| Don't feel guilty Donna. Buying a sick bird can cause lots of trouble
in ones life. I should know. My sick Budgie, Ruffles cost me
approximately $120.00 in vet bills and lots of heartache. He only
lived 4 weeks after I purchased him and would have died no matter how
much money I spent because he had a fatal, incurable disease.
It's shameful how some stores pass these birds along to unsuspecting or
emotional people who try their best to save them. I have vowed never
to buy from a pet shop again and to never buy a sick bird again. Maybe
if these vendors get stuck with all their sick birds that nobody will
buy, maybe they will start taking better care of them in the first
place. You did the right thing by not taking those birds home.
Jeanne
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| Donna,
You did fine. You can't save the world. If you buy their sick Budgies
they will buy more sick budgies. Some people just consider animals for
sale as commodities and not a life form. Employees in some of these
stores must really feel bad when they see them everyday and can only do
so much. I would like to get hold of the people in charge and yank out
their tail feathers.
What I really hate is when stores that have a world of toys for
children also sells small pets. This is just propagating the attitude
that pets are nothing more than toys.
I could go on and on, but better stop.
Doug
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| Donna,
I have to learn to do the same thing. I have purchased 3 sick birds in
my
association with them. Fortunately, all 3 are still living and have
ended up doing quite well. At least, I know this about one of them.
I still own her, a Mollucan Coakatoo (Roxy).
I purchased her from a pet shop who got her
nearly dead from a couple who knew nothing
about taking care of her. When I got her, she
was a little better but was still very thin and had very rough
dull plumage. The other 2 birds were purchased
from a pet shop and quarantine respectively. On the Quarantine
bird, I spent aprox. $800.00. Fortunately,
she survived and when I last saw her was happy and healthy.
The other one I bought from the pet store had
an infection called Proteus which I had never heard of before.
I spent about $150 on him.
He was doing find when I last saw him too.
I have vowed never to buy a bird from
a pet store again unless I know for a fact that
they get their birds domestically.
Fortunately, there are 2 of these in
Atlanta. Otherwise, I'll get them straight from the
breeder.
Laurie
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| It is sad to hear about bad pet stores, but I would like to mention a very good
pet store in Dallas, Animal Kingdom. We haven't been there in a while (we have
taken our blue and gold macaw that we bought there back for a few visits, you
can meet him (???) in note 595), but every time we go in, their birds are
uniformly friendly. They always buy very young from breeders and then give
each bird tender care. Everyone who works there plays with them, so they all
have good personalities and are used to lots of handling and different people.
Their policy is not to sell dogs or cats because 1) good breeders can sell
better quality animals, 2) too many pet shops get their animals from so-called
puppy factories, where they are bred in poor conditions, and 3) too many people
buy impulsively and then end up turning the animals loose or sending them to
the Humane Society. I would recommend to anyone looking for a friendly bird to
check them out. While we are having our own problems adjusting to our bird, he
is certainly one of the friendliest we ever met, which is why we bought him
(some people even buy expensive birds a little too impulsively!). As for the
pet corner of your local store, if you bug them enough about taking better care
of their animals, hopefully they will either do it or stop selling them. Either
way ends poor care.
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