It honestly depends on location. I know the particular PetCo I worked at the animals were VERY well taken care of. If a mouse so much as got a respitory infection (a MOUSE, a 99 cent mouse) they would bring it to the vet and pay hundreds of dollars in vet billsto get it back up to good health. And then, they couldn't sell it, so they would have to adopt it out.

But I have seen good petsmarts, and bad ones. The closest petsmart to me is very nice, clean, reasonable prices. The one I was near in St Charles.. was gross.. always had dead fish... sick animals that weren't taken care of...

So its the luck of the draw. Both chains have awesome stores, both have awful stores. Its just luck of the draw.

Both also host adoption clinics and take donations for animal organizations though