For nine days, they loved them, handled them like they were supposed to, and fed them fresh fruits and vegetables along with their hay and pellets. They were even starting to make cute little sounds when Katie would come to pet and feed them.
The morning of the 10th day, Katie notices one of them sneezes. Petsmart had said “upper respiratory infections were pretty common and treatable” in guinea pigs. An hour later, the guinea pig begins to breathe funny, so Katie makes a vet appointment as soon as she can.
The Vet tells Katie the guinea pig has pneumonia and is dying and says it will be $200 more to hydrate and medicate. On a fairly fixed income, she can’t afford the medication on top of the $70 vet visit fee she’s already paid. The Vet recommends Katie take the guinea pigs back to Petsmart where they should be able to help her.
An hour later, Katie’s at Petsmart. The Vet had said both are probably infected and Petsmart can treat them on the premises at the Banfield Animal Hospital. She tells Petsmart the situation, and Petsmart takes both guinea pigs back, and gives Katie a refund. Store employees tell Katie they will call her and let her know how they were doing. It’s about 4:30pm.
The next day, Katie calls Petsmart, where she’s updated on the condition of the guinea pigs. “Well, we took them in to the vet this morning and the brown one is fine, but the one that was sick didn’t make it. She, um… she died..,” a Petsmart employee told her.
Common sense for Petsmart when a sick animal is brought back, that the animal be immediately seen by the on-site veterinary hospital. But in this case, 16 hours passed before the guinea pig was seen, when fluids and medication could have been easily given. 16 hours could have made the difference between the guinea pig living and dying.
“My daughter is heartbroken,” Katie said. “Thanks a lot, Petsmart.”
A week after being originally contacted, Petsmart issued a statement, that had clearly been edited multiple times, based on the size of the font and the changes in text color. A week for this response. The consumer has contacted their PR department and has yet to receive a response.
“Thank you for your email inquiring about a customer’s experience at our Antioch, CA store. We’re sorry to hear about this situation; we take all customer feedback very seriously. At PetSmart, we’re pet parents too, and are dedicated to keeping pets healthy and happy.
We recommend that the customer contact us directly at pr@ssg.petsmart.com so we can connect her with the appropriate PetSmart team members as we look into the matter.
Again, thank you for contacting us and we look forward to hearing from this customer.
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This is not the first time Petsmart has faced issues like this. In 2006, PETA found more than 100 small animals, including hamsters, domestic rats, lizards, chinchillas, and birds, who were deprived of veterinary care. In April, an undercover PETA investigation into wholesale animal dealer Sun Pet found Petsmart and PETCO returned animals suffering to Sun Pet instead of providing veterinary care.
Earlier this month, PETCO settled a 1.75 million lawsuit in California alleging PETCO overcharged its customers and improperly cared for some animals. A 2004 lawsuit of $850,000 was also settled over a similar case.
