I am Back -  not fully recovered but back enough to be MAD AS a HATTER!
 
Anyone reading this list will recognize me for advocating ferrets sold
OLDER than 5-6 weeks of age.  There are REASONS for this.  How many
folks on this list who have owned multiple ferrets from pet shop sales -
purchased as early alter - have managed to see these animals live long &
healthy????
 
Many vets on the FHL have remarked that they feel ( no no studies have
been done) that early alter DOES CONTRIBUTE to adrenal disease in
ferrets-- especially at younger ages ( under 6 years of age) .
 
NOW WE CAN BE FURTHER INSULTED!  IN the last publication of Pet Product
news - A Fancy Publication, animal lovers it seems - will face a similar
fate with "Peter's Rabbits"- the new line of early alter pets promoted in
the publication by Peter Reid , VP of Marshall Pet Products.  "Just in
time for Easter " these early alter bunnies are touted to be the end all
of pet retailers.
 
I am sure SPCA & HSUS are happy the young baby rabbits are already
altered when they arrive at a tender age at petshops.  However - I am
SURE that we will hear about the health maladies this presents for the
House Rabbit Society and small shelters which get gifted with these
animals in the future.
 
WHEN WILL THIS END?  WHEN IS MANUFACTURING OF ANIMALS FOR PROFIT not a
humane enterprise?  WHEN IS THIS Mutilation going to end so pet lovers
can have healthier animals?  I suggest NEVER-- UNLESS we all STOP
PURCHASING animals in Pet Shops!
 
The more we buy the more they make-- this has proven TRUE over many
years-- as many years as I have been doing rescue (12).  SIGH!
 
We need to take responsibility- if we want to buy ferrets , rabbits etc
in the pet shops we ALL need to bear the responsibility for those animals
abandoned by the purchasers!  We need to educate the public.  We need to
accept the responsibilities when these pets become ill-- because the
manufacturer DOES NOT!  I have personally heard the reply on the phone -
"what do you expect?  This animal would be dead by 3 years of age -- if
it were in the wild." Well folks they are NOT in the wild they are
manufactured and SOMEONE NEEDS to be responsible for the results of
tampering with mother nature - the lack of immune systems debilitated by
neuter at too young an age - and the high rate of illness and cancer.
 
CLEARLY it is NOT the PET PRODUCERS... NONE of them accept any
responsibility-- and none of the stand by a pet guarantee / warrantee.
The pet producers - manufacturers is a most appropriate word-- have made
it so difficult for those who have pets which are ill to collect a refund
or spay-neuter refund they even force you to purchase their own food and
provide receipts claiming that feeding another brand of quality ferret
food nullifies the pet warranty.  IS this honest and forthright ??  I
DARE to say not!
 
Now, I KNOW THERE ARE A FEW FOLKS OUT THERE who will state I am picking
on one particular pet manufacturer... I am NOT-- I am trashing the entire
system which butchers ferret kits at far too young an age for retail
gain.  THIS IS AN OPEN BLAST to each and every MILL out there!  YES, IMO
they ARE MILLS- there is no happy ranch where ferret kits sleep in luxury
while nursing.  These are dirty and cramped accommodations where ferret
kits are severed form the love and warmth of the teat the minute they can
suck mush into their mouths.  Where they are neutered and vaccinated in
assembly line fashion for shipping to retailers.  I ASK- the next time
you look at a kit in a petshop - which has been deprived of nurturing and
socialization by its mother- which has been mutilated with spay/ neuter
and anal gland ( de-scent is a mis nomer in title it has NOTHING to do
with ferret scent) with an electro cauterization process before their
eyes are open -- which have been boxed in tiny crates with inadequate
food & water to be flown or driven over miles to reach retailers...PLEASE
STOP and think-- is it really worth it?  This animal, Unsocialized by
MOM, with immune system compromise from early gonad intervention - will
be YOUR responsibility when it arrives at our home.
 
YOU are allowing this horrid disregard to ferrets ( now rabbits) to
continue by buying the at your local pet retailer!.  PLEASE consider
walking BY the display - THEN call your shelters love those who are
already victims of this terrible atrocity to mustelids.
 
I ask this at the request of Disney FerretWise- It was Disney's Dream to
have a loving home.  Disney was transferred from a NY shelter which was
overrun to Ferret Wise in June 2001.  At a mere 3 years of age - we had
hoped to find Disney a home of her own.  However because Disney did not
like other ferrets - and we could not find her a single ferret home --
Disney remained at Ferret Wise- and is spending her last day here with
insulinoma, adrenal and intestinal cancer.  Disney will leave this world
in a short time without realizing her dream..
 
HOW MANY MORE will suffer the same fate????
 
YOU HAVE THE POWER to stand up and DEMAND healthier pets!  DO IT NOW - if
you do not-- many many more will be produced as they have been - and will
suffer the same fates- or worse.
 
In Disney's Memory-- Start now DEMAND older age of sale - DEMAND later
spay / alter and SCREAM for the end of pet shop sales... and Maybe Disney
will be able to look down from above and know her fate will not be that
for every little ferret which is not wanted after it arrives in it's
first home.  START NOW ... and
 
Please support the ferret shelters!
 
Alicia D
www.ferretwise.org
[Posted in FML issue 4449]