Hi, all--
 
I'm sure that many of you remember the happy story about Ginger that I
posted a few months ago.  She was rescued in November, after having been
fed crappy food (Friskies cat food) and not let out of her cage on top of
the fridge for about two years.
 
I nursed her back to health by feeding her duck soup, and then soaked
kibble mixed with cream, ferretone and ferretvite.  After a few months,
she realized that the stuff in the food bowl was the same thing, and was
really good to eat.  She started to eat solid food on her own, and slowly
got stamina playing with several of my other ferrets.  She started to grow
hair on her mostly bald body from the good food she was eating.  I fed my
ferrets a mixture of 8 in 1 Ultimate and Totally Ferret.
 
That's right---Totally Ferret.
 
I feel so betrayed.  When the first bad batch I bought was opened, I caught
on immediately that it was bad.  The second batch was not as strong in
smell, and I thought it was all right.  It almost cost Ginger her life.
 
She must have felt betrayed, too, because now her Mom was feeding her bad
food that she couldn't make herself eat.  Because I was busy and didn't
have her out as much as usual, I didn't realize she was starving until she
couldn't walk well.  When I took a good look at her, I could outline every
vertebrae on her tail.  I instantly stopped the feeding of all Totally
Ferret food to my ferrets.  The other two females in with her have both
lost a little weight, but they had it to spare.  I have been handfeeding
her with a syringe and then with a spoon some duck soup made with the
Ultimate since Friday.
 
Thank God I noticed when I did, or I would be burying her.  She still has a
swollen belly filled with fluid from protein deprivation (like those kids
you see in third world countries that are starving).  She had a belly
almost as bad when she came, and it slowly went away.  I expect this will,
baring unforeseen complications.  Her kidneys thankfully did not check
out, I cheered when I saw urine in her cage the first time.  She is slowly
gaining strength, even eating the occasional piece of dry food.  She can
now eliminate without falling into it, and she now walks about half of the
time with her hind legs under her.  She is now back to having no stamina.
It will be months until she is nearly as healthy as she was before Totally
Ferret released these bags of bad food.  She didn't need this complication
to her life.
 
I am filled with rage when I think about several things.  I worked in a
bottle printing factory for several summers when I was in college.  Every
bottle was checked for correctness before being shipped.  Where is the
quality assurance at TF?  Don't they smell every tenth or fiftieth bag
before they are shipped?  SHOULDN'T THEY?
 
Someone on the FML called Performance Foods about the bad food.  They
reported that they were told not to worry, the worst that could happen is
that the ferrets could get diarrhea from the food.  I think that Ginger's
story proves that that statement is WRONG!
 
I called the number printed on my 15 lb bag for Performance Foods.  They
have the wrong number printed on that bag--I got a private phone, and
talked to a man who seemed seriously pissed!  I'll bet that he had been
getting several ear fulls about the bad food.  I then called directory
assistance, and they had no listing for Performance Foods in Lisbon, Ohio
(the address printed on the bag).  Hey, if you are going to use preprinted
bags with an old address on them, cover that old address with a sticker
giving the new address and phone number.  The way I see it, they owe that
guy an apology.
 
I went to the website for Totally Ferret, and tried to email them.  It was
returned as undeliverable.
 
I trusted Totally Ferret, and I didn't appreciate having wrong information
so I couldn't get in touch with them.  The next time I buy their product,
I will not leave the store until I have smelled it and (YES) tasted it so
that I know that it is wholesome.  I owe Ginger, and all the rest that
caution.
 
Melodyt and the elven eleven
(Thankfully still including one very weak sick little girl)
[Posted in FML issue 3124]