German Shepherds Forum banner

Petsmart (advise against or go ahead?)

2K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  Drew Orleans 
#1 ·
Getting my little guy in a week and can't wait. I'm about to head over to pet smart to knock some shopping out but remember hearing on here that might be a bad idea. Should I be trying to buy everything online instead because you never know what might be lurking in the pet store (parvo)?

I appreciate any and all input.
 
#4 ·
I hadn't even thought of that...I bought all our puppy paraphernalia from Pet Supermarket. Pups frequent the place but there's no clinic. If you don't want to deal with shipping is there any pet supply store that doesn't offer veterinary services nearby?

Sent from Petguide.com Free App
Parvo takes a while to incubate. People take their puppies who they believe are healthy into the store where they walk around and nose things.
 
#3 ·
I certainly would not take the puppy to the pet store. I have purchased stuff from pet stores for pups, but buying on line would limit the number of dogs that might have come into contact with the stuff for your dogs. Parvo is some scary stuff.

Is your breeder going to do the first shots, and when is she doing them?
 
#8 ·
honestly don't buy to much, I found mine liked playing with oh, milk jugs, tennis balls stuffed in socks, better than the stuff I bought !
 
#11 ·
Check out Chewy.com :) Someone introduced it to me and I'm obsessed.

But I guess it really depends on my area. I got a lot of my stuff from walmart/petco and never had any problems, but most of the people here are big dog people and are smart about health, etc.
 
#13 ·
I go to Petsmart and Petco to check things out and see what I might want. It's a good hands-on shopping trip. However, I rarely buy from there things that aren't on sale or that I KNOW I can't get anywhere else and I really do need. I do my window shopping and idea shopping there, then I go to WM and get what I need.

I have the metal bowls from WM and I love them- throw them in the dishwasher and we're good. I have several to keep in rotation. I've gotten most of my leashes and harnesses from WM with the exception of a leather collar. I just don't like the high mark up at Petsmart/Petco.
 
#14 ·
Huh, I'd never even thought about that. And I work at a Petsmart! If you're very paranoid about your puppy getting parvo, then maybe just window shop and buy things online (as I believe someone else said) because Amazon is WAY cheaper. Yay for 10-15 dollar KONGs! As opposed to the $30 gouge that they are at Petsmart :p Well, at least because I normally buy the super sized Kongs.

Anyways, I've been buying from the store through, oh, maybe 25-30 puppies now and never had a problem. I guess if you still want to pick things up from the store but stay on the safer side, you could stick to the products that are towards the back of the rack (like toys) or the bottom of the stack (like bowls). I would avoid bins entirely as I've seen people actually just put their puppy in the bottom bins of toys because they think its cute to watch them roll around in all the stuffies. But, ultimately online is going to be cheaper.
 
#15 ·
Lol, I wouldn't get too worked up about walking through a pet store. Their floors are extremely cleanable and tend to be cleaned up fairly well. The chances of walking through a park that has parvo waiting in the wings is vastly higher than getting it from a pet supply store.

My last puppy was literally on the same property with parvo puppies. I often had to nurse them, even if everyone knew that I had my puppy (because he came with me to work every day I was there), and I carried him out to a place on our property I knew didn't get as many dog travelers, however it did get dog travelers! He never came down with it. Nor have I managed to bring it to my house. You just have to be aware and think!

Bleach is good at killing parvo. Worried you possibly picked it up from the store? Spray the soles of your shoes outside and let them dry in the sun. So long as there's no dirt/poo/interesting things on the soles of your shoes, the solution will take care of it. :) You could even clean toys up with bleach solution that you purchase before they play with them.
 
#16 ·
Parvo is shed through poop. So the only way one would have to worry is if a puppy with parvo pooped on said toy and then it was purchased. A dog gets parvo by smelling poop or even smelling/licking poop off a persons shoe that walked in a pile of poop from a dog with parvo.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top