Russo's Pet Experience

Russo's is a great establishment. I bought my morkie puppy from them and they were awesome. The salesperson was so helpful in getting me the proper supplies and she was very knowledgeable about the dog as well. It was very clean and seemed that they took very good care for their animals. Sunshine is now 1 year old and she is the best with no health issues. I highly recommend Russo's for anyone looking for a quality pet! more

I agree that these dogs are from puppy mills even though the owner says they are not from puppy mills. They lie through their teeth because they are greedy and in business to make money even if it means suffering for the little puppies and kittens. There are many animals waiting to be adopted from the Orange County Animal shelter and cost alot less than purchasing from a pet store. Why are we a throw away society? There are so many animals that get euthanized every year because there so many animals that come from puppy mills or because people just don't want to take care of the animal anymore or just have to give it up. I used to work at Russo's and know firsthand that the puppies were often sick. Don't buy from pet stores anymore..simple as that. If you buy from pet stores like Russo's then you are still supporting puppy mills. Many of the dogs come from Missouri, Kansas, and Pennsylvania where puppy mills are common. Pros: Convient Place to Buy Pets Cons: Supporting Puppy Mills more

Please don't bother complaining to Russo's about their shady ""business."" The Irvine Company manages Fashion Island. Please contact those below (at Irvine) and let them know you won't be shopping there until Russo's stops buying and selling sick animals. Pros: Absolutely nothing. Cons: Cons? Just Google ""Puppy Mills"" on the internet and draw your own conclusion. more

I was doing some shopping at Fashion Island and stumbled upon Russo's pet store. I am an animal lover, so wanted to check out what they had. The first thing I saw when I walked in were 5 kittens all crammed up in the front display case. They had ocular discharge and 3 of them looked very ill and lethargic. As I went to look at the puppies, I noticed the same thing. The cages seemed a bit too small to hold 3-5 puppies in each. A lot of them looked very ill, also with ocular discharge and lethargy. I really don't think these animals are being given the correct care. Does anyone know who to call to report them? I really want to do something to help these poor animals, but don't know where to begin. Any suggestions? more

Bought a chihuahua who was on sale and when I got him in the car he had a rough cough. I thought since I get two free vet visits I would give it a chance. When I took him to the vet he was diagnosed with Kennel cough. They said Russos knew and had been treating him for kennel cough--but check this out they sold me adog without full disclosure!! They are irresponssible. I asked the vet if he had been supposed to be alone in a cage. He was supposed to be alone, instaed he was with 2 others who are most likely infected, as KC is highly contagious, they said being in there he has been treated, reinfected, etc. They did not follow instruction and sold the dog who was unhealthy. It was horrible having the pup for 3 days I was emotionally distraught but couldnt keep him cause I have adog of my own and I couldnt keep em separated. So I called Russos and got the store mgr Alfredo. What an awful person!! Who hires these horrible people?He played dumb, hung up on me, said I couldnt be refunded. I faxed the vet note and asked for a owner to call. It was awful. He kept hanging up. So I called the Irvine store and asked that guy for the phone number of the owner; I told him about how unhelpful Alfredo was and that Alfredo was rude & hangs up on me, too.. He didnt care- never apologized and told me I had to deal w/Alfredo ONLY. HOW??? They are insane, against the law, treat animals poorly. I will never go again. By the way; it took a week for the owner Sumi to call me and say she'd give a refund, I returned the pup without a refund immediately as to not infect my dog.... it has been 5 days and no refund has appeared on my ccard. They are the most ridiculous pet store in the world. My suggestion is go to the pound or a reputable private breeder. Cons: bad conditions -dogs in bad health- bad service more

i bought a cavalier king charles blenheim (female) back in december 2006, and another one in feb 08, both are still healthy and alive. after reading the many reviews over here i am going to watch out for liver disease and such but when i first got my puppies, they were quite energetic and didnt really have any disease at all. that is just my two cents, i realize buying from a pet store can be expensive and risky but i guess i was lucky. best luck to all people out there who plan to buy puppies. Pros: healthy puppies Cons: expensive more

I agree with others that say Russo's Pet Experience purchases their puppies from puppy mills. We rescued a pomeranian puppy that had been in the store for only one day. He ended up having Girardia, which humans can catch and is really bad stuff. At first we thought he had loose stools due to the change in diet and we proceeded to change him over to a complete grainless puppy food, Orijen. It worked long enough for the guarantee period to end. Unfortunately, this ended up infecting my 3 other dogs. The puppy and one of my other dogs had to go through 2 rounds of medication and the other 2 dogs only had to take 1 round of meds.. The vet mentioned that Girardia is very common in puppies that come from puppy mills. I couldn't prove that he had Girardia when he first came home, it would have been nice to at least get reimbursed for all the medications and vet visits, not to mention the lab work as well. There is no way I would have given the puppy back. He is now 5 months old and we are still having problems house training and when he goes outside on his own he goes potty on the concrete, which leads me to believe he was in some type of kennel. He is the sweetest puppy and we love him very much. We are very fortunate, so far this is the only medical problem and I pray the last. Please do your research on the breeder you choose to purchase your puppy from. Cons: Sick puppies! more

i walked into russo's pet store on a saturday afternoon and purchased the puppy of my dreams, a Yorkshire Terrier. I paid 2,800. inc. tax so, you bet i got good customer service. on the way home the dog started throwing up and after that he was fine. 1 week later the dog wouldn't eat and wouldn't stop throwing up, we took him back and forth to the vet. we immediately notified russo's pet store and they seemed 2 care. 3 days later my dog died. the vet couldn't figure out what was wrong with this little guy. we got him a necropsy, the test results stated he had liver disease (him along with all the other dogs at this pet store). I know because I've read about two dozen reviews. so we had the paper stating the dog with ill prior to being sold to us and the letter from the vet saying he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the dog, after running test, after test, after test. we faxed it all in to russo's and that was it... sumi acted as she had never been in this situation before and had no idea how to take care of me as a customer. she wouldn't give me any information then when i started getting upset she continued to hang up on me (4-5 times) and placed me on hold for 15 minutes at a time. She continued to tell me to do whatever the hell i wanted to do, when it came down to calling the sheriffs department and filing a small claims court case. she kept saying its not up to me, its up to the owner. the owner wouldn't speak to me, who knows even he even knew i was even trying to get in contact with him. so my dog has been dead for two weeks now and its well over the ""10 days"" and i've gotten no info about getting my money back or exchange. every time i call russo's pet store its always the same excuse ""they are busy assisting customers right now can you leave a message.."" and i never get a call back. now i understand they need to help their customers that are in the store, but come on now. I forked out over 2,500. and i can't even get an update on the status?? Cons: horrible customer serivce more

Don't listen to all the bad reviews. I have a Golden who is 11 and is still energetic and healthy. I also have a Scottish Fold who is healthy and playful at age 5. I had a rabbit but it died of old age. I got all these pets at Russo's and I am looking forward to getting more there. Pros: there are many healthy, energetic animals there Cons: there are non more

I've noticed that there have been many harsh reviews about russo's pet experience and I thought that I'd clear things up. I worked at Russo's Fashion island for 5 months and I am also a member of P.E.T.A.(People for the ethical treatment of animals). most of the illnesses that people have been writing about are caused by exposure to many other dogs and people and are unavoidable in any place that carries a lot of animals. the owner, Dan Diciacamo wasn't the best boss but he cares deeply about the safety of the animals and only purchases them from top breeders(one of the breeders is his daughter and most of the breeders have won several best-in show awards). When I worked there, as soon as we noticed an issue with a dog we would drive them straight to the vet and have them examined. If the medical cost was too much for the store to pay, Dan would give the pet away to someone he trusted or someone an employee trusted. I have never been a fan of the conditions in pet stores but Russo's is a legitamate place to purchase a quality pet. I bought my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Bryn there and I couldn't be happier...she was very well bred at Sanjon Kennel in Missouri which is one of the top kennels in the country. I enjoyed working at Russo's and I will definitely buy several more pets from them in the future. Pros: well bred quality pets...NOT FROM PUPPY MILLS AT ALL! Cons: none! more

Not better demonstrated than at Russo's stores in So Cal. I worked for the veterinarian who cares for their ""precious"" puppies... we had over 65% come in with Parvovirus... do you know how LETHAL that is for your puppies?! Especially small-breed babies... over half the ones we got in died... I was bagging several bodies EVERY day. Horrible. Absolutely terrible. I distinctly remember one Golden Retriever puppy was was broken (hind leg) during transport from the Puppy Mill to a Russo's location... they sent him to us, we x-rayed and they told us it would "E: ""cost way more than we could get for the dog"" "E. So we were told to euthanize him as inexpensively as possible. Well - one of the other employees took the baby instead (thank GOD - he was only 8/weeks old)... horrible, terrible place. DON'T GO THERE AND SUPPORT IT. Those babies dying of Parvo were dying PAINFULLY . Pros: None. Cons: You are supporting puppy mills and the destruction of MANY behind closed doors. more

They sold a very sick puppy to us while showing us no signs of his illness on his medical records. 2 days after the purchase, the vet told us he got the worse case parasite disease, which is very hard to treat. We of course are not going to return the puppy to the shop for the only reason that they will very likely not give him the proper treatment to cure his illness. The puppy was with them for a month and they didn't do anything about it. So please do not buy from this shop. We are very heartbroken by this. more

I have read many reviews tonight on Russo's and have to tell you I am in shock by the negativity written about them. However, many of the bad reviews were over a year old, and the recent postings that seem to slam Russo's appear to be ill informed about post-purchase expectations (i.e. ""dog wasn't suppose to shed and did"", kennel cough...IT'S LIKE CHICKEN POX. That's why Russo's pays for the care. What more do you want??). Pros: Strong Breeders Cons: Actual stores are too small and cramped. Feels to chaotic during the busy times. Not good for the puppies/kitties. more

It is amazing to me for people to think that a place is bad because one thing goes wrong for them. It was said previously and I will say it again.....puppies are like babies, they get sick very easily. They could get sick from you bringing in germs from your pets at home. Russos takes very good care of their dogs and does what they can to make sure that they stay healthy. I do agree that they could use a bigger store considering what they try and pack into the one they have, but I also know that dogs are taken out for exercise regularly and when sick taken to th vet. Pure breeds have certain health issues that are going to be passed down with genetics and that is something that I would think someone spending say $1500 on a puppy would probably want to research. more

I worked at Russo's for a year. While under new management much was done to improve the store and the health of the animals, I must say that the puppies were absolutly top priority. The owners are very sympathetic to puppies who do come in ill. It is not the fault of the store, puppies, like kindergarteners catch colds. The moment we saw any indication, we would rush them to the vet for 100% medical care no matter what it cost! If you find the right staff member, they will happily chat with you about making the correct decisions. Older puppies are quickly discounted to try to place them in homes ASAP! We always wanted them to go home and be happy. Employees often took home older pups for the night so they would have ample play time, and the older pups are also walked in the mall for excersise (sometimes we stopped at the ice cream store for a sample spoon of vanilla for the puppy). I no longer work there, but miss it very much. I've since become a dog trainer at Petsmart in Folsom CA. PLEASE!! Advice to novice pet purchasers... RESEARCH THE BREED!! make sure this is what you want. Jack russels are not mellow dogs. Dogs need training, they are not born knowing what we want! Go to your free health exams, Russo's is very good about paying vet bills within those 15 days!! Love and cherish your puppy, don't give up on house training. It's always your fault if they won't learn (potty training classes are available at petsmart!) if you don't want to deal with a puppy, ADOPT!! it can be very rewarding! The store was also cleaned from top to bottom everymorning, and feces are removed as soon as we see it. more

I purchases a Pomeranian 16 days ago. Thus far, I've run up over $500 in vet bills- kennel cough antibiotics, x-rays, pnemonia- Let see if I get any of this back from russos Pros: Typical puppy store Cons: They sold me a sick dog more

If you live in this neighborhood, the price is of no consequence (as long as the pet is healthy, pretty, and lively). And Russo's will certainly give you whatever experience you're looking for, relatively speaking. Is the place clean? Yes, whatever. It is in a very popular, high fashion, always-crowded-on-weekend mall, for goodness' sake. Since it is always packed in that tiny cubicle of a store, you really can't complain about the floor, unless you really want to lick it. Everything else looks clean enough to live in... And if you're a pet lover, then you have nothing to complain about at all, if you know what I mean. Then again, the crowd is part of the experience, and you will see all kinds of creatures, from the spoiled to the cutest things on earth, until the next time you visit. And yes, the customer service is relatively excellent, depending on who you talk to. Some are more entertaining than others..., of course. I wish the owner move the store to a bigger space within this mall, especially next to the koi pond. Pros: It's definitely an experience, always. Cons: Small store more

I have had a dog from this pet store, but it was not very good. I had to get rid of it because weeten terrior was not supposed to shed, but this one did and I have bad ashtma. This store is cluel to animals. They leave the animals in the store until they die for all they care. In fact, I am going to this horrid place today because my Mom's friend is getting ANOTHER Yorkie from this store because they were both 6 MONTHS OLD, and living in this pet store. She has a heart, unlike this rude, disturbing, fagot place! NEVER BUY A DOG FROM THERE!!!!!!!!@#$%^&*()(*&^%$# Pros: its at fashion island Cons: you are people with unkind hearts more

While I understand that there are many bad experiences buying from pet Pros: Excellent aftercare for the dogs we have purchased Cons: Dogs are very pricey more

All you need to know about the business practices of Dan DiGiacomo are in the above story. The man is lying right through his teeth. Please click the above link and DO NOT BUY from Russos Pets. Pros: Hopefully the Irvince Co. will shut this guy down Cons: He is still open more