Victorian pet stores are facing a campaign to stop them from selling factory produced cats and dogs to the public from their shops.

Many animal activists and organisations such as Animals Australia and RSPCA have been pushing for a ban on animals in pet stores, as most stores source and sell pets that come from puppy factories and keep them in less than ideal conditions.

Despite the growing awareness and campaigning to close these factories (also known as puppy farms), many pet stores are still selling factory puppies in their show windows. 

These cruel conditions are known to affect both the health and behaviour of the puppy, despite growing up in a loving, nurturing environment. 

Petsway in Box Hill Centro is just one of countless pet shops across Australia still selling household pets, mainly cats and dogs.

Although the health risks and dangers attached with pet shop pooches are well advertised, Petsway continues to keep animals locked up and for sale to the public. 

When DScribe approached the shop assistant about its practices, there was barely a response beyond “ummm” and “ahhh”. 

Despite working at Petsway for over a year, she had no knowledge of where the puppies came from, how long they were kept in the shop front and the number of animals sold on a monthly basis. 

The information, however, was known by a host of customers who gave the pet shop a one star rating on Google.

“Please do not buy from here. All the puppies are from puppy factories,” Michael Vellamcheril said.

Halina Kaczmarek visited the store just last week, and expressed concerns over the treatment of Petsway’s animals.

“These people are not nice to their animals. I was inquiring about buying a puppy one time and they refused to give me details of who they deal with for their puppy supply,” her review read.

“When I mentioned puppy farms, they denied this, but would not give me any information from where they got their puppies.”

Upon her visit, Halina watched a shop assistant clean out the animal enclosure while neglecting the puppy inside who was “whining for attention”. 

“It breaks my heart just walking past this shop, and I am amazed that they are allowed to do this.”

Pets at Chadstone in Chadstone Shopping Centre is another store selling puppy farm pooches and the two are not alone.

In an attempt to put puppy farm pet stores to an end, Animals Australia are ‘exposing the truth‘ on this secret suffering and cruel treatment of pets. 

Their website encourages buyers to adopt from shelters, or visit a breeder where you are invited to visit your new pup and explore its living conditions. 

All photos by Marnie Cohen