Hi Marlene, Anne and everyone who this concerns,
 
(Sorry this is a little late, I had problems with my email :-)
 
I to do not agree with breeders who sell their kits and retired breeders
as 'shelter adoptables.' But, I do know of a breeder/shelter that is very
responsible and does NOT call her kits or retired breeders 'shelter
adoptables.' She does rescues and has about 80 ferrets pass thru her
shelter a year, who happily have found homes except for 2 that I know of.
Her kits are called just that, baby ferret kits.  She does not sell her
retired breeders either.  She told me, "Once you buy them, breeder ferret
or not, they become a part of your family.  You do not just sell them
because they cannot have kits anymore or if your tired of their
disposition, good or bad.  Once they become a part of your family, they
are family." Sadly, most breeders that also run a shelter DO call their
kits, retired breeders, and rescues, 'Adoptables.'
 
Think of how a breeder ferret (or any ferret for that matter) would feel
when you had owned it since a kit for 4-5 yrs.  Tooken care of it while it
loved you dearly and depended on you for everything.  And raised litters in
which you got some profit out of.  (I am not saying breeders do it just for
money, but you got to face it, you do get some profit from doing it) Than
all of the sudden, sold it to a stranger!?
 
(The above paragraph covers all ferrets really)
 
IMHO, if someone is going to breed ferrets, or run a shelter, or both,
they should NOT call non-rescues, non-found, or non-dropped-off ferrets,
adoptables, because, to the average person, that means a ferret who's
owners did not want them anymore, took them to a shelter, or deserted them.
So, I hope you breeders out there, are not calling your r.  breeders, or
kits, adoptables.  Because I firmly believe, in doing so you mislead
potential buyers who think they are helping out a shelter by buying a
shelter adoptee.  If I were to buy a shelter ferret, I would be thinking
" I am helping out this shelter by adopting a ferret in need, who will have
a better life than it did."  All ferrets should have a good home, but all
the same, a shelter ferret HAS gone thru more trama and heartbreak than a
ferret who has had only one owner.
 
My point and what I am saying is this:
For the benefit of all the ferrets and people out there, lets not
confuse the r. breeders and kits with the REAL shelter adoptables.
 
[RW]
[Posted in FML issue 3124]