Pet Ranch

Stores like these have a known history of ordering their puppies and kittens through ""brokers"" who order them from puppymills and kittenmills (catteries). I've visited this particular store myself and seen firsthand sick puppies and kittens on many occasions and the employees always have excuses ready and or just don't care. I've never met such rudeness in store employees, most of whom are just a bunch of kids there for the paycheck. This store has developed a terrible reputation over the last few decades (among true pet lovers) and hasn't improved their standards one bit. It just galls me that the ""consumer"" will go in and drop several hundred dollars on the counter for a ""purebred puppy"" or kitten when the store likely purchased these animals for less than $50!!! Vet care is non-existent and sick animals often just mysteriously disappear once ""shoppers"" point them out and complain. Sure, PR will provide all these health certificates and paperwork when you purchase an animal but by law, they have to. In stores like these it's often just the employees who are vaccinating them in the back room not licensed vets. And these health certificates are easily faked. I GUARANTEE that the places these animals originated from, performed ZERO vet care or health exams before shoving them into cages and shipping them all over the country. GUARANTEED!. ALL of these puppies, kittens and yes, even birds and reptiles come from overcrowded, unsanitary, inhumane mass breeding facilities. 50% of them come into the store sick, may or may not look seemingly fine (illnesses don't always have visible symptoms), you, the consumer, purchases them, takes them home only to have them become sick in your care a few days later. Sure they'll take the animal back (where they're disposed of in the back room) or you take your now pet, to your vet for needed care, only to be told that this animal never should've been sold to you. After spending hundreds of dollars in vet bills, and investing emotionally in your pet, you try to go after the store and make them responsible for selling you a sick animal. Good luck. They have their health certificates that say the animal was 100% when you purchased it and that YOU must have done something to cause its illness. Is it worth it?? Stores like this should no longer be in business. Please do an internet search and find out for yourself. And PLEASE don't purchase live animals from pet stores. This store is on a list for boycotting by the ASPCA as they ask people to take the ""nopetstorepuppies"" pledge. But we can't forget about the kittens and other little creatures either as they seem to suffer just as much sickness and unhealthy conditions. I've been in and out of this store for years, observing, making reports to local officials and state humane agencies. If everyone would do the same instead of purchasing from them, maybe we could get this awful store shut down. If you absolutely need to own a papered purebred animal - do an internet search for rescues that specialize in certain breeds. And if you need to have a kitten, adopt one from your local humane society or obtain one from a free ad in the paper - there's no shortage of them! When adopting a dog or cat from an animal shelter, 99% of the time, they're already spayed, neutered, and fully vaccinated and their health records CAN be proven. I'm just a concerned animal lover, anti-puppymill advocate trying to get the word out about this horrible store. more

Me and my family went to the mall in september. (i go to Petranch WAY more then this.. like every other week!)\r \r We went to look at the kittens. There was this adorable little tortoiseshell who looked only 6 weeks old. She looked very sick and was just sitting there. There was a sign saying that she had to wait to get vaccinations before she could be held.\r \r This sign suddend (?) me because there was another cat in there, a ragdoll male that was four months and at least 5 times as big as the little tortie. He was for sale.\r \r I went to look at the other animals. I went back to look at the tortie again, but i couldnt find her. The male was sitting on top of her! Then she started screaming. He got off of her and she stopped. She tried to walk away but it looked as if she was too weak and her paws were injured. My dad told me it was time to leave. \r \r I turned to leave, but heard the kitten screaming again! I turned around and now the male was bitting her ear and scratching her. I knocked on the glass, and i heard an employee say. ""DONT KNOCK ON THE GLASS!""\r \r Sure, she noticed me knocking on the glass but NOT the kitten who was screaming VERY loudly?!?!!?!?\r \r I went and told my dad so we went back in. He observed for a while the kittens.\r \r Then he told and employee (a short, black women, probably no older then 20?), and told her that the two were fighting and should probably be seperated.\r \r She said rudely, ""I dont see them fighting."" me and my dad turned around, and sure enough, the male was still tackling the tortie.\r \r We turned back and she got very deffensive, saying, ""Well they are kittens. And they are from the same litter.""\r \r ""There from the same litter? Really?"" my dad asked very politley.\r \r Again she was very rude and said, ""They have been here for two months and havent been fighting since then!"" (this is BS because i was there the previous week and they WERENT there!!!!)\r \r ""How old is the little one?"" my dad asked.\r \r ""Shes 8 weeks, sir"" she said, again, very rude!\r \r ""I dont think so. Look, all i am asking is for you to please seperate them.""\r \r Then she stood up and went to the backroom. She started rambling on, which we could obviously hear because they dont have a seperate room and the top is open.\r \r ""Sir you dont know what your talking about. I have worked here longer then you."" she was yelling at my dad from the back room.\r \r ""Um, i have owned pets for over 40 years.""\r \r She kept talking very rudely and finally when she though we left, she came out. But we were still there. She went to another employee, a young man, and started whispering to him.\r \r My dad walked up to them and asked for a card for the manager of the store.\r \r She angrily wrote down a number.\r \r We left. The next day we called the number, but it wasnt a real number. We decided to just leave it.\r \r I DO NOT like this store and WOULD NOT recommend ANYBODY buying ANY pet from there, or ANY pet supplies!!!\r \r ~Kathryn\r \r (mankillerhobo@hotmail,com) more

Pet Ranch at the Burnsville Center was opened by the original owner's Husband in 1978 it was run by Sue and Jenny as managers until 1993 when it was Purchased by Marty and he kept Sue and Jenny on as managers. In the years following 1993 Pet Ranch expanded to 3 locations 2 owned by Marty and 1 owned by the original owner in North Town Mall. The Knollwood Mall location was open for 3 years and was closed due that mall's horrid location. Pet Ranch was forced by CBL (mall owners) to relocate to the Lower Level by the arcade because of Proex wanting to expand. The move gave the store more room and a larger area for the Dogs and Cats. In the 8 Years the store was owned by Marty ALL of the Dogs were purchased from Private breeders located within 200 miles of the stores. Before any dog was purchased and sold in the store the Breeders had to allow us to view there properties and have the animals vet checked. Most of the vet checks were done in Prior Lake Pet Hospital. In the 8 years of ownership there were many breeders whom we would NOT purchase from because of the conditions they housed their animals in. In 2001 the new owner took over the operations and immediately Fired Sue and most the original staff, After 2001 I can not say the store was run the same way or that the animals were treated the same. I can tell you in the 8 years that my family owned the store we had to take a few animals back because Customers Abused them or could not handle the responsibility of pet ownership.Our original store policy was to keep the animals in a safe larger then required or needed space until sold to a loving family. The kennels were all custom built to Martys specs and were even given their own ventilation system on the roof of the mall which circulated the air too keep the animals healthy. Most Puppies and Kittens that were sold in the store spent an average of 1 day to 3 weeks before being sold. I surely hope the new owner in 2001 did not ruin the reputation of a store that has such a history in Burnsville. Just some interesting facts. Pet Ranch was the 20th store opened in Burnsville Center. Pet Ranch was the only Pet Store in Dakota County to remain open after the invention of Big Box Store(pet smart) Pet Ranch worked with Many other Small pet store in the Metro to have laws Toughened against puppy mill owners and stores who purchased from them. I hope this information sheeds some new light on the way the store was run. Thank You more

I bought my dog from the pet ranch and he is the best dog. I got a chguahua and he is very good and healthy. I just love my dog. The staff was great and very helpful. Alot of my family has purchased puppies from the pet ranch and have nothing but nice things to say about the store and staff. People are very misinformed about pet stores. I am not saying all are good. I have been to petland pets and they have horrible kennels for their puppies. My family and i have had nothing but good experiences at the pet ranch. more

These poor animals are locked up in a little crate...with sliced paper no food to eat or toys. There were two boxers pups that looked like they needed a couple extra meals and priced way to high..if I had the money I would have bought both of them to get the hell out of there. Than I heard they might have came from a puppy mill(SAD) no wonder the girl didn't know much info and plus she looked like she was 12. more

Pet Ranch, in the Burnsville center, is the paradigm of everything a pet store SHOULD NOT be. My girlfriend and I went in order to look for hermit crabs, and what we found was the absolute worst conditions possible. Dead crabs all over, improper set up, and really none were going to live. Hermit crabs are harvested from the wild, and stores like this will lead to their extinction. \r \r Outraged at their care and costumer service, I went online in order to look at reviews and what others had thought. I expected this to be a bad shipment, or perhaps an ignorant employee. What I found was that I was not alone, and there were many other people in the area extremely upset about Pet Ranch. Many were calling the humane society and animal control over the conditions that dogs were kept in.\r \r What we saw, was exactly what others had complained about with the dogs. High prices on dogs that were far to old to be sold. These older dogs were not trained, and at this age it would be almost impossible to do so without a lot of added work. They were in dirty cages, and looked very sad. \r \r The killing of a small animals, and the abusive conditions of a large ones are more then enough for me to say this store be avoided at all costs.\r Pros: Decent parking, it's close to other shops Cons: bad prices, bad service, abusive and appauling conditions more