PetStuff Resale - Interview

With the economy the way it is, families may have to do some down-sizing and cutting back; this includes our beloved and loyal pets as well. However, there’s a web site dedicated to gentled used pet items at considerably lower costs.

Janet Huey owner/operator of Pet Stuff Resale (http://petstuffresale.com) has dedicated her time and life to finding good quality pet items, that may just end up sitting in someone’s garage or storage unit, and selling them a considerably lower prices.

Here’s what Janet had to say;

Tell us about your business, what it entails. How long have you been doing this?
Pet Stuff Resale was started in 1997 after I floundered a bit post corporate down sizing, then came up with this idea while working at a pet store. I became so grateful for that downsizing.
I absolutely love my job - buying, selling and trading new and used pet supplies. I try to offer above expectations service by delivering to peoples jobs to save them time when possible, offer solutions to unusual requests and not sell an item just to make a sale.
One extra service offered at Pet Stuff Resale is if someone sends me a picture of their pet in what they purchased, it will get posted on my blog, where there are only happy rescue stories and a little soft selling.

Where do you get you products? Are they all used?
Thanks to rescue contacts made since 1986, much of both my business as well as inventory come by way of referral from vets, groomers, rescue groups, repeat customers and dog adopters. One of my sources is a former greyhound adopter who shops in the resale world and finds "goodies" for me. She has gotten quite adept at getting not only traditional items but also items whose initial use was not pet-related. She emails
me when something is in her garage and I leave money on her freezer!
In 2005, I found a supplier of new wire dog crates and in 2009 began selling custom cat furniture from a local artisan. I really like supporting another small business, particularly as he is very "recycle" conscious and finds end run new carpet for his trees, further lessening landfill impact. All of the used items at Pet Stuff Resale are sanitized.

You work with homeless animals - tell us about that? How did you start doing this?
1986 found me in love with retired racing greyhounds after reading a newspaper article and they remain my first love. I did that for 12 years and then branched off into a variety of pet needs, primarily small dogs. My areas of focus are now heartworms, orthopedics and hospice. If I had more time I would work with feral cat spay/neuter.
I also dabble a tad with parrots :)

My volunteer work is separate from my business financially but connected education wise. I actually spend quite a bit of time trying to talk people out of certain, usually impulse, adoption choices. I try to offer better choices for their lifestyle and the animal needs.
Fostering animals thru medical conditions, almost all due to human neglect or ignorance is extremely time consuming. Those of us connected to rescue feel it is important, not just saving lives but educating people with whom we interact, about our fosters and what it takes to keep a pet healthy. Many of my fosters end up on Facebook or Twitter!

Where do the animals stay while they are waiting for their "forever homes."
The dogs I foster stay with me until someone passes my adoption interrogation. They are posted on a website, my blog, FB or thru referral.

Are you ever tempted to keep one of your rescues?
I have never been attracted to a "normal" animal in foster. It has to be snappy, a geriatric or special needs somehow. I have a deaf dog, a 13 year old perfect Pekinese that was dumped at age 12 and a Green Wing macaw with a contagious avian virus.

Vet bills can be costly, how do you manage these bills?
Vets in Houston are incredibly generous to me and adopters sometimes tuck bags of dog food or cat food in the back of my truck or pet store gift cards into notes. I do spend quite a bit of personal income on small breed kibbles, flea meds and gas for vet visits as well as vet bills.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Cruelty to animals is not just the horrors we see on the news. When an owner doesn't alter their pet, or won't pay for heartworm prevention or turns in a 10 year old dog who has never had their teeth cleaned and it has to be euthanized, those are all examples of cruelty. If you don't have a fence, you don't get a dog and chain it just so your 4 year old can experience a pet. If you work 12 hour days and get a puppy, that is cruelty.
In the era of the Internet, ignorance is no excuse for your dog having heartworms. 'My vet didn't tell me" doesn't cut it with me either.

In addition, my latest commingling of business and rescue is an effort to receive a 5,000.00 grant from Pepsi to help heartworm positive dogs in Houston. They fund the top 10 projects in this national promotion by people voting, so all I need is for readers to agree to vote once a day for the month of March. Pepsi has added a widget to make it easy to contact other voters. We are currently in 7th place. Helping Pet Stuff Resale stay in contention would save many dogs in Houston. Here is the website: http://www.refresheverything.com/Houstonheartwormdogs

Please visit Pet Stuff Resale at; http://www.petstuffresale.com/