illnesses, injuries, and deaths. Sometimes, this was fair. The ferrets started sneezing the day after they were delivered, guinea pigs often came with crusty eyes, and the dwarf hamster with the ruptured eye arrived that way. petMD.com says infection or trauma can cause this, “though it may also happen if the hamster is restrained too tightly from the back of the neck.”

I was constantly reminded that Petco is allowed to reject sick or injured animals, but there was no way I was sending an animal back to a breeder – especially after reading about Petco and PetSmart’s Georgia-based breeder that gassed sick animals and put others in a freezer to kill them. Hamster breeders, the equivalent of puppy mills, have zero incentive to pay a $60+ vet bill for a $14.99 hamster.

Managers also blamed breeding in general. The morning I teared up because a mouse was struggling to breathe, the store manager said it was a common problem because feeder mice have been interbred so often. We placed her in a tank in Wellness and gave her bedding, food, water, and millet, and I held her after my shift until half an hour before the store closed, but she died alone – in pain and undoubtedly scared – overnight.

Why I Quit Westgate Petco

Westgate Petco’s deep freezer for dead animals and fish.

Every time I cried because an animal was suffering a slow, painful, and unnecessary death, I was told, “All animals die.” Although that’s true, Petco shouldn’t accelerate the process. Hamsters weren’t dying because they were old or diseased. They were dying because they were shipped in single-digit temperatures, employees weren’t trained, and a stubborn, arrogant manager refused to listen when I told him cabbage (especially the amount of cabbage being given) was making hamsters sick.

A Westgate Petco hamster dying of wet tail.

As The Hamster House website said, “Hamsters love fruit and vegetables, but you need to be careful about the amount you are giving them. Hamsters are obviously only small creatures and too much fruit and veg in their diet can cause diarrhea.”

The site recommends a smidgen of the following foods:

• apple
• banana
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• carrot
• cucumber
• chicory
• peach
• pear

petMD added the following to the list of safe foods:

• bok choy
• cantaloupe
• celery
• cherry
• kale
• mango
• raspberry
• strawberry
• sweet potatoes (with skin removed)

But “whatever you choose to feed your hamster in addition to their pellets or seed mixture should amount to no more than the size of two raisins,” the site said.

You should’ve seen the amount of cabbage an employee doled out the day before another hamster got wet tail — with a green hind end.

Problems with Petco’s Slogans

Petco has a lot of great slogans, including “Petco: Where animals come first,” “Petco: Where the healthy pets go,” and “Healthier Pets. Happier People. Better World.” Unfortunately, they’re just marketing.

The Problem with “Petco: Where Animals Come First”

Tik Tock animal clock.

While shopping at Petco, you’ve probably heard birds squawk or a cat meow over the P.A. system before a male voice says, “Petco: where animals come first.” According to a training video, this is an hourly reminder for employees to check the animals, reptiles, and fish to make sure they’re alive and well. At Westgate Petco, these welfare checks only occur at 1 p.m., when an employee clocks in to join the employee who’s been feeding the small animals (hamsters, guinea pigs, mice, and ferrets) since 8 a.m. and the employee who’s been manning the register since 9 a.m. [Management will deny this, of course, but corporate could easily send well-trained mystery shoppers into the store to see what happens at the top of the hour at random times on random days.]

The problem, the store manager said, is that, “There is no second anymore.” Corporate expects Westgate Petco employees to greet customers when they walk in the door, talk to them about nutrition, cart heavy items out to their car, answer phone calls, put umpteen pallets of stock away by 1 p.m. on Mondays, change prices, keep track of inventory, mop the salty floor during winter, and care for the animals, reptiles, and fish. But at any given time, there are only two employees and one manager on hand to do it all—and some things fall by the wayside when you have to smoke and check your phone.

The Problem with “Petco: Where the Healthy Pets Go”

In 2011, Adweek poked fun at Petco for changing its slogan from “Where the pets go” to “Where the healthy pets go.”

“[This] is meant to suggest Petco cares about your pet’s health but almost sounds like the opposite—that if your animal isn’t in tip-top shape, he’s S.O.L. and should go elsewhere,” Adweek said.

At Westgate Petco, being S.O.L. depends upon your price point. If you’re a French bulldog, the only breed the 26-year-old inventory manager finds cute, you’ll leave the store with nutritious food and a treat. If you’re a hamster, mouse, or one of the other small animals he has said are nothing more than inventory to him, you may leave in a black plastic bag, Petco’s equivalent to a body bag, after sitting in a deep freezer for a month.

During my four months at the store, at least one mouse, one gecko, one snake, two birds, and several hamsters died in addition to a slew of fish. I say “at least” because a) I wasn’t there every day, and b) I rang registers for weeks until the manager of the small animals department got into a shouting match with the store manager and quit, and I was trained to take up his slack until he was replaced.

The morning I teared up because a mouse was struggling to breathe, the store manager placed her in a tank in the so-called Wellness room; gave her bedding, food, water, and millet; and scheduled a vet appointment for her but warned me that she probably wouldn’t make it till Monday and the inventory manager would be ticked about sending a $4 mouse to the vet. Both he and the district manager were reportedly “pissed” about spending $270 to help a $4 mouse who felt pain like everyone else on the planet. I heard this story time and time again as one hamster after another became sick with wet tail, a fatal form of diarrhea that hamsters get when stressed.

And that’s my problem with the slogan “Healthier Pets. Happier People. Better World.” This world isn’t going to become a better place until people become more compassionate. If your raise or bonus at the end of the year is your only concern about a mouse or hamster suffering a slow, painful death, you shouldn’t be working with animals.