Paw Express - Pet Shop

Be wary of this pet shop posing as a rescue /foster organisation on Facebook. Adopting from them was a terrible and traumatic experience from beginning to end, end and dealing with the owner of the pet shop Rochelle, who is rude, unreasonable and uncaring was a nightmare. I saw a post on Facebook advertising a few kittens for adoption. The person I Watsapped to inquire about the adoption , Rochelle, who I thought was a foster, sent me photos of the kittens, and I chose one kitten, and paid the adoption fee via EFT to book the kitten . When we went to collect our kitten we were shocked to find that instead of it being a foster situation or organisation, it was a pet shop- and there had been no indication beforehand that we were adopting from a pet shop! Seeing several kittens in a cage in the front as we walked in made us uncomfortable, but as we were looking forward to getting our kitten we proceeded. The woman working there (not Rochelle) showed us to a small cluttered and dirty-looking back room – this is where my kitten was being kept, along with at least 10 other kittens, who were all crowded together, meowing and running to us desperately trying to get our attention when we walked in, and we had to walk among all of them to get to our kitten. To make matters worse, there were a few sickly kittens, 2 with visible eye infections in this small room among all the kittens, and all were just mixing together in close proximity. It was heartbreaking to see so many kittens wanting us to take them home, and the sick kittens with eye infections were clinging to our feet. These poor conditions, lack of hygiene and failure to separate healthy and sick kittens was a massive red flag already but our main focus and concern was at least giving a kitten a good home. We had been considering adopting a second kitten (mainly because Rochelle kept trying to convince us to take 2 even though I had initially expressed several times we only wanted one) We felt so bad for all these kittens who needed a home so we ended up adopting a second kitten, who we were told was the sister of our kitten and from the same litter. But it turns out the second kitten was not from the same litter, which we only realised when we checked and saw different birth dates stated for each on the adoption forms. So this lack of organisation and proper documentation was yet another red flag. Despite us being responsible pet owners and vaccinating and deworming the 2 kittens as per protocol, and feeding them only the best quality food (real meat, Acana and Orijen), both kittens ended up being very sickly, with severe diarrhoea which just got progressively worse. Our vet diagnosed them with giardia and Coccidia, 2 very serious and contagious parasites which are immune to regular deworming, and they had to go on a course of Baycox and Panacur, and we were instructed to sterilise our entire home with the vetinary disinfectant F10 which was incredibly difficult. Having these 2 sick kittens was a very difficult experience and took an emotional, physical and financial toll on us – we were constantly worried about their health, constantly cleaning diarrhoea from the floors because they went to the bathroom all over our floors. And in just the first month and a half of having them we had spent 10k on them for all their expenses including several vet bills, meds, special foods and tons of cat litter. Then one of the kittens also developed herpes sores on her mouth, and I know from experience herpes can be a death sentence for cats, since it comes with snuffles, which can lead to constant illness and pneumonia. It’s clear that the 2 kittens we adopted from this irresponsible pet shop had contracted illnesses from the unsanitary conditions in which they were kept, where no precautions were taken to keep contagions under control. Continued in comments ...

Always friendly and very helpful. Very passionate about snakes. A good place to take a beginner enthusiast for knowledgeable information. My son enjoyed talking to the owner about getting his first snake!

Best Petshop in town 💪🏻 Great prices, good and friendly service and they order what you need if they do not stock the item. Also free delivery above R400 in the Moot area 7km from the store! You will not be disappointed. They are THE BEST 😁

Paw Express is a hidden gem. They provide in all my pet's needs. Very friendly and helpful service. They definitely go the extra mile to see their clients happy.

Very friendly and helpful staff. They will order anything for you if they don't have your item in stock. The shop is neat and modern. They will definitely see me every month!

Friendly staff Verity pet toys. food ensv.

Jose is awesome and always willing to help.