I Am So Upset- I Hate Petfinder.com

[Desert Arabian]

I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!

This is why....

As many of you know, I bought my rat Violette back in June and she had babies. I am currently in the process of finding them homes, so they don't have to go to the pet store and become bait or end up in the hands of dumb people. So, I am posting ads on pet classified sites. In the ads I say state I bought the mother from the pet store pregnant, and give details about the babies.

Well, yesterday I was putting and updated ad on Pet Finder Classifieds, and in my ad I forgot to say I bought Violette pregnant. Before your ads get posted for all to view, a worker at Pet Finder reads the ads to make sure they are appropriate.

I just got an e-mail from "Lynn" saying this:

Thank you for visiting Petfinder. Petfinder was created to encourage the
adoption of homeless pets in shelters and in foster care. Currently there
are over 50,000 pets listed here waiting for new homes. The classifieds are
for people needing to re-home their pets and strays that they've found. The
service is not available for breeders, or for any animals that were
intentionally bred. Therefore your posting has not been approved.
Naturally we encourage everyone to support their local animal
shelter and volunteer whenever they can. Thank you for understanding.

Lynn Katz
[email protected]
Petfinder.com
Adopt a Homeless Pet!
ASPCA website: www.aspca.org
542968 FOR ADOPTION Small & Furry , Standard ears & coat
Contact: Laura , [email protected] , Milwaukee Suburbs , WI , - , -
Name: BABY RATS I have 2 Silver females, 2 Solid Black females, and 1 Pink Eyed White male that need good homes. They were born June 21st, mother is a satin Blue, father is unknown. They MUST be sold in pairs, unless you already own a rat/s. E-mail me for pictures, prices, and more information. I WILL TRAVEL TO DELIEVER- depending on state.

So, since this "choise words" won't let my ad be posted because I am a breeder my babies have to go to the pet store to be snake food.

This is the e-mail I sent back to her:

My rats were not intentionally bred. I am not a breeder by no means. I have two male rats, but they are neutered. I bought the female, Violette, from the pet store pregnant. I have put previous ads up on Pet Finder for these babies without a problem, but now when I put an updated ad on Pet Finder I get in trouble for no reason. Second of all, if I bred them in my house, I would know who the father was and would not have posted "father is unknown".

I am extremely upset, because this means I have to give the babies to the pet store for them to be snake food. I am VERY upset. This is not the fate they deserve, they did nothing wrong to deserve being eaten.

Please, let my ad be posted. Let my babies find good loving homes.

- Laura M.

I am sitting at this computer until I get an e-mail back from her.

I AM SO MAD (and sad) RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for reading my complaint and listening to my ranting!

I got to go get back to my breeding now....

[ChloeLove]

That is awful!! I can't believe that woman won't let your ad be put up because you left something out. Hopefully she will read your e-mail and actually have a heart and post your ad. Good luck!

-Amanda & the Crew

[I Love Brian, Forever <3]

Yellow, where do you live at?

I am really interested in helping your baby rats NOT be sold to the store as snake food.

[Kfamr]

I think maybe it was just a misunderstanding on her part.

Hopefully she will read your e-mail and let you post the babies.



I love PetFinder.

[primabella]

Hopefully they'll reply back and allow you to post your ads. It's terrible if they don't. Besides, I've seen animals mentionned where they had been taken in pregnant and now had kittens or puppies to give away.

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by I Love Brian, Forever <3
Yellow, where do you live at?

I am really interested in helping your baby rats NOT be sold to the store as snake food.

I live in Southeastern Wisconsin. I am 5 miles west of Milwaukee.

I think maybe it was just a misunderstanding on her part.

I'm sure it was, but sheesh, that's a pretty offensive e-mail to send someone when she doesn't even know the whole story...I mean come on....

If she e-mails me back, I'll let ya know.

I love PetFinder.

Deep inside I do too, I think it is great that they help find homes for adandonded animals.

Kayann....LOVE your siggy!!

[pitc9]

Yeah, I hope she understands and lets you post the ad!

She COULD have e-mailed you asking more questions before sending an e-mail like that to you!

[iceyshiver21]

YYL- If only I had room for two more little ratties!! I live like 7 hours 26 min away from mil. in Southern Minnesota.

[Twisterdog]

I think you need to look at this from their point of view. Petfinder.com gets thousands of new listings every day. I'm sure they don't have time to send emails and ask questions of everyone that posts a listing.

Petfinder.com is an excellent website that is responsible for literally millions of animals finding homes each year. I think it is highly commendable that they screen listings, to screen out breeders, puppy mills, back-yard breeders, etc. That is one of the things that makes them so successful - people can be fairly certain that if they adopt a pet through Petfinder.com, that they are truly helping a homeless animal, not supporting a breeder. IMO, you should be happy they do this, and understand that once in a while they are going to initially screen out someone attempting to post a legitimate ad.

BTW, I'm surprised they let you post at all, unless you have a 501c3 designation, stating that you are a tax-emempt charity. When I set up an account for our local animal shelter on Petfinder.com, I had to provide 501c3 information to them.

[Twisterdog]

Oops, I hit submit before I meant to! Duh!

Also, there are plenty of options for your rats besides "I have to give the babies to the pet store for them to be snake food." All you need to do to prevent them from becoming snake food is to charge an adoption fee that is higher than the price of feeder rats at the pet store. Why would someone pay $10 for a rat from you, if all they were going to do is feed it to a snake, is they can pay $5 from a pet store?

You can post fliers, put up notices at pet stores or the local humane society, animal shelter, etc. You can place an ad in the paper, as long as you don't say "Free to a Good Home".

There are plenty of other options, they just take a little effort.

[aly]

I agree with Twisterdog. I think it is very commendable of them to screen ads and not allow breeders to post. I don't think her email was rude at all. But that is just my opinion.

Good luck on getting a response and getting the ads back up! I am sure you will be able to

[Uabassoon]

BTW, I'm surprised they let you post at all, unless you have a 501c3 designation, stating that you are a tax-emempt charity. When I set up an account for our local animal shelter on Petfinder.com, I had to provide 501c3 information to them.

Petfinder has a classifieds section. People who find a stray can post it, or if you are specifically looking for something you can post as well. That's how I found Tibby, I wrote an ad saying I was looking to adopt a siamese or siamese kitten and I got an email from a shelter saying that they had one.

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by Twisterdog
BTW, I'm surprised they let you post at all, unless you have a 501c3 designation, stating that you are a tax-emempt charity. When I set up an account for our local animal shelter on Petfinder.com, I had to provide 501c3 information to them.

They have a totally different section for non humane society people where you don't need a 501c3. Anyone could post a wanted, lost, found, or selling ad....

[puppygrrl4eva7]

I agree with Twisterdog, there are lots of homeless pets on Petfinder that live in shelters and stuff, they probably just want the really needy pets to get homes first. I know your rats need homes too but these are pets that live in shelters.

[micki76]

Sorry you are so upset YLL, but I totally see Petfinder's point on this one. I'm sure they have "breeders" attempting to use their service all the time, when they are committed to helping homeless animals and not breeders or irresponsible people who let pregnancies happen accidentally. I understand none of this applies to you, but Petfinder did not.
Stating 'father unknown' would certainly make you sound like a very irresponsible breeder (or at least irresponsible pet owner) if one doesn't know that purchased her already pregnant. Just try to see it from their viewpoint.