At 02:13 AM 09/27/2000, you wrote:
>I was wondering if there were regulations for the care of ferrets in Pet
>shops- more specifically the cages.  I went to a local pet shop yesterday
>and they had 2 baby ferrets for sale... the ferrets were both in a small
>fish tank-it could not be much bigger than 18inches long, 12inches high,
>and 9inches wide (guestimation).  The ferrets had to lay on their backs
>or sides to drink from the water bottles, they stood up and pushed their
>noses on the screen lid to get out, and the tank had a layer of what
>looked like some kind of shred paper.
 
A lot of pet shops only care about making a profit.  The rare few only care
about finding good homes for the animals.  Some are in-between.  I think
the one I work at is in-between.  Our ferrets are in pretty big wire cages,
plenty of food, water easily accessible, and a sleeping sack to snuggle in.
However, they use pine shavings for bedding.  I've tried talking to my boss
about changing the bedding, but I guess Care Fresh isn't as attractive as
pine shavings. :P
 
Also, at work yesterday I noticed that we had a bunch of new baby ferrets.
We get ours from Marshalls, and the babies looked a little too young to
be away from their mother.  I checked their butts and they were all red
and sore.  They were being fed hard, dry kibble.  I dumped that out and
replaced it with watered down and mushed kibble, mixed with a little
Ferretone.  Boy, you should've seen them gobble that up!  Fortunely, that
is the first time we've received a shipment of babies who are too young to
be sold.  I hope it doesn't happen again.
 
But to directly answer your question, no, it appears there aren't any sort
of regulations.  It's basically up to the store owners or managers. :/
 
Amber and the Furry Six
[Posted in FML issue 3188]