On the death of a five and a half week old kit from a pet store from a
massive internal infection, it was said:
 
>While it does not excuse letting a little ferret die from an infection,
>I think you have to cut the pet store some slack.  It is Christmas.  If
>you've ever worked retail during the holiday season you'll know how
>insanely busy it can get.  You'll also know how tired people working in
>such places can get.  Nobody probably noticed the tiny little ferret girl
>who slept most of the time because she didn't feel good.  It's a sad
>situation and I hope there is a way to prevent it in the future.  But
>please realize that nobody necessarily has to be negligent or at fault
>here.
 
I would hate to think that the holiday season is a good excuse for animals
not to get the care that they deserve at a pet store that is supposed to
care about the best interests of that pet.  If nobody noticed the little
ferret girl because she was sleeping, did they notice if she was eating?
Did they notice that she was having trouble breathing?  Did they notice if
she was able to go to the bathroom?  Busy or not, isn't that important?
They apparently had enough time to sell her to someone (even as sick as she
was) but not enough time to make sure she was healthy.  No, I'm not an avid
pet store basher.  There are stores out there that do care about their
animals and take care of them, but unfortunately I see more of the other
kind, where animals are just disposable merchandise.
 
This isn't the same type of situation as say a toy store at Christmas time.
If someone is sold a toy in a box that is broken, or isn't working the way
it should, that toy can come back to the store for a refund and no one's
life is affected.  The job of a sales person in a toy store is to sell toys
to customers, they don't need to make sure the toys are fed and healthy
every day.  A pet store deals in living beings, and because of this they
are responsible for the care, feeding and health of every animal in that
store from the guppies to the puppies.  If you're so caught up in selling
the merchandise that you can't care for the animals, then either you need
more help or need to find another line of business- I don't care what time
of the year it is.  Perhaps I'm too idealistic, but I don't think that is
an unreasonable expectation.  So many animals are bought as presents during
Christmas and then are left at shelters after the novelty wears off, often
before the Christmas tree is taken down.  If there is any time of the year
that pet store employees should be aware of what they are doing..it's at
Christmas.
 
Sorry, I'm not going to say that the death of this little ferret wasn't
anyone's fault.  Yes, sadly many ferrets die needlessly all the time,
causes unknown.  Hopefully though this is one death that we can do
something about, and we're going to try to make something good out of
something bad that happened.  The people who bought the ferret, who knew
nothing about ferrets, were able to tell that something wasn't right with
her several hours after bringing her home.  Pet store employees are
supposed to know more.  Some do, many do not.
 
Thankfully there are a couple of vets in the Burlington area, where the
Pet Depot is located, who are concerned that this happened.  They will be
helping us (because they care, not because we're paying them) determine
what can be done to try and help prevent it happening again.
 
Sincerely,
Robynn McCarthy
Triangle Ferret Lovers
[Posted in FML issue 2912]