That was my concern too.wildbird wrote: I just hope that Petsmart doesn't decide to kill it because it might not be able to be resold.....
Unfortunately, many DO get euthanized simply due to economics.
Petsmart is a business and the bottom line is money/profits.
Each store has an in-house veterinarian that handles all of their animals -- both the cat adoptions and the small animals, reptiles and birds that are for sale.
When I worked at Petsmart (it was when I was a teen, so about 16-17 years ago?), mites were a death sentence.
This is how the manager explained it to me.....
The per-bird cost of treating mites is rather expensive relative to the cost of the bird. The average zebra finch is $20. Let's say the cost of raising that bird is $5. (Petsmart raises almost all of its birds in a commercial breeding facility). So we'll say there's a $15 profit per bird.
Then you deduct the cost of the medication, plus the cost of administering it, plus the cost of keeping the bird in isolation for at least several weeks, usually longer. And you can't just wait until the mites are gone; they have to LOOK healthy too before you can put it out on the floor. So if they've lost feathers, you need to wait for those to grow back.
That easily eats up your $15 profit.
It's likely it will *cost* PetSmart to cure the bird, especially if he transmits those mites to another bird.
In fact, there's the very high risk of that bird transmitting the mites to all of the other birds. So it's a *huge* liability.
When I worked there, the cost of euthanizing the bird was less than $1. So better to simply euthanize rather than keeping a bird who will at best, break even, or at worst, cost you money to keep alive.
Tis the sad reality of pet shops. It was enough to prompt me to find another job and vow that I'd never purchase an animal from there again. (Though I've been known to take home ailng animals, knowing their fate.)
