About us

Most pet shops sell animals as well as pet supplies. These stores need employees who will clean out cages and aquariums, feed animals on a regular basis, and walk and play with those animals that need exercise and human attention. The kinds of animals you'll end up working with will depend on the store, but they could include everything from cats and dogs to birds, fish, snakes, turtles, and rabbits. You might have to change the water in a fish tank, rearrange the rocks and sticks in a turtle's box, or feed a hungry snake live mice for dinner.

Too often conditions that seem cruel and inappropriate do not actually violate any laws of the state in which the store is located.

In API’s 2005 undercover investigation in California, nearly half of the pet shops visited displayed animals who showed signs of illness, injury, or neglect. Nearly half of the stores also sold animals showing clear symptoms of psychological distress.
More than half of the stores in our investigation failed to provide environmental enrichment to one or more animals in their care.