Okay,
 
Everyone has been very kind to me about my situation with Garcia.  I have
appreciated all your understanding.  I did not want to make a comment on
the "Molly: Blind Ferret" issue because I didn't want to sound like a
hipocrite.  However, I am not a hipocrite because I admited my own faults
of not being strong enough to deal with Garcia and therefore went to great
lengths to find him a good home that could deal with him.
 
The fact that I couldn't deal with Garcia's aggression and his stubborn
attempts to not use the litter box affected all my ferrets and myself and
so I acknowledged that he had a quality of life but just needed to be with
someone that could deal with his habits.
 
Now, I wasn't going to make any statement about Molly until I once again
was confronted with it on the FML by an editorial today.  The editor once
again echoed "no quality of life" and I paraphrase: no reason to live that
way.
 
I don't have a blind ferret, (I have a blind goldfish does that count?
just kidding) but from what people say, they go by a stronger sense of
smell so I'd imagine, if a litter box is nearby, they will find it by
smell, and they find their food, and if furniture stays the same, they
remember their way around like most all blind animals and people.  Are
there problems other than they don't play "normal" or don't play like
mainstream ferrets play?  As her letter seemed to say this was her biggest
reason for deciding to put Molly down.  If there is more stress to it
than just that....please enlighten me and I will apologize for taking her
trouble with Molly so lightly.
 
My ferret Willow is a special needs ferret with brain damage.  She is also
my most well behaved ferret.  She is slow in just about everything she
does and mostly watches my other ferrets play and so on.  Once in awhile
she joins in and whole heartedly but only after studying (as if having to
remember all over again how to play).
 
My Liam, a healthy, smart, and "normal" ferret, also hardly ever joins in
with the others to play.  He sniffs around the house constantly on his
own.  Or he approaches his little rubber ball and bats it back and forth
against the corner of the wall (i'm serious about that, it;s so cute).  He
could care less about my other ferrets most the time.  Does that make him
abnormal and not deserve to live?  (note: this statement is trying to say
that because a ferret doesn'[t play normal, doesn't mean it doesn't have
quality to live).
 
Okay, most of us on this list spend or would spend a condsiderable amount
of money to keep our ferrets alive and healthy and happy.  Sometimes over
$1,000, as if these were our human children.  For many, this is all they
can have as children.  So that being said: to say that a being that is
blind has no quality in life really strikes a very annoying chord every
time.  Would you put a child to sleep with the excuse that it has no
quality of life?  No, because you would explore many options, like finding
it a home that takes care of blind children for example.  And you would
do this with the honest statement "I couldn't handle it.  This child has
quality of life but I am not able to give it to them."
 
This is the same for a pet.  Putting a pet to sleep may be the answer for
your problem, but you should say it is because you couldn't handle it, not
that the animal has no purpose or reason to live.  Many memebers of this
FML have blind ferrets and love them, and give them a reason to live.
 
In another way of looking at this, if you spend this much money saving
ferrets and if you give as much love to your ferret as I know we all
give...what separates a blind ferret from a blind person that you also
love.  (Just a note, I'm not talking about the decision to put a ferret
down, but using the statement "no quality of life" as a cop out and not
the true reason)
 
I hope this makes sense.  My main point is, although I understand a blind
ferret must be difficult who can't play with the other ferrets normally
because he can't see them...if your blind child cannot see and doesn't
play with other children, does that mean he/she has no quality of life?
I know that the ferret/child comparison may be stretching the parallels
of human and animals but this concept is the same....why do humans have
quality of life when blind but ferrets not?  Blind Ferrets have it easy
if you ask me.
 
I don't condem the owner's choice of putting her down because that is none
of my business nor was I in her shoes.  That choice is personal.  Giving
Garcia up was my personal choice and that hurt to do it.  I don't know if
I could deal with a blind ferret but I would not say that his life is
worthless and has no quality nor did I say Garcia's life was worthless
because he couldn't act normal and took extra work...just honestly say
that you can't deal with the ferret's blindness.  That is the truth.  That
the ferret has no quality of life is NOT true.  It may make you sound and
look bad but it's the truth and that is always accepted.
 
Peace, Julia and her spiteful ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3566]