I'm doing something here I try not to do, but wanted to respond to Chris
and thought instead of doing this personally, which I normally do, I
decided put this up on the FML, in case others felt the same way about
"Throw Away Pet".  I'm not flaming you for trying to find your babies a new
home-sounds like your doing all you can to assure them comfort, care and
love.  You sound like you're doing all you can to assure them of a loving,
ferret wise home, and for that I applaud you.  Granted, people's lives
change and things happen beyond their control, as it sounds in your case.
 
Chris, I don't feel the poem "Throw Away Pet" was aimed at someone like
yourself.  I took this poem to heart because of the stories I read here of
fuzzies being literally tossed out in the woods.  Recall if you will the
baby ferret found in the ditch, broken jaw, maggots.  Or Lucky Lady (I hope
this is the correct name) that Dana found-left outside a WalMart in
freezing weather, Rusty & Ra who were taken in by Randy at F.A.S.T.
Ferrets found wandering in woods, city streets.  The poem spoke to my heart
because of the babies I've just listed, and the multitude that none of us
know about.  I think of the ones listed in the newspapers- in the free
columns, pets for sale.  I think of the babies in the pet stores, with
people oohing and aahing over the cute little things, impulse buyers who
haven't bothered to check into the personality, the care, the commitment it
takes.  A lot of these become 'the throw away pet'.  The poem was not aimed
at anyone in particular.  I read it as the writer has now become the human
of one such 'throw away pet', and if that's the case, bravo-more power to
this person.  There's a fuzzy who now knows love, warmth, kindness where
before all was bleakness.
 
I hope you continue to look for a home for your fur kids, and I hope that a
loving home is found for them.  Please, make sure it's a loving home, where
in a year or so the said person won't suddenly become tired of the fuzzies
and decide to pass them on.  I have two babies who live with me now, Alix &
Bailey who are 2 and 3, -I'm their fourth and final home-they go to no
other home-they are with us to stay.  I don't know if you followed any of
my posts lately, but I have personally dealt with a type of throw away pet,
and that was little Nibbles.  To the people who'd had her she was fun while
they wanted her to be-then it was the grandson wanted fish, the son didn't
have time, obviously the woman didn't either.  She lived in a one story
cage, nothing but an old chewed up blanket, no litter pan, only a wire
bottom cage, nothing on it-toys that were 'nesting material' for hamsters
and gerbils, tubes my Mookie would get stuck in.  So it was put an add in
the paper, give her away-basically first come, first served as it always is
in the absolutely free column, and I was that "first come-first served"
person.  But Nibbles couldn't cope with it, and the throw away pet decided
for herself what she would do, no matter how much love was offered to her.
She became the master of her own fate, and I hope that now she dances at
the bridge, beautiful again, happy.  And I hope when other members of the
Crew go to the bridge she joins with them, and they all wait for me.  I'm
not making a plea to you to keep your babies, your circumstances have
changed, and you need to do what you need to do, nor do I flame you-you are
obviously doing your best to see they get a good home.  I would be the last
person in the world to say you shouldn't have gotten ferrets.  God knows
through life we all do things that later change, and change drastically.
I'm saying don't take offense where none was intended.  The poem was
beautiful-written to offer thought, to tell a story of a fuzzy lost, and
yet found, and now happy.  Again, take no offense when none was obviously
intended.  And I will offer you this, if you cannot find a home for these
two babies you have, contact me either at this e-mail or my home e-mail,
which you will find in today's post and a post I had on Sunday concerning
Nibbles, and if all other avenues fail you, maybe we can arrange a way for
them to come to my house if you're willing.
 
Rebecca & the Crew of Merry Mayhem
Remembering Nibbles, the fur child who left with the snowflakes and now
dances at the Bridge
=======================
Rebecca McFarlane
Secretary
Basic Medical Sciences
School Veterinary Medicine
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN  47907-1246
Phone:   765-494-8632
Fax:     765-494-0781
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
 good with ketchup"
[Posted in FML issue 2947]