>Sandy does not keep ferrets that are ill and she turns them over to
>Liane Beckwith, who has more medical experience.
 
(Hi Charleen!)
A small correction: we DO keep ferrets who are ill (currently soup feeding
4 right now and another one at a foster home), but it's certainly accurate
that Liane, who is a Nurse Practionair in "real life" has much more medical
experience than I do. :-)
 
Liane's shelter (as are most) is at her home and she has been taking our
"excess" biters and older ferrets who have trouble finding a permanent
home, as "sanctuary" ferrets.  Liane is also a hospice for ferrets who
come in who are not good candidates for surgery, or who have some of the
un-operable cancers.  We usually keep only a couple of ferrets (at a time)
over age four at our public shelter, since they stay around longer and are
more difficult to place.  We try to keep only 1 "biter" at a time to work
with.  We house (currently) 133 total animals (rabbits, rodents & ferrets),
so keeping more than a dozen or so "intensive care" animals at a time is
about all we can handle.
 
As a public shelter, open 7 days a week, we are able to place more ferrets
than a private shelter operator who has a full time job and a family, so
Liane and I have worked out the best way to find the most homes for our
ferrets.  We have some wonderful people here in the Seattle area who do
look for older ferrets as friends for their ferrets.  Liane and I refer
people to one another so that a ferret will go to a new home, regardless
of which shelter s/he currently lives at.
 
The PETCO's here have an "auto refile" computer system.  When they are low
on a particular product, corporate PETCO in San Diego automatically sends
them more of the product.  (That includes ferrets, guinea pigs, rodents,
fist and birds.) Several store managers informed me of that, and since I
was surprised that animals were also "auto" ordered, I checked and the
district managers (2 areas) who confirmed that was true.  This is also
the case in Texas.  I therefore assume that's the case in all areas where
PETCO stores are equipped with computers.
 
So *IF* (big if, since I haven't been able to get anyone at MF to confirm
there is a problem with "faked" MF ferrets being sold by PETCO's here, then
it is easily traced to corporate PETCO in San Diego.  Two years ago PETCO
did order from PV and then Tripple F for a couple of months and then went
back to ordering from MF.
 
The next time the Killians are in Washington state visiting their
relatives, we invite them to drop by (no pre announcement necessary)
and we'll love to show them around. :-)
 
Sandi
Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House
14325 Lake City Way NE
Seattle, WA 98125
206-365-9105
[Posted in FML issue 3442]