Little irritations

Flippy’s sister-in-law loves it when I write cranky blog entries, or so she tells me.  This entry isn’t so much cranky as just irritated, so I hope it will suffice.

The kittens are growing more rapidly by the day, and even though they’re in what seems like a HUGE Rubbermaid container, they’re quickly out-growing it.  With a litterbox at one end, a bed at one end, and two dishes in the middle, there isn’t much room left for them to play and wrestle (or to just exercise).  I decided today to go buy a “cat cage”—one of those large metal cages, with plastic shelves, which sits on the floor but has room inside for all sorts of things.  We first tried Petsmart, who had none in stock (despite advertising a couple on their website).  We then went to Petco, and were told that the only one left was a floor model.  That was where the fun began.  I could tell that the cage wasn’t assembled properly, and was asking for help from the sales person to disassemble it, and she more or less ignored me.  Actually, what she did was to put it back together again, incorrectly, despite my pointing out that it was obviously wrong.  I asked if there was an assembly instruction guide, and was told “No”.  I asked if the store would price-match their website price for the same product (as Petsmart happily does), and I was told, “Maybe”.  As the checkout line grew longer and longer (the only checkstand open, of course), a manager was consulted, much whispering ensued, and we were reluctantly given a price match.  This was substantial, as the item in the store was $70 more than the item on the website.  You’d think we were robbing them at gunpoint, though, despite the fact that I said, more than once, it was okay if they couldn’t match prices, I’d just go home and shop online.  I was still buying other items from them, and I was certainly polite and friendly.

We bought the cage, rolled it out the front of the store, and when we tried to lift it up to take it to the car the entire frame lifted off the bottom, proving my assertion that it wasn’t assembled properly.  No problem, it just made it easier to get in the car.  We noticed the bottom was full of dust clumps, proving it had been a floor display for a very long time.  When we got it home, I hosed the whole thing off, and noticed one of the two plastic shelves was cracked in two places.  No problem, I told myself… I’d make do for now, and try to order a replacement shelf online.  As I was washing the bottom out, I noticed a bunch of odd dents in the plastic, a slight problem.  Then I noticed the final and ultimate annoyance… all four corners of the cage bottom were cracked completely through.  It’s as if someone assembled the thing with a sledge hammer.  Now we’re going to have to go back tomorrow to return it, and I’m sure that’s going to be a delightful experience. 

Petco has never been my favourite store.  The employees at our local store always seem unhappy and moody, and they’re mostly uneducated about what they’re selling.  We have a Petsmart nearby where everyone is friendly, the store is clean and bright, and they allow local animal shelters to display pets there for adoption.  They have a nice grooming department, and as I mentioned earlier, they price match with their website, so everything is a great deal.  I wish they’d had a cat cage in stock so I could have avoided the Petco fiasco, but I was so eager to give the kittens some extra space that I didn’t look closely enough at what I was buying, and I ended up with a piece of crap.  Still, you’d think a store would want to check out a display model before they sell it, make sure all the parts are in order, and perhaps even offer a discount to the customer for buying an old product.  Not at Petco.

While we’re going to have the bother of returning the damaged cage, and will have to wait for the new one to ship to us, it ended up being a pretty good arrangement.  The cage on the Petco site had free shipping, and there was a 10% off discount coupon, so we ended up saving a little over $40 over the price we paid for the scratched and broken one.  Now I just need to get the kittens to stop growing for a week until it gets here.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 01/09 at 08:33 PM

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  1. Hi Leigh Ann; I have been admiring your blog for some time now. Hadn’t posted anything yet because I didn’t have mine ready to visit, getting it ready now. It is a pug blog. I was wondering how you got the weather to show like that, if there is some sort of code you are using or if it is EE specific. I use MT so I would be out in that case. If you don’t mind emailing me, I would certainly appreciate knowing.

    Anxiously awaiting to find out how your return trip to Petco went.

    Posted by Paula  on  01/10  at  03:40 AM

  2. Ditch the shelves and buy two of these:

    http://www.ferretstore.com/sp-62260.html

    However, at PetsSmart they are only $15 in the store, so look for a better price.

    Unfortunately, those tall cages with the shelves are not-so-great for the $$. The cat litter gets in that little ditch around the edges, (where the cage walls fit) and when they spill water it turns into a cesspool. You have to take the entire cage off the base to clean properly. Also, there isn’t enough floor space for a cat box, food bowls, and room to jump up and down from the shelves. It’s OK for kittens, but not good at all for adults. To make this cage better, make sure your food bowls are nontippable, or better yet attached to the cage walls. There is a thing called a quick-lock crock that is really nice. And use hammocks instead of the shelves if you can. One high, and one low (one to the left and one to the right, like the shelves). The best/cheapest bet for cat/kitten caging is a medium standard wire dog crate (however must be sure it has small enough wire so kittens can’t get out) with one hammock. But if you are already getting this thing, the best thing you could do to make your life easier is get bowls that attach to the sides.

    Posted by Susan  on  01/10  at  04:55 AM

  3. Good luck with the return.  I hope everything works out.

    Posted by Simply Coll  on  01/10  at  06:31 PM

  4. The return went fairly well, it was just a bother.  The cashier was very nice, but the manager was a bit bitchy.  “Make sure you ring up the discounted price!  Don’t give them a refund on the regular retail price!  Hiss!”  I’m always surprised when management speaks as if the customer isn’t present, like we can’t hear them if they don’t speak directly to us.

    Susan, I’d already ordered a replacement from the website, and I was unable to cancel it as it had shipped by the time I read your comment.  The good news is that I’m fairly familiar with these types of cages as I used an almost identical one for a parrot for a few years, so I’m okay with having to clean the grooves in the tray.  We looked at dog crates in the store last night, but were worried the little kitten heads could squeeze between the bars.  I also liked the fact the cat cage had wheels, so it was easy for me to move around upstairs.  This will only be used for kittens, no cats that I can think of (I hope those aren’t famous last words).

    I’ll employ the hanging crocks you suggest—I use those for our parrots, because they’ll toss and throw anything that isn’t latched down.  I love the hammock idea, too.  Nancy won’t be thrilled that I’ll be making her go to Petsmart tomorrow, ahem.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  01/10  at  07:11 PM

  5. Interesting…in my area, the Petco is the nice, helpful store and the other chain is so opposite that we only refer to it as “PetStupid”.  I’m glad you’ve resolved it, but what a pain.

    Posted by Helly  on  01/11  at  09:37 AM

  6. UGH!  I am not a fan of Petco at all.  I am constantly amazed at how inflated their prices are.  Unfortunately, they are the only game in town when it comes to buying decent quality bird seed.  My biggest pet peeve about Petco is that they sell large birds.  Everytime that I go there, I feel horrible when I see that they are selling Macaws, Greys, and Cockatoos.  I always have this sick feeling that most of those birds are going to end up being purchased by inexperienced owners (who want a decoration more than a buddy) and then end up in rescue shelters.  :-(  I wish that I could save the critters the trauma and adopt them now.

    Posted by Expat  on  01/12  at  04:09 PM

  7. Expat, check out BirdSeed.com.  Now, you may end up getting screwed by shipping costs as you live a fair distance from California, but that’s where we buy all our Pretty Bird pellets.  A 20 lb. bag of pellets from BirdSeed.com is $32, vs. $45+ at local stores (if any of them even have such a large bag).  Our shipping costs are reasonable because we’re in the same UPS zone, but it might be worth it for you to check the prices.  Warning, their shopping cart is SLOW.  I think it’s run by hamsters on treadmills, just ambling along.

    Helly, I think our Petsmart is so nice because it’s new, and they really do win me over by allowing shelter pets to be displayed there 7 days a week.  Stores can be so different from one area to the next, though.  My parents lived in southern California for a while, and they were down the street from both a Walmart and a Target.  The Target was a total dump, and the Walmart was really clean and friendly.  It’s the total opposite here in Vegas, where our Target is positively radiant and upscale, and our Walmart is scary (for a variety of reasons).

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  01/12  at  04:34 PM
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