I hope it doesnt seem like I am always complaining but this past week I
have had such a trying time with pet stores and the people in them...
earlier this week I reported the local pet store (the one, ONLY ONE, in
my town to the local humane officer because they were housing a little girl
in an aquarium with a hallogen bulb directly above her, she was breathing
wierd... not really panting but not NORMAL breathing in any sense of the
word... she was lying on her back in a VERY strange position and ... so...
I brought up all the reasons this type of housing was innapropriate to the
owner and rather than say, "Thank You, I will fix this immediately"... he
acted offended that Me!, a NON-Store owner, a NON-pet expert would be so
bold as to tell him he was doing something to an animal that should not be
done... then as a last resort, I asked if I could hold the little girl,
(to see if she was responsive) his response was.... "no, she is already
sold!"... which had NOTHING to do with my question aside from the NO.
 
Then, today... I went to the pet store here in the mall that is closing and
had a looksie at the ferrets and cages that were still available... the
store employee taht was there was VERY (to my surprise) knowledgable..  I
have never seen her there before... but there was this group of three womyn
sitting on the floor..  ONE was a college student and one said she was a
school bus driver (she's the one that made me mad)... the college student
was considering a ferret as a pet adn the older womyn (her friend the
ignorant bus driver) was trying to talk her into it and giving her VERY BAD
advice which propted a lecture from me about abusing animals... the girl
wasnt sure if she was ALLOWED to have ferrets in her apartment and she had
a roomate/boyfriend that had no idea she was even considering this pet...
the bus driver lady was saying things like...well... if you get it and cant
keep it you can always bring it back (... yah right, to a store that is
CLOSING with a big sign that says ABSOLUTELY NO REFUNDS!!)...then the girl
who was considering getting this ferret, her first one ever... started
inquiring about ferrets biting... I said NO, they dont all bite but their
play behaviour is sometimes misconstrued as biting or nipping and
socializing them and letting them get to know you usually eliminates the
nippig behaviour with you... then the bus driver kook chimed in ..."and
if they do bite just flick their noses".... erghhhh.... I said very
politely..."no,you should NOT flick their noses.... scruff them and say
no!"  She argued her pointed saying that... i am NOT the only one that has
ferrets and that I dint know what I was talking about she had one years ago
that never bit because she flicked it's nose when it was bad... I told her
that it dint bite because it was scared of her and that flicking is similar
to abuse.  She kept saying that I was wrong and that she had friends who
owned ferrets but I held my ground.  She made me soooo mad!  She had all
kinds of BAD information for her friend.  I refferred the girl to a local
shelter and also suggested she check out ferret.faq on the net.  I also
told the girl that she should discuss a new pet with her roomate before she
gets one.... Some people ... should have their mouths super-glued shut!
The womyn at the pet store (get this) heard the part of the conversation
that related to the roomate not knowing about the pet idea and the fact
that the girl dint even know if she could have a pet where she lived...
and the womyn in the pet store told the girl that she "was uncomfortable
selling her a pet that she wasnt sure she could continue to care for"... I
was in SHOCK!!  I guess maybe they have learned from their experience.
 
Dooks, Dance and ...
If my ferrets were humyn I am sure they would go ape with rasins... play
naked in the rain, and then drive my car into a big giant sand hill and
dig my way out!
 
Cheers!
-Betty
[Posted in FML issue 3153]