>You cannot speak for shelters! You do NOT run a shelter. You have NOT in
>any way been chosen by any shelter that I know of as a spokesperson. Do
>NOT select yourself! We are sure most shelter operators are unhappy with
>the deaths of the retired breeders but you are not the one that can
>volunteer our services.
>
>This has been discussed several times. Are you sure that those of us who
>do run shelters are willing to take on the numbers of ferrets involved? I
>am quite sure that many of us cannot possibly afford to do this. We will
>not do it for the small time hobby breeders, why should we do this for the
>ranches? If we insist on this for Marshall will we also do this for all
>of the other ranches? Most shelters are already heavily over loaded with
>the sources of adoptable ferrets we already have. This proposal will
>greatly increase the work load of an already overburdened set of people
>that do way too much as is.
I respond:
I'm afraid I must agree. It's a great theory, but in practice,
impractical! Shelters are way overcrowded as it is, without Marshalls
inundating us with their retired breeders.
>This problem with botched surgeries is isolated geographically. Why is
>it such a problem in Washington but not elsewhere in the country?
I respond:
It happened here. Siggy was a Marshall who ended up having a retained
ovary and half of her uterus which had fused to another organ ( I think
her liver if I remember right)
Thanks to this, I had to come up with over $475 to pay for the tests,
bloodwork, exploratory surgery, then the correction of the spay they
botched. Thanks to the MANY folks who bought hammocks on my hammock drive
to pay for this, and with the help of our vet we got $125 from Marshalls,
the "sale value" of Siggy, I had only about $175 out of pocket. She was
placed on a $90 adoption fee to a wonderful person who happens to be an
animal communicator of all things.(irrelevant thought sorry) Anyway, Point
is it happened in Ohio, it happened to Siggy. It should NEVER happen to
ANY animal. Maybe I'm just a nazi about this issue having been through it
and worrying this 11 month old had adrenal which she didn't, I was certain
it was the ovary at first, but the possibility of adrenal was scary just
the same. How many does it happen to that don't get reported publicly?
How many aren't on this list? How many never seek treatment for their
ferret - and you know it has to happen - I think even ONE is too many.
but I'm only one person. All Marshalls truly cares about is
marketability, or the ferrets would not be de-sexed so young so they can
be sold while they are cute and tiny. One of our first ferrets came from
petland, almost five years ago. He was a blaze (they called him a panda
HA!) and is deaf. They swore he wasn't deaf at the store-only wanted to
push him out and make a sale. Marshalls needs to provide some kind of
education to the stores, and the stores need to get some ethics and train
their employees better. He IS deaf, but is the most wonderful boy in the
world and is much loved. I told my roomie (at the time) we had to take
him BECAUSE he is deaf. I didn't want him to be abused, or returned, or
worse. He was hard to train not to bite, to come when called (thumping
on the floor to come running for the treat), but he learned eventually.
We did NOT ask for our money back due to being congenitally deaf, which,
by the guarantee they would have done supposedly. We didn't because we
WANTED him knowing he was, and it didn't matter. Unlike the stores point
of view, it's not all bout money. OK I'm off my soapbox now I don't
normally speak out but I'm donning my asbestos undies now...
Kim Wolf
Mystyx Samoyeds, Ferrets and Rescue
www.mystyxcritters.com
www.mystyxrescue.petfinder.org
Visit the Ferret Giving Tree and help shelter fuzzies in need!
http://friendsoffuzzies.com/givingtree/index.html
[Posted in FML issue 3632]
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