Consumerist
economy
Posts Tagged “
Pets
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economy
grocery shrink ray
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits "Science Diet" Cat Food
We've been getting quite a few complaints about Hill's Science Diet Cat Food. It seems that they've shrunk their bag and (in some stores) the price went up too. More »
The CDC says several large salmonella outbreaks going back to 2006 were started by tainted dog food. "This is the first time human illness has been linked to dry dog food," says a CDC epidemiologist. Always wash your hands after handling pet food.
bad company
This Online Pet Store Has Rabies
On the surface, Hands-N-Paws caters to owners-n-their-dogs, but the company's real stock in trade is being hilariously rude to its customers. When someone asked them to cancel an order immediately, they wrote back, "No..not immediately, when we can get round to it." When another person threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau, they wrote back, "File it. Blackmail gets you nowhere, honey." They even have a "Hall of Shame" on their website where they list the email addresses of customers they hate most of all. This is why we make all of our cats' clothing out of old newspaper. More »
birthday parties
Should You Buy A Monkey?
Like so many of us, Stewart at My Family's Money has always wanted to own a monkey. His reasoning is sound: "They are ridiculously awesome and having one as a pet would be even more awesome." Stewart decided it would be a good idea to estimate the total lifetime cost of owning a monkey. We think he's playing a little fast and loose with the numbers, but then again where do you go to get hard stats on monkey ownership? Not from our lazy Census takers, that's for sure. More »
videos
Is Your Vet Ripping You Off?
KNBC went undercover and found a bunch of vets are more sales people than pet doctors, using fear to sell more treatment than is necessary. They took pets with minor ailments, checked out by a vet, to several different vets. Instead of getting the minor fixes they should have been recommended, these vets advised expensive extra tests, procedures, and medicines geared more towards lining their pockets than healing the pets. One dog had an upset stomach but was recommended a $300 "eyelid scraping," despite his eyes being perfect. When confronted, the vet said she had done nothing wrong, and "eyelid scraping is not done in the states, but she used to do it in Austria." She also admitted there was nothing the matter with the dog's eyes. The report says that if you get recommended an expensive procedure, get a second opinion.
Vet Investigation [KNBC]
insurance
Owner Still Has To Pay For Dead Cat's Banfield Health Plan
Sarah Harper was surprised to learn she would have to keep making payments on her cat's "wellness plan" even after the cat was dead. She was told that she had signed a one-year contract and would have to honor it. Though the service sold by Banfield pet hospitals is packaged like and sounds like insurance, it's not, it's a payment plan. The media kit Banfield sends to reporters explicitly says "wellness plans are not insurance policies." The contract does say that owners will still have to make payments even if the animal has passed away. However, brochures provided to consumers don't say anything like that, instead saying things like it's, ""the best preventive care your pet needs to maximize its life," and that after you enroll, "your pet is on its way to a happier, healthier and longer life!" Catveat emptor.
Up a tree over dead cat's health plan [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to David!)
customer service
Dillard's Boots Disabled Iraq War Vet And His Service Dog, Too
Dillard's ejected disabled Army Staff Sergeant J. Alex Gozalez and his service dog Mason for violating the store's no animals policy. The store manager did not believe that Gonzalez is disabled because he is neither blind nor deaf. Gonzalez uses Mason—who wore a vest reading: "SERVICE DOG - DO NOT PET"—to help keep his balance. More »
Sergeants SentryPro XFC flea treatment gives pets Pyrethrin Toxicity, causing them to vomit and not be able to walk, and in one case, a dog died. Petco still has the stuff on its shelves. [Gibberish Is My Native Language]
complaints
Chew Toy Kills Reader's Dog
LeAnn writes:
On Friday, November 16, 2007, my dog, Catfish, died. Catfish died from ingesting a toy I bought her from the Dollar Tree. This was a dog toy by "Paws N Claws", called a "Chase and Fetch Chew Toy". It was a plastic boomerang distributed by Greenbrier International Inc. from Chesapeake, Virginia.More »Here is an account of how things happened...
cruelty
PetSmart Employee Beats Dogs, Keeps Job
Reader Matt watched a PetSmart PetsHotel employee strike several dogs while waiting to pick up his pet. Matt immediately spoke with the store manager, who called the next day called to condemn the employee's actions as 'horribly inappropriate,' and to promise that the employee would no longer work with dogs. Ten days later, Matt received another call, this time from the District Manager...the District Manager called us back and stated that she watched the video in slow motion, and that while she could understand how we interpreted the employee's gestures to have been inappropriate, that she has concluded that the man was just playing with the animals, did not in fact strike any dogs, and was not inappropriate.Matt writes: More »
complaints
PetCo Sells Dog Food That Expired 3 Years Ago
Marc's puppy is ill and he suspects the culprit is some expired dog food he bought at PetCo.
This past Tuesday my Yorkie Mason began throwing up, and not having the best appetite in the world. After throwing up 6 times in one day, we figured something was wrong with him, so of course we took him to the Doggie ER. They evaluated him, and said he may be dehydrated, and did some type of procedure on him. The next day, he was somewhat ok, but still not his normal playful self. He has now been under the vets care, and has spent two nights there under the vet's watch. I called the vet last night and told him what I discovered: Expiration dates from 2004 on the Eukanuba canned dog food I purchased. Now, I purchased 5 cans of this dog food, and 2 of them have the 2004 expiration date. I don't know if the other cans he has finished may have had this expiration date on it since I have thrown those away already.Yikes. We're obviously not experts on the health effects of expired pet food, but let's assume that the food went bad and made your puppy ill. You'll probably want to document everything and then contact PetCo to see what compensation they'll offer you. It's likely that they'll just offer to replace the food, but you may be able to get a gift card or other compensation from them if you make a good case that the food injured your pet.
Now, I really want to go to PETCO and punch someones face for this, but I'm really not the violent type, so I would love for you to give me some heads up on what to do!
This story reminds us that people should still keep an eye out for both expired pet food and recalled pet food. Stores are much less vigilant about pet products than they are about food meant for people. Give a hug to the puppy for us, he's adorable.
Has this happened to you or your pet? What did you do?
419
The latest iteration of the so-called 419 advance fee scam features adorable puppies to win the hearts and bank accounts of Craigs List and Puppyfind.com readers.
Advance Fee Scammers Now Exploiting Cute Puppies
The latest iteration of the so-called 419 advance fee scam features adorable puppies to win the hearts and bank accounts of Craigs List and Puppyfind.com readers.[Michelle Waltenburg of Tacoma] was on the Craigslist web site looking at the classified ads for pets when she came across an ad for a "lovely English bulldog puppy needing a loving and caring home."More »
After independent tests show lead in Walmart pet toys, Instead of solving the problem or even fulfilling a pledge to test the toys, Walmart summoned one of its PR minions from a pile of feces located under a cesspool in Chernobyl to try to bully ConsumerAffairs.com with legal threats and disinformation. [ConsumerAffairs]
You don't have to spend $30 at Petco to gussy up your small dog in embarrassing winter wear, says the MAKE blog. Just find an old argyle sock and follow their simple, six-cut pattern. Warning: it makes a hat, too! [makezine.com]
unconditional love
3 Ways To Make Sure Your Pets Are Cared For After You're Gone
Earlier this month, the media reported that dead scary lady Leona Helmsley left $12 million to her dog, presumably to ensure that Trouble is well cared for, but also to be humorously cruel to the two grandchildren who got nothing. This inspired USA Today's "Your Money" columnist Sandra Block to list 3 ways you can plan for your pet's continued care after you go to "have tea with Mrs. Helmsley" (we don't want to upset the children in the room). More »
scams on the internet
Don't Fall For The Nigerian Puppy Scam!
Bankrate has an extensive round up of the most common internet pet scams, including the infamous "Nigerian Puppy Scam." (Yes, apparently this exists.) More »
TOBY & ME Jewelry Sets (lead), Children's Divine Inspiration Charm Bracelets (lead), Thomas and Friends, Curious George and Other Spinning Tops and Tin Pails (lead), SpongeBob SquarePants
Address Books and Journals (lead), Krasdale Gravy Dry Dog Food 5lb Bags (salmonella), one unaccounted for Red Flannel Large Breed Adult Formula Dry Dog Food 50lb Bag (salmonella).
