Great if you love animals but low pay and no full time - Pet Care Associate PetSmart Employee Review

3.0
Mar 28, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you’re an animal lover, enjoy caring for many different animals, learning more about animal care and talking to the public you’ll enjoy it. The people you work with really help make this job. Some managers are great.

Cons

If you get managers that don’t like you, it can be rough. Low pay and very, very small raises in pay. Rare to get full time unless you’re management. They don’t want to give you benefits if they can help it. Every year the company cuts back hours and wants management to spend less and less to make company yearly income keep increasing, so less is spent on fixing needed equipment, habitats and vet visits for animals.

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PetSmart Response
5y
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to review. We'd enjoy getting to speak to you further about a few of the things you mentioned above, as this is not in line with our values. Please feel free to reach out to the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693.

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5.0
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Pros

Fun, welcoming, easy, flexible, growth

Cons

Weekends, slow, customers, busy, fast pace

1.0
Jun 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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PetSmart Response
3w
We’re disappointed to hear that your experience didn’t reflect what we aim to create for our associates, and we appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback. We invite you to contact the CareSmart line at 1-800-738-4693 so we can learn more and see how we can support you. Thank you.
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