HELP!!! HAMSTER PROB (hes still at petsmart & nobody contacted me)

Question

here's wat happened b4:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080730133529AAKvoFs&r=w

so after i got Berry 2 petsmart (w/out my contract recipt) i told the lady tht Berry had wet tail but i wanted 2 get him again after they treated him. she said she'll just need my moms name (we used her name on the contract) so she could find it.

after she found the contract, she said they'll call our home phone (which is on the contract) after they took him 2 the vet.

she still gav our money back on a giftcard though.

& this is the 3rd day; i still havn't gotten a phone call.

it was hard finding a hamster tht didn't bite me @ the store so i really would lik Berry back. i'm not sure wat 2 do; i was thinking of going back but the store is in whitter & its pretty far from us. my mom hasn't gotten an email (her's is on the contract)

does anybody (who's had this prob b4 or works in a petsmart store) know whats goin on? lik wat do they do when they get a sick hamster back in the 14 days, but the shopper wants the hamster back after he's been treated?

hav they put him back in the lil cages where som1 else can get him?

what can i do?

Answer 1

You should call the store and ask to speak to the Pet Care manager. Chances are, they aren't planning on calling you unless they know for sure if the animal is healthy or if the animal is dying.

Not all Petsmart store's are the same, and just because someone had a bad experience working at one that doesn't mean every store is as bad. Petsmart has very strict guidelines for their animal care, and if someone who works there thinks something isn't right they should report it. I worked at Petsmart for 2 years as well, in the Pet Care department, at 2 different stores, and all of the sick animals that needed to see a vet went to the vet. All of the animals were treated with antibiotics prescribed by a veterinarian. I couldn't imagine working some place where I saw animals being mistreated FOR 2 YEARS and not report it (to the anonymous phone line, perhaps?).

I read your previous question, and if you bought Russian dwarf hamsters, they did not have wet tail. Dwarf hamsters do not get wet tail; they can get diarrhea, but diarrhea and wet tail are not the same thing. What you described about your hamster in your previous question doesn't sound like illness at all; it actually sounds like typical hamster behavior. What made you think he has wet tail?

EDIT:  Wet tail and diarrhea are not the same thing. Diarrhea is a SYMPTOM of wet tail; wet tail is an infection in the intestines. It needs to be treated immediately by antibiotics provided by the vet. The over the counter treatments, such as Wet Tail +, which you used, or Dri Tail can actually make the illness worse because they don't treat the infection and can kill off healthy bacteria that's naturally in the animal's digestive tract.

You said you got two black Russian hamsters in your first question; if you got "Russian" hamsters, you got dwarf hamsters. Dwarf hamsters do not get wet tail; only Syrian hamsters ("Teddy bear" "Black bear", etc) get wet tail.

I honestly can't tell you when or if the store will call you. Every store operates differently. When I was the lead associate of Pet Care, I called pet owners to tell them their animal was taken to the vet and what the prognosis was. Other times, my manager did that. If you want to know how your hamster is doing, do as I suggested; call the store and ask to speak to the Pet Care manager. Ask if the hamster was taken to the vet, what the vet said or prescribed, and ask how he's doing. Waiting for them to call is only making you more upset and worried; just call and ask.

Answer 2

Nothing.

It takes more than three days to cure wet tail! It's taken my shop two weeks or more to cure some bad cases.

And they may have not taken him to the vet yet- they take animals in batches.

The shop does NOT put the animal back on sale- they treat it and let you choose to have it back or swap it for another one.

Just because they haven't contacted you, doesn't mean the worst. Normally it means they've just not contacted you. That's all. You should phone them or go in and ask.

I don't know about Petsmart as I'm in the UK- I'm just speaking from my own experiences working in a UK pet shop. We don't even have 'Dry Tail', whatever that is.

***

Actually, hamsters aren't THAT expensive to treat for wet tail, 'vet nurse'.

They need baytril, a fairly cheap medicine, plus force feed water in bad cases, hamster food provided, and a wet chicken based cat food- that cures them pretty quickly, and is not expensive at all- in fact, it's more expensive to put it down!

***

Don't call them threatening to sue!

IT TAKES LONGER THAN THREE DAYS TO EVEN START TO CURE WET TAIL.

You need to contact them and see how he is.

Pet shops can get busy and it's easy to forget to call or even forget you promised to call- we don't call the owners until the pet is ready to be picked up or has died. We don't give them a daily call to say 'it's still breathing'.

Answer 3

go back to the store, and even if the hamster bites you he might just need to get used to you at first i got bite by my hamster a lot, but now he loves me.

Answer 4

Next time you havea problem with an animal bought from a store, take it straight to a vets and give the receipt for the bill to the pet store so they can reimburse you. Hamsters are only worth a few dollars, I doubt many pet stores would be interested in spending the necessary $$ on getting one treated at a vets. They'd either put in back in the cage or have it put to sleep I think is more likely.

Personally I would just go back to the pet store and ask what happened. If you paid for the hamster and haven't yet got your money back then they owe you, but giving your money back is all they're obliged to do unless you have a contract stating the contrary.

Chalice

Answer 5

call them back, and never go to that store again for the hamster.

Answer 6

if you got your money back...there is nothing you can do.  chances are it will die, because petsmart does not treat them with antibiotics (no matter what they tell you) they're going to keep it isolated and give it "drytail" which does nothing but mask the symptoms of wettail.  Unless you saw them take it to a vet, they didn't take it to the vet.  And if they took it to banfield, banfield is very limited on their knowledge about small animals.

No one is going to contact you about the state of your animal.

I worked there for 2+ years and watched little kids bring back their sick pets they had for 2 days...heard promises of contacting them and taking excellent care of the pet...and neither of them were upheld.

I am very very sorry you had to go through this.

Answer 7

well theres nothing you can really do but you can go to the pet and try to ask if they can give you any info on him or just look for a new one...good luck