We all already know that not everyone will agree on everything. That
is a given. In theory it would be nice and we all often think of it when
imagining the list in a Utopian way, but to quote Yogi Berra:
>In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.
I realize that possibly there are going to be those here who will care
more about a personal fight with another list member than about an issue
under discussion. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOT LET SUCH INDIVIDUALS' PERSONAL
FIGHTS DERAIL ANY PART OF CONSTRUCTIVE DISCUSSION. All too often people
who react in extremes have damaged very productive efforts to help
ferrets. Since the FML was first created I have seen this happen
repeatedly with legalization campaigns (actually destroying some
campaigns and losing them effective cooperation -- one even drove away
the man who at that time was the single most influential ASPCA official
in the U.S., and several stupid fights within the ferret community
delayed legalization by years in some locations), with health studies,
with other product campaigns, and more. If people skip the most
inflammatory posts designed to either get attention or to pursue a
grudge, and instead concentrate on those which present ideas worthy of
consideration then progress will be made. If the inflammatory posts
are not skipped then keep them VERY, VERY SEPARATE IN YOUR OWN MIND
from the actual productive work that is going on.
When people review the past mails on the things which can be done to
best change what products are sold into ones which are less hazardous
you will notice something very important: the principal individuals have
NOT been inflammatory.
They have merely stated their stances and their questions in a logical
and politely unemotional fashion.
Nor can I recall any of the principals saying that they would never again
shop at a store which sold the potentially dangerous products. They
said that they would not shop at such stores while there was a better
alternative. "Never again" is pretty useless as a statement, anyway.
Why try to please someone who isn't going to return ever? Right now I am
not buying from any place which is reordering foods that have fruit or
veggie chunks in them which can cause blockages. Yes, I would also like
to see junk foods dropped but I care more about the acutely dangerous
items personally. As a Ferret Health List* co-moderator I've spent some
all-nighters trying to get people to have an emergency vet appointment
for ferrets whose lives were placed at risk by such blockages and who
needed emergency major surgery to survive. So, for me personally it
would be too hypocritical and too much like shooting myself in the foot
to put our own family money into a place -- even one for which I care --
which sells such products when alternatives exist. Is that forever? I
sure hope not. I have emotional ties to the one I'd been patronizing.
Still, I think that morally -- from my own take on the situation -- I
just personally have to do this as our own monetary choice.
I grew up in retail and luxury retail sales, and I was later in retail
management (mostly clothing) before I left my career to care for my
terminally ill mother, after which I put myself through college. I can
tell you that stores and chains make choice to NOT carry products -- even
those which may be in demand -- ALL THE TIME. They do so because returns
for refunds are too expensive if the manufacture is questionable. They
do so because they don't want kids who come into the store to see certain
things. They do so when a health risk is discovered -- as when we also
ate the expense and pulled all the non-sealed pewter from our gift item
shelves when it came out that there was a lead exposure risk. There are
a million and one reasons why retail companies choose to no longer carry
a certain product or to not add it to the line-up. It happens everyday
everywhere. Sometimes the last of the products are sold and then the
items are not re-ordered, and other times the last of the products on
the shelves are not sold and the items are not re-ordered.
Now, some manufacturers make this more difficult by insisting that a
certain grouping of items be purchased. One company for which I worked
had its own solution for that. It bought the grouping after the reasons
it did not want to do so were ignored. Then it returned for refund -- as
defective -- all of the unwanted items documenting that the dye did not
hold up to antiperspirant, or the seams had so little fabric involved
that a rapid tear was too likely, etc. Personally, I think that a food
which has a risk of causing a fatal blockage is defective. Ditto one
that can damage kidneys. Ditto some others. Anyone who asks me why I
spend money on ferret products will find that "so that they can wind up
in the hospital critically ill" is not among my reasons.
Still, I do have to admit that I like to have some junk food now and
then. Right now I wouldn't mind a Twinkie so it is lucky we don't have
any here. Yet, how much of that would I give a child under my care?
Obviously, I would exercise some caution and attempt some education about
wise product selection. When talking about dangerous or junk foods for
ferrets and comparing to human junk food it is a far more consistent
parallel to compare what one would do for a child under one's care than
what one does for oneself. We're all a bit less careful with ourselves
than with others whom we love, I think. Furthermore, I don't think that
anyone here would be inclined to buy food at a place where the food posed
the level of significant danger that items which can cause blockages
pose. If your local grocery store always had rotten meat on the shelves
you'd go to a different market -- even if you didn't eat meat. That
does not mean that you would not consider giving the store a new chance
once they improved, of course, just that the meat so turned you off as
a SERIOUS AND AVOIDABLE HAZARD that until corrections are made you'd
rather travel.
Changing products for the better is something people here have over and
over and over said that they strongly want. And face it, the ferret and
ferret product market is about 2 Billion (yes, "B") dollars annually in
the U.S., as per Ken Wells of the Wall Street Journal, so it's not as if
companies are not jumping onto the bandwagon with junk to make a fast
buck.
It is time to CELEBRATE that some stores are doing exactly making
improvements in their product selection for health reasons! THAT is
the HARD FACT which is being lost when people become over-wrought.
When their stock is sold out there are places which will NOT re-order
dangerous products from a range of manufacturers. Here is an ACHIEVEMENT
which pretty well all of us year after year after year thought could
never be done, but in some stores it is actually happening! IT IS REAL!
(There are a few who fail to celebrate and instead only try to downplay
this achievement but doing so reminds me of one person in 1998 who tried
to put an inaccurate slant on the improvements to the Compendium of
Animal Rabies Control and Prevention. It bugged him that someone else
had succeeded instead of him getting glory. So, instead of celebrating
he tried to corrupt the database. Actions like that show that ferrets
and their welfare do not come first for the individual who tries to
derail constructive efforts. Such needy egos only hurt ferrets.) So,
while you are discussing this topic TAKE TIME TO CELEBRATE THE PROGRESS
WHICH HAS BEEN MADE SO FAR. Take time to thank the IFC which was
instrumental in making this progress. Take time to thank the stores
like PetSmart and Ferret Depot which are making changes for the better
by refusing to reorder hazardous products. Take time to thank those in
other stores -- like the vet in Petco -- who want to also make
health-based improvements and have requested your polite input to help
them present the case needed to do so in their companies.
To make that even better once the stores change buying patterns know then
the manufacturers know without a doubt that they need to concentrate on
producing safer items for ferrets. It is not like that is a major
imposition. Think of all the product changes which happen for less
serious reasons like fads. Products change all the time. Besides,
products for birds and rodents never were right for ferrets. It is not
as if these companies can't do this. Some mention repeatedly on their
sites that they have research staff, and let's face facts that any
subsidiary of a major conglomerate with a logical staff can figure out
how to have treats which are based upon meats, hardened gelatin, and
other decent foodstuffs for ferrets. So, the final upshot is more
healthy alternatives will be introduced to replace the ones that should
be relabeled back for use by the birds and rodents for whom they were
originally designed. Heck, maybe the stores themselves could even just
arrange with the manufacturer for in-house re-packaging to sell for
those species which would benefit from foods unsafe for ferrets.
This improvement FOR THE FERRETS is more than a hope of what can be
done -- in some stores is already has been done. Celebrate that and
find your own preferred ways to encourage more progress FOR THE SAKE
OF THE FERRETS AND THEIR HEALTH.
Sukie -- just speaking for myself and again reminding people to ignore
those who turn this discussion away from constructive comments and into
fights or attention-seeking displays -- because most of us here are
constructive people
* http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
[Posted in FML issue 4889]
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