[pandafishowner]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

So reef_raf, by your rational, no matter the caliber of a dog breeder and the amount of care the put into producing healthy, happy puppies conforming to breed standards, if they sold thier litter to a pet store they would cease to be a reputable breeder? This one feature will erase all other indications of a good reputation?

Some pet stores may not be paying as much as you would from a reputable breeder, but some do. When you look at the pricing of puppies in *edit*, it should be very evident from an assumption on the markup that the prices this company is paying is the same as what Jimbo would be paying from a breeder.

It also does not make much sense for a company to be adopting puppy milled dogs. Would this not cost much more in the long run. If a pet store was to purchase puppies from a reputable source they would see much less health warrenty problems. This simply makes sense.

Last I checked, neither *edit* offer ANY warranty on cats or dogs. Their health warranty was limited to birds, small animals and reptiles, and even that warranty was limited to 14 days from the date of purchase. The cost of accepting dogs (or cats) from a puppy (or kitten) mill is much cheaper than accepting dogs (or cats) from a breeder. Breeders want to guarantee their animals will be well taken care of. That's why the good breeders will actually ask YOU questions as well as answering any questions you may have from them. So yes, it does (to me at least) make sense that pet stores buy from mills. The animals are cheaper, are more unwanted that from breeders. Most mill animals are given to pet stores due to "wrong color" or "too small" or "not friendly enough" to be kept.

My aunt worked at *edit* in Manitoba for 15 years and those are the reasons they were often given animals. As someone said previously, orange and grey kittens are most common at petstores. Why? Because they're not "special" enough colors. She finally quit when they refused to stop supporting mills. Even their birds come from mills. Or I guess, large mass aviaries would be the right term.

When I considered getting a ragdoll kitten, *edit* was asking $1200 for a 6 week old. Kittens aren't supposed to be weaned from their mothers until 8-12 weeks of age. A breeder I looked into was asking a $600 adoption fee, which included all vet checks, first shots, deworming, a temporary license (I think it was 3 months?), and the cost of spaying/neutering (otherwise they make you sign a contract stating you will not breed your intact animal for fear of legal repurcussions). Plus the breeder would not let the kitten go until s/he was 12 weeks of age (3 months). Half the cost through the breeder than I would have paid through *edit*.

Most health problems arise in the later years of life. Petstores tend to sell puppies or kittens. Not older adults, aside from *edit* rescues. But generally those have written information stating if anything is wrong with them and how *edit* came to aquire them.

Also, did you know that at *edit*, you can haggle the prices down? If they paid $600 for a dog from a breeder, do you think they'd haggle the price down? All it took was for me to go back with my information from the breeder with all the costs and *edit* was "willing" to "let it go" for $500.

Wow. What a great store, they obviously cared so much about their animals.