First of all, most of the employees in the pet shops aren’t trustworthy at all, (I know some amazing ones that are really passionate about it but the majority fits in to the category) since most of the time they have no clue what they are talking about and the stores only care about making a quick buck of you impulse buying a pet, for example selling you overpriced items you won’t use. Multiple of classmates that I talked to pointed out a marketing scheme they most likely use. When talking with the employees about what you need for your pet, its framed like you need everything in the store. Which contrasts against the overall view of small animals being easy animals in the pet shops, but is something that I agree with and has seen with my own eyes.

With dogs and cats, it’s not as bad a situation, hence it’s a more ‘mainstream’ sort of pet. Which means more and better products and the well-being of the pet is more common knowledge, than the smaller pets like rabbits, fish, and hamsters. Those pets are more marketed towards families as low effort pets because, “you just have to walk a dog”. From my perspective it looks like pet stores are trying to market the smaller pets alike to reach out to more possible buyers even though you do in fact not only need to feed a guinea pig. Overall, it means smaller cages for the pets, less complicated diet and less of their need covered.

Another problem with pet shops is the way the market their stock as I already mentioned, but something more out of their control. Where on the food packaging there might be a picture of an animal even though the condiments are unsafe for your pet, as mentioned in the article The hidden dangers in pet store aisles (June 12 2025, Cell Health News). An example is all the packaging with hamsters on containing sugar, when one of the most common species of hamsters runs an enormous risk of getting diabetes and cannot even eat sugar except in small proportions. I did in fact not know that and accidentally fed my hamsters too much sugar until I got corrected by a friend. But none of the workers mention anything like that even when I asked about changes in diet or food consummation. 

A hamster in a more suitible cage then the ones the pet stores sell. Image: Olivia Roos.

But of course, you’re supposed to do research before getting a pet, but the problem with that is the mass spread misinformation though TikTok and the internet affecting all information are both for good and bad. Because sometimes it might help as when correcting people towards better care but sometimes it’s just spreading rumors.

Another example of bad advice from pet store employees was when a Freya Greening, a classmate of mine, got a hamster when she was younger and the store recommended her to put chemicals in the cage to lessen the smell. Which of course is not okay, you are not supposed to use chemicals with animals, and you are absolutely not supposed to recommend that to a kid that does not know any better.

On the same topic a lot of people I’ve spoken to mean that the norms of pet care are wrongly framed and encouraged by the shops in the form of too small litterboxes, cages and aquariums for smaller pets and the wrong diet. An example is again Freya who told me about how the pet store recommended her a small plastic toilet for her rabbit that she bought. But later she gathered more information on the topic and realized that it was way too small. Other than just being too small, her rabbit chewed on the edges and accidentally ate plastic.

Rabbit in their too small litter box. Image: Freya Greening.

So, in conclusion, we all should entirely trust the TikTok comments before pet shop employes, we shall send them back to school to actually learn about what they are selling, and last, all hail online shopping when getting items for your pet. A side note to all pet shops out there, next time try and educate your employees and choose your stock wisely to be better than trying kill the pets you sell.