The tv version of my interview with CBC Montreal’s Valeria Cori-Manocchio aired on Sunday, October 11, 2010. It can be found here (my story is at the very end, after the weather report, around 27:40):

Little Bear Animalerie has nice, high end cat and dog supplies. It’s a well-presented, clean store. I can’t speak for the dog supplies, but the cat food, litter, and grooming supply variety is good. There are freezers for raw food in the back, and tables of toys and food bowls in the front. I like the layout of the store, which seems well-thought-out. Every space is used, but it doesn’t seem cluttered and the products all look in good condition. Size is typical of an independent pet supply store in Montreal. It’s easy to navigate. And there’s usually several friendly employees willing to help.

I stopped by recently to drop off business cards and can lids, and while my business cards were accepted, the can lids were not. The store does not approve of plastic can covers for environmental purposes, and while I was offering a bag of them for free, they still declined. I can understand that. When I was ordering can lids for a trade show this past year, the minimum quantity for ordering silicone can lids with my business information on them was something like 20,000… and I decided that that was a bit beyond my budget. So I settled for plastic can lids. Which are dishwasher safe, and more environmentally conscious than using disposable plastic wrap, plastic bags, or foil. But yes, still plastic.

Aside from not being too close to me geographically, the main downside of this store is finding parking on the busy Sainte-Catherine Street West street; I sometimes drive around and around and then give up without finding a space. But those using public transport or their own two feet or cycling won’t have that problem.

I am deeply honoured and thrilled to have been featured on the Jan/Feb 2018 cover of Pet Sitters World, the magazine for my professional association, Pet Sitters International (PSI).

Special thank you to Alex Tran, my excellent photographer, who kept telling me to look off into nowhere. Needless to say, I kept laughing and could not keep a straight face. I’m usually on the other side of the camera, taking pictures of my cat clients! But it was a fun photo shoot, and the animals all did very well and were rewarded with species-appropriate treats afterwards. Thank you also to my clients, who graciously granted permission to photograph their animals.

A few years ago, brunch with my family at St-Viateur Bagel in the Plateau would not be complete without a couple mini cupcakes from Petit Gateaux (which is sadly, sadly closed), and a stop in to see the animals for sale at Animalerie Paul. While we rarely eat out these days, I still like visiting this store because it’s a nice, small pet shop with live animals.

The left wall is a bank of aquariums with lots of fish. The right wall are small birds. The larger small animals, like rabbits, guinea pigs, and I think sometimes ferrets, are usually in the middle of the store, and the smaller small animals like rats, mice, gerbils, and hamsters, are in the back. There are also kittens and puppies. The guinea pigs and rabbits are housed together in a small bin, which is cute, but some people might not agree with that housing arrangement.

There are supplies for small animals, birds, fish, reptiles, cats, and dogs. Somehow they manage to pack everything into their tiny space. There’s even a tiny room in the back for grooming services. The fish tanks look clear and well-maintained and staff are friendly.

While I encourage adopting from a shelter or rescue if possible, sometimes it’s not possible to find what you’re looking for from those routes. There’s nothing wrong with buying your next pet from a good pet shop, as long as the animals for sale are healthy and housed in clean areas, and it is not an impulse purchase. I would steer clear of pet shops that have sick, overweight, underweight, dirty, overcrowded, or pregnant animals. People sometimes claim to have “rescued” their new pet from a bad pet shop situation… but I think it would be more honest to say that they bought their pet from a bad pet shop, who is going to use that sales profit to buy/breed/sell more unfortunate little animals for others to “rescue” from them. Despite my best efforts, most of the animals I have bought from pet shops have not lived long, and were not friendly. My healthiest, friendliest hamsters have come from shelters and hobby breeders.

My track record buying hamsters from pet stores isn’t good, though my current hamster, Maximus Decimus Meridius (the adventurer mentioned in my last post), came from the Centre d’Animaux Safari – Centre Rockland, and is a healthy (and durable!), friendly hamster. I had previously searched the SPCA and online communities like Craigslist and Kijiji, but had no luck finding a hamster. I checked out the hamsters at one pet shop on St-Laurent, and found not only one litter…but the daddy mating with the mommy right over the babies, creating the next litter right there. I did not want one of these hamsters, since there was clearly a sexing problem (that is, they were not able to separate the males from the females, and prevent unintentional breeding). It’s possible these were meant as feeder hamsters – I didn’t want to find out.

I kept looking. No visit to the Rockland Centre is complete for me without a stop at the pet shop to coo over the animals and fish. Walking through their aisles of fish tanks feels like being in a mini aquarium; it’s common to see babies and toddlers held up to see the fish tanks during their mall visit routines. They no longer have cats, but there’s always a bunch of hamsters, mice, rats, guinea pigs, degus, hedgehogs, gerbils, birds, and fish to gawk at. There are also aquatic turtles and a couple lizards, as well as live insects to feed said animals. I was really looking forward to getting a cup of mealworms to feed a hedgehog boarder I had recently, but alas, I wasn’t given permission to feed her outside food. Maybe next time…

Anyway… when I looked over the hamster selection, the staff member was very friendly and helpful, and even kissed the hamsters when she put them back into their bins. Unfortunately, the store isn’t able to separate the males from the females due to lack of space, but they can try to sex the hamsters for you to ensure that you get either a male or female. This is one of the reasons why I prefer getting male hamsters over female hamsters. Their small furry animals always look healthy, active, and well cared for (must be due to all the kissing).

I like the pet products they carry for hamsters and cats. They have a nice selection of high quality food, bedding, set ups, and toys for hamsters and cats. Things are attractively displayed, well-ventilated, and kept tidy. Scratching posts, carriers, grooming products, etc.. Small animals seem to be bought quickly, and there are rarely empty bins. The staff is knowledgeable and friendly. They have sales and a loyalty card. Mall parking is free, there’s a bus stop right out front, and you can multitask your visit buy doing other shopping at the same time.