FINCHforum

Hi...
I recently inquired to my local animal control about a concern I had with Petsmart. For the last month all of their birds have been viewable but not for sale due to some issue they were being watched for; now they're all gone and the store told me they are under quarenteen. (I emailed so they could check it out--I thought they might have been distroyed although the store denies it). By the way...I'm in Florida.

The response I've gotten back so is: I (lady at the dept of animal center) was informed that there is a bird illness affecting pet stores right now. The Dept. of Agriculture may be able to also give you information
on that.

I'm waiting on another office's response but wanted to see if anyone else has heard of this or knows how far it might go or what it might be.

Thanks.........Sandy

You can read more about the quarantine here:

PetSmart Quarantine

Ok, to be honest, I love birds just as much as the next finch lover.
IF Petsmart found the disease in the birds that were in their possesion, and they chose to put the birds down, I would be okay with that.

I understand the value of an animal's life, but this disease is nasty and most finches would not live very long if they were to contract it.

Of all the pet stores out there, I trust Petsmart to do what they believe to be correct. They have a lot on the line and to just elimate a bunch of animals for no reason seems unlikely. You have to remember that the people who own Petsmart are animals lovers as well.

We stopped at the local petsmart o see the birds againm, And they are NOT available till April now and sadly only 3 finches are still there, and they are fluffed up and not doing good. Total they had MAYBE 10 birds left, very sad.
I am NOT a petsmart fan any more I think the care of there critters is very LOW but
But I would agree at this point , The birds last night were NOT doing well and it would be better most likely to euthanize them, most were sitting on the bottom of the cages and just not well.

this is a drop from id say 25 birds 5 days ago when I was there.

You know...I was at the PetCo the other day and they STILL have a sweet Sun Conure and a Blue Linnie that have been there since BEFORE Christmas.....it just breaks my heart to see them still in the store.

I guess you're right; I just didn't like the feeling that I wasn't being told te whole truth. I've bought birds from Petsmart and didn't like the idea that things like that were being done or that the birds I've bought might have had something that I wasn't being told of. Luckily (I guess) it's been months before this all started since we got our last birds there.
I was however in there today and the birds are all back. The larger birds (Canaries, ect) seem fine but most of their Finches are also puffy. Honestly though our Petsmart this isn't uncommon.
Thanks for the info.

Sandy

I was in my Petsmart two days ago in Monaca, PA ( 15 miles North of Pittsburgh, PA) where they also had the sign up.
I was told by the manager that they will be able to start selling again at the end of this month

However when there watching the birds, many looked sick to me, sitting puffed up on the bottom, much feather loss.
I dont think i'll ever go back to purchase any live birds there after seeing this

The problem as I see it is that normally they have a good turnover, and the birds do not stay in those overcrowded conditions very long. The birds there now have been there since the beginning of the quarantine period (November?), and I think the stress of the small enclosures, sometimes wierd mix of species and overcrowding is definitely taking it's toll. Once this is over and turnover picks up I believe that healthy birds will once again be available. I just feel so sorry for all of those who have been "stuck", especially since finches are not likely to have been affected by this outbreak.

Well,........ I did go back and buy 2 zebras i had been keeping my eye on.
Thet are doing ok i guess, i never owned finches before.
They seem to eat more when i'm sitting in front of the cage watching an talking to them

How often should millet be given? as a treat?
Would they eat cornmeal, not cooked?

I usually give spray millet as a treat no more often than once a week, just because of the cost. I have used cornmeal as a filler in eggfood, but it is usually left uneaten.

I won't say much for fear that the internet gods will smite me -- BUT...

... I have been very impressed with Petsmart's handling of the bird situation. They did the right thing in trying to save their animals at great cost to the company (honestly... I can't even imagine. Special medicated feed and a whole packet of safety and disinfection procedures and supplies... Rolling that out to every single store plus the labor and vet bills must be a scary number in the end.)

One thing that people always fail to realize is that the number of cases of psittacosis was very, very small. Think 2 in my whole state. But because of the risk of transmission to humans, all birds were quarantined, medicated, and tested.

Another thing that finch lovers really should be able to figure out is... you take a bunch of birds and put them in a warm room, shorten their photoperiod, take them off their normal diet onto a very bland boring one. A few months later you take them back to the longer photoperiod, give them back their cuttlebone/millet/veggies/etc, and what do they perceive that as? It's a change in season. Their birds are going to molt and generally look godawful for a bit. In fact, if they seem to have fewer birds it may be that they moved the heavy molters to the back until they look half decent.

It happened to my guys so I'm sure it happened to others. I had an orange weaver that looked like he'd flown into a fan, but he wasn't sick... just molting into off-season colors.

I know how easy it is to say "eww, pet stores are grody and evil"... but things aren't always what they seem. Then again, sometimes they are. I can't speak for all pet stores obviously!

On a totally different note, it is REALLY hard to work for a pet store and see posts that I can't respond to fully for fear of getting fired! My head is going to explode! LOL

Kittani,......
I take it that you work for a petsmart

kittani79, I so agree with you. There are good petstores and bad petstores, so to condemn them all in one breath is not fair. There are also good and bad breeders! I have gotten a lot of my birds at bird marts. When I was first expanding into other finches, I didn't know what questions to ask at the marts. So, instead of always getting young breeding candidates, I have a feeling I got a few 'old folks.' My fault, I didn't ask. Perhaps if I had specified that I wanted breeding stock, I would have been steered away from some of my purchases. Then again, maybe not.

I believe PetsMart went over the top on this psittacosis situation, and yes, it must have cost them a small fortune. They did the best they could. I have told this story before, but there was a little Strawberry finch at my local PetsMart several years ago. The Zebs had plucked her really badly, so I asked the manager if he would discount her for me. He said he could not discount her, and my heart fell. But then he said, but I can give her to you, she is yours to adopt! What a nice man! And that is the hen that gave me my one Strawberry baby--she will be with me all her life.

WOW,
What a very nice touching story
Thanks Sally

I agree with Sally, there are good stores and bad stores, I am lucky to have found a great store near where I live and the manager is a finch lover, she gives me great advice on how to care for my Javas. All the finches at the store have flight cages and not stressed in the least and it is a joy to go there and watch them all, (the store actually has 3 benches around the cages so you can sit and view them).

Got my eye on a couple of more Javas now...yep, I am thinking about taking the plunge into breeding the little buggers. Got my eye on a couple of Owl finches as well, getting addicted aren't I.