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I live in New York City. There are rats here. Like everyone else here, I’ve seen them on the street late at night. But I never saw them inside a lighted, crowded, noisy store until I stopped off at Petco last night.
At about 9 pm I stopped at my local Petco on East 86th Street to pick up a bag of cat food. As I approached the shelf, two mice ran under it. I told an employee who was working nearby. He said “Yes, they’re really disgusting.”
The cat’s got to eat, and no other pet store is still open, so I grabbed the bag and rushed to the line for the register. And two very large rats are scurrying around near the register, in plain site, in a crowded store. Ewww!
Treating rats like pets
An employee told us “Unfortunately, since we’re right over the subway, they come up. They know where the good stuff is.” And, using a sense of humor to lighten up the customers who were none too thrilled, she walked toward the rats and said “Go away! You’re not supposed to be out now.” And they disappeared into the wall. Yecch.

It made me vow never to bring my dog into a Petco again because they surely must be trying to poison or at least bait the rats. A friend of mine’s Lab died after ingesting rat poison.
And since dog and cat food is in paper bags, it makes me wonder how much stock Petco and other stores that sell food must have to throw out every day because of rodents.
Petco cannot be the only pet food store with a rodent problem. Wouldn’t it make sense to package all dog and cat food in light-weight, rodent-proof cans?
This incident also made me wonder about every other food store in the city that’s above subway tracks. Sure makes you want to wash your produce before you eat it, huh?