I bought a 2-month-old female rat on 12/16/09 with a 15-day guarantee. Her name was Alice by the time we got home, and she was very sweet. I fell in love with my precious new baby instantly. The night we got her home, she perched on my shoulder, peeking her head out through my hair just to check what was going on. She was the sweetest pet I have ever owned.
By the time I got to work on 12/18/09, my roommate was calling me to tell me something was wrong with Alice. When I got home, her left eye was bulging out of her head and her whole left side was paralyzed. I work for a neurologist and see stroke patients every day, Monday through Friday, and my poor Alice showed the same signs of having suffered a stroke as a human does.
I took her back to Petco and argued with whom I assume was the manager. The treatment this poor rat and I received was beyond poor, and I was disgusted. Alice could not move her left side, her left eye was bulging out of her head, and she could not move her head well. The assumed manager was also rude and snappish to the employee who was helping, who had been a vet technician for four years and agreed with me that it was a stroke. Being talked down to by this manager, I felt like a terrible person for bringing Alice back to them. I even said, "I don't care if you don't return my money, just seek medical help for her, put her down." A stroke is unfixable; there is no way to repair the damage that was done to this poor baby. An hour and a half later, I signed a refund slip, and the nice employee at the cashier volunteered to clock out and take Alice to the vet right then, instead of letting Petco wait to do it at their convenience.
When I called this morning to check on what their vet said, Petco told me she had suffered internal bleeding and had been put down, stating their vet found it was because of "improper handling." I believe I handled Alice like a newborn infant, with gentle hands and a careful eye, as I put her back in her cage. Also, internal bleeding, in a human or an animal, would not have shown such signs unless it was a bleed in the brain (a hemorrhagic stroke).
To say the least, I will never buy another animal or pet product there, ever. I will also discourage people from shopping there. The service was insulting, and it was despicable that the manager in that store wanted to argue and blame me for the state of the rat, which I had had for only two days and which suffered so much, save for the sweet cashier who clocked out during her shift to take Alice to the vet.
I can only hope this note reaches enough people so they are warned against shopping for pets at Petco.
RIP Alice.
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