Pet Wonderland Inc — Local services in Wilkes-Barre

This is a very long story so I will shorten it and keep it to facts rather than opinion. I purchased a Shiba Inu from Pet Wonderland on 8/26. Immediately that night, my puppy was up all night hacking and coughing. We scheduled a vet appointment for 8/28, two days later. At the vet, it’s determined my puppy has kennel cough. While in the vets office, I contacted Pet Wonderland to ask if they will cover my bill plus pay for additional testing to rule out any other conditions such an pneumonia as recommended by the vet. Per Sandy, the owner, they would not cover testing. She had said that they didn’t need to run all of those tests and that the antibiotics would be sufficient. So, we had no testing done and went home with the antibiotics. The kennel cough cleared. Then, the beginning of October, my puppy was still having loose stools. At first we thought it was the transition to our home then we though it was the dog food but when it didn’t start to clear up, we took her to the vet again. This time, she was diagnosed with Giardia. Giardia is an intestinal parasite, contracted by drinking water contaminated with feces. This parasite can also be contracted to humans. I called Pet Wonderland again. This time, I asked for reimbursement. I was told to bring in my bills for review. I brought them in on October 10th, was told I’d be called in a couple of days to pick up my refund. I followed up with Pet Wonderland on October 15th after not hearing from them. Was told Sandy wasn’t in and I’ll get a call back. I called them again on October 17th and was told to come in on Saturday (October 20th) to pick up my refund. I had asked for an amount of the refund, I wasn’t given one. My vet bills totaled $295.90. They offered me $150. That was the total of the bills less the vaccines and exam fees. I also presented information in regards to the breeder my puppy came from. Her breeder is listed as Gealea Nichols, 2329 Hwy 16 in West Point Iowa. A google search of this breeder brings up results of a Steve Kruse, address 2345 Hwy 16 West Point Iowa. Steve Kruse is a known puppy mill breeder. When I presented this to Sandy at Pet Wonderland, I was told there’s no relation to these breeders even though their addresses are nearly identical. My entire visit today, Sandy was on the phone. She failed to introduce herself to me when I showed up nor did she have a personal conversation with me. She interjected at times when I had asked to get the exam costs covered. They had offered me store credit for one exam which I refused. I gave them two stars for many reasons: Lorraine, an employee, is very kind. Sandy is lucky to have her even though she did lie about the puppy mill issue. Also, they did refund me a portion of my money for the bills. However, the puppies are sick as evidenced from my experience. They lied about their puppies coming from puppy mills. It’s possible not all of their puppies come from mills but mine did. The prices are truly too expensive. I could’ve purchased a Shiba Inu from a breeder at half the cost. Also, I’m not satisfied with how the owner of the company handled our meeting. She was...

I am a proud American citizen, a Hispanic woman, and a mother. I recently moved from New York to Pennsylvania — and never in my life had I experienced racial discrimination… until I encountered the owner of Pet Wonderland.

Last week, I had a scheduled appointment with a realtor to view a property located directly across the street from this store, on busy Blackman Street where parking is very limited. My husband briefly stopped near the business while we waited for the realtor to arrive.

Within minutes, the store owner, came out shouting across the street. Due to the traffic noise, I couldn’t hear him, so I crossed over to speak with him calmly and respectfully. Instead of listening, he screamed in my face and told me to get out of there. I tried to explain that we were waiting for our realtor and that we were not parked — just positioned to move once the agent arrived. But he continued yelling, getting close to my face in an intimidating and aggressive manner.

Then, when he saw I wasn’t intimidated by his yelling, he said to me, “Should I call ICE?” — as if threatening me based on the assumption that I wasn’t a U.S. citizen because of the color of my skin. I told him firmly, “Go ahead and call.” He seemed surprised by my reaction. I am a citizen. So is my husband. So is my family. His threat meant nothing — but it said everything about him.

What truly broke my heart is that my two young sons, just 7 and 4 years old, witnessed this entire encounter. They were visibly scared. That’s not the America I want for my children.

Later, I did some research and found that back in 2000, this same man was sued for racial discrimination in a very similar case involving an African American man who was asked to leave the store because of the color of his skin. That was 25 years ago. Some things clearly haven’t changed. And I wonder how many people have remained silent out of fear — fear of being threatened with ICE or worse.

I’m not afraid. And I will not be silent.

To my fellow Hispanic, Black, Native, and non-white communities: please be cautious. Don’t give your name. Don’t give your money. Don’t give your dignity to someone who believes that your skin color makes you lesser.

There are ways to ask people to move their vehicle — with respect, with decency, with human kindness. This man chose none of that.

Let’s be clear: America is not a white country. It was built on Native land — taken from the original people who lived here long before any European ever set foot on it. We are not strangers here. We belong just as much — and we have the right to live without fear of discrimination.

I’ve thought about taking legal action, but I’ve decided to leave this in God’s hands. Still, I will not stay quiet. And I hope this message reaches the people who...

I'm writing this as a warning to anyone looking to buy a pet from this place!

My fiance, her mother, and myself visited this store late last month, and we stopped to look at the kittens that were for sale. We already offer home to a few cats, so needless to say, all kittens can be a tempting buy. My fiance ended up falling in love with this very loveable and friendly kitten, so we just had to have it.

Upon the purchase, however, when the kitten was brought to us, there was litter or something stuck to her foot, so they took her in the back to clean her up a bit more. When she was brought back up to us, the lady took the liberty to tell us that she also cleaned her ears out, "as they can get kind of dirty" she said. Something we should have considered fishy, anyway, we brought her home, named her Lola, and had a special cage, completely fixed up to keep her in until we could get her check for feline leukemia.(we cant introduce her to the other cats of the household until then really)

We noticed within the first hour of having her home, that she was shaking her head alot and scratching her ears constantly. We decided to give her a bath, and after the bath, my fiance's mother began cleaning Lola's ears. She ended up use both ends of four q-tips, just pulling gunk from this poor little kittens ears. Managed to convince our vet to take a quick look because we were worried, and it turned out Lola had a very contagious case of ear mites. (she was kept in a box full of kittens at pet wonderland, so they all had to of had it. And those employees knew about it, but never said a word.) After the vet visit, and a day later, while neither myself or my fiance were home, her mother decided to comb her.....and ended up finding 3 fleas on the spot, and 2 more later after another bath. Now....its possible she got these from the vet, but somehow my gut wants to say pet wonderland.

Anyway, its been over 2 weeks of constantly vacuuming the house and having Lola contained to a different room as to be cautious of spreading anything to the rest of the house. We finally might have her cleaned up from any pests, and she goes today for her leukemia check, and follow-up ear mite check. Those 2 weeks were only so grueling because this pet store isn't selling clean animals. Please, please, please, buyers beware....take a flea comb with you, and have those employees clean the animals ears in front of you before you buy. I'd say to avoid this place entirely, but my sympathy goes out to those suffering animals stuck in there waiting for good people to save them. So please, do your research and ask questions! DO NOT BLINDLY BUY LIKE WE DID THINKING THAT A PET STORE...