About a year and a half ago, my best friend and I decided to adopt a hamster from my local PetCo (3520 Veterans Memorial Blvd, Metairie, LA 70002). Before I actually went to pick Cheerio up, I did A LOT of research because I was determined to be the best owner I could possibly be. I remember going to pick him out at the store, and I saw how little the cages were that they were being kept in. There were about 5 or 6 other hamsters in the cage along with Cheerio. However, from my prior research, I knew how unsafe this was for them. Hamsters are wild animals found in Europe and Asia. In the wild, hamsters tend to fight a lot, therefore, having them in these tiny cages was just asking for it. When I picked out the things from PetCo that I would need to take care of him (food, water bottle, toys, etc.), I noticed a lot of awful things that they sell. These "Tiny Tales" cages really made me sick to my stomach. These pet stores are also completely unaware of the Ultrasonic pest repellers that are in people's houses. They do not ask the people buying these pets if they have these in their homes or not. These pest repellers attack the central nervous system of the hamsters and any other rodents. These are EXTREMELY dangerous, and there needs to be a requirement to ask for these when the pets are purchased (or pet stores could just stop selling pets all together :) ).

Syrian Hamsters (which is what Cheerio was) need at least 360 square inches of floor space. These cages are made for kids who beg their parents for a pet, so they give in and get a "practice pet" which is a hamster. HAMSTERS ARE NOT TOYS OR PRACTICE PETS. They are living creatures who need the same amount of work as any other domesticated pet.

Yesterday, I had to put Cheerio down, unfortunately. He started to decline very quickly over the course of just a few days. He lost over 30 grams in weight, stopped eating, and was going to the bathroom on himself. The vet told me that he had a Protozoal infection. He explained that he sees hamsters from these chain stores die at least once a week from this parasite. A small amount is treatable with medication, but Cheerio had so many in his system that the medication did not work. He explained to me that these awful breeders that PetCo gets their hamsters from are the reason why this parasite attacks them so badly.

These places NEED to be examined closer by the government. Cheerio was more than just a pet to me, he was a part of my family. I spent so much time and money trying to give him the best life he could possibly live, and he was a happy boy up until those last few days. I beg that you sign this and help change the regulations on how these places treat their animals. IT IS ABUSE. I'm okay with starting locally, but eventually, there need to be federal laws put in place to stop this animal abuse.

Rest in peace Cheerio. You were the best boy I could've asked for.