Why do all the big pet companies have horrible products and only care about money?

There is something you can do. You can get your pet supplies from places that actually care about the animals, or you can make your own. An animal is guaranteed to live longer if you build it a large wooden cage instead of buying it a small plastic one. If you make it treats from healthy ingredients instead of buying cheap disgusting ones. Unfortunately you can't make everyone do this but you can put up posters in the pet stores persuading them to do so. However I don't think you have been to many pet stores, most of them have great products. You can get organic dog biscuits made from real chicken and vegetables. There are toys you can get for a few dollars that will lost your pet years. High quality cages are even available if you're willing to spend that much money.

Aquariums are not good replacements for a cage. Many rodents don't do well in tanks because there is poor ventilation. Especially animals like rats and guinea pigs.

I'm quite happy with my super pet cage. But I also got it second-hand for $20 instead of new for $99...

I do agree that many pet products are faulty and over priced. And people just buy it because it has a picture of whatever small pet they own on the label.

I did my research on my rats and I feed them Oxbow, which is the next best thing to buying laboratory rat-blocks. But many people do little to no research before buying a small pet. And why they continue selling soft-wood bedding is beyond me. its a known fact that these woods produce oils that are bad for rodents!

I am annoyed with the average Americans lake of ability to DRIVE!!!! Jesus H. Roosevelt!!! Hang up the freakin' phone and watch where you are going!! It isn't like I don't have a cell phone too......I just know that going down the road is NOT the place to use it!! I was angry about this before (like, really angry, I actually had to take medication to stop from killing these people and I flipped at least three people off a day while driving to work!!) But now that I have a child I swear I am going to LOSE it one day!! I live in a fairly small town and one day I almost got in three accidents because people were not paying attention!! That is RIDICULOUS!!! How hard is it to stop at a stop sing for goodness sake??? Or to drive on the correct side of the road????

I know exactly what you mean! I live in sweden and once i was in this city with my mom and i wanted to check out this new pet store. When i came in, oh the stench! It literally smelled like dead dog in there! And it was so cramped in that store i couldnt even walk around properly. When i came to the animals, isaw a gerbil with bloody ears, a chicken living together with parrots, a dead iguana, hamsters who looked very sick and much more. I felt so bad for them i couldnt even breathe...

But there is one store close to me that i just love. Its called Fäboden and they dont care about money. It is located out in the farm areas, what is it called? I dunno but it is just lovely there. Everything there is incredibly cheap, and they have this lovely handmade giant rabbit cage. I cant even describe it with words ^^ They make their own cages, breed up animals themselves, and the lady running the store seems so nice :3 I have bought my guinea pigs there and they are so charming and lovely :D

If you want to, you could check out some pictures on that store here, since i cant describe it with words ._. : http://www.faboden.se/index.html be warned, its in swedish though :D

The best thing for people to do who are educated about the proper care for their pet is not to support or endorse pet stores. I will never buy food, bedding or even toys from those places. For one, I own two ratties, and completely agree with you that pet store employees have no clue. They tried to sell me on pine bedding when I was looking to get my first rats and I had to inform them that pine was actually toxic to rats. So, from there on out I have decided to make my own rat's food using online formula, purchase bedding from online sources, and purchase toys and hammocks for them from our local rat rescue which goes to helping their shelter. Same with other animal owners, I say don't buy from the man!

I know right!I hate how they care nothing about their animals.Especially since I have two guinea pigs it makes me mad that they still make rolling balls & wheels when they should know it breaks their back & could even kill them. I wish I could do something about it too. Poor little animals :(