I wanted to write this review for Steven.
I came into Petco not last Thursday the Thursday before to get a pet hamster for my son who is 6. My son picked out a female teddy bear hamster who was brown and white and adored her. The associate helping us then was very nice, showed us the cages, and boxed the sweet hamster so nicely. But sadly failed to give us proper care instructions, a potential illness they hamsters could develop if changing diet. I know this now because of Steven.
We took our hamster home, set up her cage, got her natural food, filter water and let her adjust. She was a very sweet hamster that my son adored. Well she started to pee a lot and the pee smelled, but we just thought she was anxious, she only did this for little over a day 2 max. I then came to her last Thursday morning so only a week after having her and she had passed away. After breaking the sad news to my son, I called Petco to talk about my options, and to get some answers on what happened to our sweet hamster, because I do not ever look at animals as disposable, I wanted to know what I could have done, was it my care, and just see how I could have helped this poor girl. Well I was patched through to Steven, who was more than compassionate to the situation, asked me to walk through the last time I saw her alive and asked if her butt was dirty or wet, I said yes I noticed that she peed a lot, he sadly told me that her symptoms sounded like "wet tail" , a common thing that can happen when you change the hamsters diet , and lack of vitamins. I was devastated I could have prevented this, he told me about drops that are put in the water to give the hamster the proper vitamins. Also, he told me that it is easily treatable and that they send their hamsters to the vet and they come back totally fine. That the staff checks the hamster for wet tail often. This is why i was a little frustrated with the last associate. Because if it was a common thing to look for, and they sell the drops to help prevent this it should really be told to look out for these signs. Well, Steven then said we can obviously not bring the hamster back to life, so he said they could do an exchange or I could bring back all items for a full refund. I hated looking at life like that but weighed the options to my son who decided to adopt a new hamster friend. Steven then took the cage, with the hamster who passed away to the back, and cleaned the whole cage, and set it up nice a fresh for our new friend. He then showed us the drops and powder that can be put in the food, and the food they use that has kept the hamster on the best diet they know of. And then on top of that provided me with a care pamphlet that had all the instructions and the red flags to take to a vet. So overall, I was beyond happy and thankful for such kind compassionate care, because to a 6-year-old this was VERY upsetting. And honestly, me and his grandmother were equally as upset. I felt so guilty like I didn't care for the hamster well enough. Steven assured me that it wasn't my fault, I didn't know about the "wet tail" sickness, But I know I could have easily if everyone selling the live animals gave proper care instructions.
So this is my appreciation to how professional, and knowledgeable Steven was, he made a very difficult situation smooth and kind. He went over and above to help my son, and make sure "bubbles' what my son named the hamster, now can live a healthy long life. So he also takes great compassion for these tiny creatures care and wellbeing.
so thank you steven. my family is very grateful. read more