Petland Fenton Crossing — Local services in Fenton

BEWARE PETLAND FENTON CROSSING PARVO OUTBREAK My daughter and her boyfriend purchased an 8-week old Pembroke Welsh Corgi on 7/6/24 at Petland Fenton Crossing in Fenton, MO. After three days their puppy, Dixie, started coughing, wouldn’t eat, horrible runny nose, diarrhea, and vomitting. They took their puppy to the Petland approved veterinarian where Dixie was diagnosed with Parvo and Pneumonia. After 8 days of hospitalization, 4 antibiotics, 2 plasma transfusions, IV fluids, syringe feeding, and constant care, she developed anemia and slowly declined. Fluid filled her lungs constraining her breathing, no appetite causing her to fall below 4 lbs, core body temperature declining below 95 degrees, her PVC dropped to 10 (normal is 80), and so many other issues that the decision to euthanize had to be made today.

Insurance through Petland will pay for the vet bill, but that’s not enough for the pain and suffering of the family and the pet. Unfortunately we did our research on their inhumane practices too late. Petland said Dixie was sent to them almost a week ago from a breeder in Indiana. Per the veterinarian, Dixie contracted Parvo prior to adoption and unknowing to my daughter and her boyfriend as it was still in incubation period.

We notified Petland Fenton Crossing once Dixie was hospitalized. I seriously doubt they sanitized or notified other families who adopted puppies at the same time of a Parvo outbreak. I worry about the puppies currently waiting to be adopted. We have filed complaints with Better Business Bureau and the Missouri Department of Argriculture. Please share this post so other loving families don’t experience the same pain watching their new family member suffer and so facilities like Petland close their doors.

Thank you!

Here is some of the background of their operation from a former Petland Veterinary Technician:

Disease runs rampant in puppy mills, and most of the puppies are sick upon their arrival at Petland Stores, those who are not soon will be. Their diseases are highly contagious and are transmitted through airborne contamination. The sick puppies contaminate the others in transport and while housed at Petland. Petland knows they are all sick and they try to sell them quickly before signs of illness become readily apparent, during the incubation period of their diseases between when they are exposed and when they show symptoms which is approximately 7-10 days.

Petland is the only remaining national chain of pet stores to sell puppy mill puppies and they single handedly keep puppy mills in operation.

People think they are "saving" a puppy from pet store life when they buy a puppy from Petland, but they are not saving anyone. They are simply creating a space in a cage to be filled by another puppy mill puppy. For every $1200 on puppy sales, Petland buys 5-10 more puppies to suffer in the place of the one that was purchased. As long as there are people to buy these puppies, the mills will continue to produce them.

Many Petland locations are franchised, however, the Petland corporation maintains strict control over the operations of every store through their franchise contacts because they have a financial interest in the the revenue of each store, 4.5% a week to be exact. Corporate dictates from where the stores source their puppies. Store owners can only choose from a group of "approved suppliers", all of which are puppy mills. Many of these puppy mills are in Indiana.

Their sales staff are comprised of young, easily manipulated, inexperienced, money driven employeess in their late teens to early twenties. Their income is commission based and once they get a taste of the kind of money they can make, they will tell whatever lies they have to...

First off I will never put my self thru this type of torment ever again.Second something w/ pet stores like this needs to change at this day & age.!?. I started online,knew what I was looking for but no price is shown! & was directed to an actual store- Upon arriving to this Petland I'm greeted enthusiastically by Dom w/ an already excited and anxious type dog asking me if I'd like to play with this guy as I'm approaching a window of dogs that I'm not immediately aware that they are not ready yet,still knowing what I'm looking for and not really seeing her yet....so as I walk along this salesman Dom is like literally trying to push another dog off on me when I clearly stated I knew what I'm looking for.. So when I find Dog I am instantly falling in love with this animal that I'm still not seeing any price or amount of Dog just all these lil animals in a kinda Hell that I want to remove them all from unfortunately I won't be doing that this day- Dom gets Dog takes Me & My cousin to a "meeting" area where we can interact and start a bonding session w/in this cell I start to see lil girls character and she's looking up at me as carefully checking me out and nuzzles into my arm and goes to sleep,stretched out she snoozing & farting.How sweet lil baby is but my heartbreak is about to begin I look around and I look around and I see all this extra stuff and totals that is w/ the "adoption" really I dont need & can get later if I want but is nice they have done it but still wondering what is this dogs price going to be.... I ask my cousin what do I do just call him over.shes like yeah or just stand up now during this whole bonding process & falling in love w baby upon the checking were brought papers of linege and history or Dog all things that's nice on paper. Then blankets which we won't need she's a lil heater- And even treats that she eats and looks so bloated and yes more farts this time on my cousin. Ah the love and how cute I think I'm ready to take this lil Lady home w/ me..... Yeah she's going to be $4000 Ok well take her away cause that's just crazy ridiculous and I'm not sure if this sale is commission based or wth but this is crazy for you to do this to a person or persons & the animal on a daily for what you said "they last about 2 weeks" going thru the many hands and people is just SAD and ridiculous I feel sorry for all them Dogs from first Display to the Last "were" ready Display cause it's all about the Dollars & who's got how many not even if it's going to get a good safe loving home just how much are you willing to pay for that~ Well you'll find out or not shopping at Pricey Petland of Fenton or Lake St Louis were I was actually in route to but that Dog was now in the actual time of being Sold! You see idiots starting to just walk out of places with these Dogs and do crazy things to get them. They wind up with bad people & stuff & this is why cause these stores run these animals thru it. Like a good Dog is not going to sit,it will go and a Dog so pricey that the process you & it are going thru is just dumb! Shame on all pet stores if this is the process! Shame on sales people & their shady sales tactics Shame! I will never go into a petland like this ever again! This really disturbed me & made me a lil sick. Good luck if you do & are reading this.... Prepare for the Heart break unless you have...

Beware This company (as a whole) is the real life equivalent of a strange man asking if kids want to see the cute puppies in the back of their kidnapper van. And yes I did fall into their trap.

!!!READ THE CONTRACT/WARRANTY!!! TAKE THEM TO YOUR OWN VET!!!

We bought (not adoption!!) our puppy from them in September 2023. He had been there for several months and was too big to be with the other puppies so he was by himself. He was also heavily discounted (he was still almost $2000). We have 4 other adult dogs that have all been through extensive training and have gotten top notch health care. So I knew that I wasn’t going to stick with the “pre-approved” vets that petland selected for us. Per the contract that you sign for the warranty you are required to get all medical care at one of their pre-approved vets otherwise your warranty is void. We did the initial vet visit with them and they didn’t want to do his 4 month shots (that he was due for) or look into his foul liquid poops because it’s a free visit and they wouldn’t be able to charge for it. They wanted me to come back in a week for another visit. I had already set up an appointment for my vet to have a look at him. The technician all but explicitly said “you will void your warranty” if I took him to my vet and anything my vet finds won’t be covered because it can only be diagnosed by a pre approved vet.

So I got to reading my warranty to see if it was even a big deal. Because Petland really pushes the warranty thing. Well don’t be surprised here! You only get store credit for another puppy! Oh and you don’t get to keep your puppy if there’s a problem and you call on the warranty. No, they take them and cull them or send the back to the “breeders” that cull them. So now you not only are out $$$$ but you also lose your new puppy. AND you can only replace it with a puppy from Petland.

After taking my boy to my vet and trying special diets (not the horrible grain free that Petland pushed down our throats when we bought him), countless medications, and about 15 special blood tests to figure out why my puppy had liquid poop for months we found he had an undetectable strain of Giardia and he was very sick. All of the other puppies that were at Petland the 3 times we were there to visit our puppy had liquid stool and were living in it and some were eating it. Giardia is hard to get rid of in these conditions. And the fact that there are always new puppies coming in and out the Giardia will never ever die at the Petland location in Fenton or any other Petland. We have spent nearly $10,000 on medical bills for our puppy since we got him from Petland. Fortunately our other dogs were less susceptible because they are adults. If you have elderly pets or puppies at home DO NOT PLAY WITH THE PUPPIES AT PETLAND you will bring it home to your pets. Oh and people can also get Giardia just fyi.

In short, I am happy we saved our boy from this company. And this place should be...