Greetings to one and all.  We've done a major relocation move and I've
just now got the computer up and running, skimming through the FML's
to catch up.  Rev.  Sims-I hope you get better.  And to all who've lost
their beloved fur kids my sincere condolences.
 
I want to tell you the tale of another who was almost one of the Almost
too young to die babies from a pet store, and a 'throw away'.  I started
my new job in Ft. Wayne May 8, traveled home on the weekends, so was away
from my family and all my four legged kids.  One weekend I got home and I
told my husband, let's go to the pet store.  Why, I don't know, only know
I must have been guided.
 
There they were, baby ferrets, on 'sale' for $79.99 each.  One wakes up,
looks at me and smiles as if to say, take me home!  Just what I didn't
need at that moment, but we were holding him anyway, others were in the
cage having a good time.  I looked down in the play ball and there lays a
blaze baby.  I picked him up and almost lost it.  He was skin and bones,
no light in his eyes at all, immediately curled to a fetal position.  I
stopped the sales clerk and asked if he knew this one was ill.  Was told,
"Yes, we had several come in with the flu, and the vet has seen them, I've
been doctoring them, and this one is better".  Better my hind end.  I told
my husband there was no way I could put him back to die.  So we went home
with him, and the one who first got our attention.  Reasoning was if I
could pull him through he'd have someone his age to buddy up with.
 
Got him home, got duck soup fixed, made a soup of kibble.  Hagrid, the
well one, put his head into the bowl and almost didn't come up for air.
The sick baby promptly bit my finger, hard, because he thought it was
food.  I held him, he put his head in the bowl and proceeded to eat and
eat and eat...... I didn't have to force feed or force fluids on him, and
we went like this most of the night.  To let you all know, he also is
classic Waardenburg markings, and from what we did in the way of testing,
he's totally deaf.  We named him Gandalf.
 
The next morning I was on the phone to the Purdue Vet school, and they
worked us in.  Gandalf weighed less than 1/2 pound if that, and I'd say
he and Hagrid were possibly 6 weeks old.  Still had milk teeth, the
permanents were barely breaking skin.  The vets gave him a thorough
physical, put him on all types of antibiotics.  They wanted a stool sample
and all I had was what had been in the pan.  However, by now Gandalf could
hold his head up, and was staggering.  All he wanted to do was get back to
me, then he wanted to back into a corner.  They got their fresh sample.
 
I went back to the pet store and presented them with the vet bill.  The
manager was nice, copied everything, told me he'd have to speak with his
boss.  I told them everything, told them what to do and who to contact
when the ill come in, or the too young, how to feed them, to get a regular
ferret vet, as the one they use is not a ferret vet, and having been
exposed to this clinic from personal experience, I bluntly told them I
wouldn't give these vets running room in a field of snakes.
 
I took both the boys with me that week, as I was staying with my niece,
and made sure Gandalf got his meds and plenty of food.  Hagrid was no
problem, and by the end of the week you'd never have known Gandalf was
ill.  The vets at Purdue had asked to see him when he was better, and by
the next Saturday we went in and they didn't recognize him!  He was well
over a pound, alert, lively, playing, absolutely amazing.
 
I went back to the pet store that weekend also, and was told that they
couldn't reimburse me for the vet bill, but they would refund me the price
of Gandalf.  Three others in this group had the same thing he did, were
sold to people, and the other three little ones hadn't made it.  The
manager of the pet store told me he was glad I'd gotten Gandalf.  So I
have contacted Marshall Farms as to reimbursement of the vet bill.  I
spoke with a woman there who had me fax her the vet bill, bill of sale,
my receipt for the MF ferret food, and the guarantee.  I'm still waiting
to hear from them.  The manager of the pet store also contacted Marshall
Farms as to why they shipped the little ones so early, and from the fact
they became ill and come in to them that way.  He's going to try to stop
the early aged shipments.  To let you all know, this pet store is Pass
Pets in the Tippecanoe Mall in Lafayette, Indiana.  Hopefully I've done
some good with the manager.  He's been there quite some time, and knows
me from past dealings.
 
I took Gandalf in for all of them to see and they were amazed at him.
The manager gave me a free photo session at JC Penney for Gandalf, and
asked if I did it if he could have a picture of him.
 
I know many don't advocate rescuing babies in this shape, to let them
cross to the Bridge, and maybe the pet store won't purchase more.  But
folks, this just ain't gonna happen.  There was one store in Lafayette, a
feed store, that did finally quit carrying ferrets, but your major chains
aren't going to stop.  Some might think I did the wrong thing by this,
that I should have left him, but my conscience wouldn't have allowed that.
Another 'guidance' of this weekend was that while I was there in the pet
store talking to them about the vet bill, they had a ferret 'returned' to
them.  I look over, and there's a scared older ferret being hauled in in
a reptile tank.  I asked what was going on and they said the boy's mother
wouldn't let him keep him.  The fellow who'd sold me Hagrid and Gandalf
said "You do rescue work, rescue this guy".  I asked what they'd do, how
much.  I was told any one could buy anything in the store and he's for
sale for $20.  So Chili came with me that day.  I was glad of it, because
he's gone through terrible depression, and I almost lost him.  He's been
to my vet up here in Ft.  Wayne and had sub q's, antibiotics, and meds,
and is finally coming out of it.  He's still thin, but once we're totally
settled and he realizes all moves are over, he'll be all right.  He's
still eating AD soup, but is now starting to eat Totally Ferret.  So there
were basically 2 pet store ferrets in desperate need in one weekend.  If
I hadn't been guided there, two little lights would have gone out.  A 6
week old and an 8 month old.  Through what?  Neglect, ignorance, possible
abuse on Chili?  Who knows.
 
All I know is that I will continue to work at and with people in pet
stores, to try to educate.  Right now I know I cannot take in another one
unless it would be in the shape Gandalf was in, possibly Chili.  But I
will talk to anyone looking at ferrets, to pet store managers, whatever
it takes.  I was in one of the pet stores here in Fort Wayne before our
total move, getting a 'ferret fix' and a young girl came up and started
talking about ferrets.  I'm sure she was in overload before she left, but
hopefully she'll retain things.  Her mother told her she couldn't have
a ferret, that they had dogs, and so I did a lot of explanation that
they're not pets for everyone, etc.  Like I said, hopefully she learned.
 
Rebecca & The Crew of Merry Mayhem
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and
 taste good with ketchup"
"Support bacteria, it's the only culture some people have"
[Posted in FML issue 3822]