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One week ago, my husband and I were informed that our apartment building needed to be sprayed for pests. So we called up PetsMart and made a reservation (a week before hand) to have our two lovable cats to stay at the pet hotel for the day while our home was being fumigated. We had all the shots updated for both our cats according to our records from the Ladera Ranch Animal Hospital that we had copies of and brought them this morning to have our cats checked in. However, one of our cats "Groucho" as we were assured by the vet, did not need an updated rabies shot because he is an indoor cat and that is really only necessary for outdoor cats. Unfortunately, despite any of our record documents and having customer service call our vet for verification, PetsMart turned us and our cats away from service. My husband and I are both students and had to go to our classes and we didn't know of anyone else who would take our cats on such short notice, obviously we didn't think that a company that proclaims to have the best animal friendly service would reject our 2 healthy cats because one of them didn't have a shot update that we were told by veterinarians (animal PROFESSIONALS) that he didn't need because he is an INDOOR cat! On top of all of this, customer service was very rude and inefficiently run. My husband had to wait half an hour to receive any help at all until come to find out... he and the cats were refused service... AND when my husband told them he would take Groucho to get the shot anyway that day (even though he is healthy and the shot was unnecessary) they told him that they would still not take our cats because they had to wait 48 hours before they could take the cats in... needless to say my husband and I were very upset because we had nowhere to take our cats and this whole time that my husband was talking with the customer service reps about this our cats were still in the damn boxes! WE WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS AGAIN WITH PETSMART BECAUSE OF THE POOR SERVICE AND FAILURE TO INFORM US OF THIS STRICT POLICY BEFOREHAND SO WE COULD HAVE MADE THE PROPER ADJUSTMENTS FOR OUR CATS!
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All kennels tell you before hand what shots your pet needs to have in order to be admitted. I am glad they refused you since I would not want to board my pets anywhere that allows potentialy rabid animals at their facility. And why yes it is true indoor cats don't "need" rabies vacsinations any good vet will still recomend it they receive it. You should be mad at your vet for not making sure your cats receive a potential life saveing vacsination.
The company is just trying to be covered so you can't sue them when another cat who didn't have rabies shot bit yours and yours got rabies. My dogs are indoor dogs but are required by Virginia law to get rabies shots. Can't go wrong with that.
why couldn't you just board them at your veterinarians office?
...doesn't matter if its an indoor cat...so easy to blame the business for your own mistake...duh? Next time, tell your vet to take care of your cats!
yamirodz-They DID. They where told by their vet that the cat[s] did NOT need any of these shots. It would be unnecessary spending to give your pet shots it doesn't even need. Wouldn't it? Would you take your kid into the doctors for unnecessary shots? No of course not.
They had a vet check their pets out and gave them the a-ok. A pet store does not have the same education as a pet doctor, and as such should be able to clearly accept two cats that have been examined and deemed healthy by a medical professional.
PetSmart requires that ALL dogs and cats are current on rabies vaccines. It doesn't matter what your vet said. IT'S PETSMARTS POLICY. It's your mistake, sorry. And they always inform you.
RABIES SHOTS ARE REQUIRED BY LAW- and since PetSmart, PetCo, PetLand, etc are NATIONAL companies, they have to follow the strictest laws to ensure consistency in all of their stores. While it is true that indoor cats do not have to have rabies vaccines, it is also true that boarding facilities require them and do not have to accept your pet. It is not PetSmart's fault you did not have them done, and no boarding facility is going to risk their business. And FYI, most PetSmart hotels have a veterinarian in the same store, AND there is a team of vets in the corporate office that contribute to the animal care policies, including vaccination requirements.