Well, in light of the post of few days ago Steve and I set off this
morning for the Route 22E, Union, NJ PetSmart to see what we could learn.
 
I checked about half of the kits; they had about 10 there, all about the
same age bracket from quick looks.  All of the ones I completely checked
(5) were at least 11 and 1/2 weeks old because all had full dental
eruption of adult teeth.  One was a bit chewy but I found that a sliver
of kibble had gotten under a gun near a canine and that dislodged easily,
getting me kisses afterward.  All were clean, personable, bright eyed,
and well muscled.  Most had more of a large bulldog build but there were
a few smaller ones with whippet build (whose teeth also gave an age of at
least 11 and 1/2 weeks in age).  Whippet build ferrets often can be much
smaller than bulldog build ones, especially the females.  Kisses were
readily given.
 
A number of the females have a sort of traditional PV look to them --
bulldog bodies and slightly shorter than normal female faces.
 
The rabies vax papers say that vaccination was done in Zanesville, OH
which is interestingly also on Route 22 -- perhaps the same Route 22
since the NJ one goes into PA and so does this, but I don't know if it is
contiguous.  (On a map look almost due west of the junctions of Route 70
and 77.  It is about 2/3 of the way to Columbus, OH from the PA border.)
 
This was one of the original cage set-ups; I gather than the newer ones
are larger and more impressive.  This one was cool, actually.  I would
not mind a cage like it but wider with more litter box space.  There is
a circular column with hatchways and very nice ramps so the ferrets can
walk up, down and around.  I guess that vertically there were four or
five levels.  Today they had it divided in in halves vertically into
semicircles so ferrets have different levels for eating and drinking,
sleeping, and getting to toys.  There were dark sleeping cubes available.
It was very clean, and there was a good deal of food and clean water
available.  The litter looked to be Yesterday's News.  The quarters of
the column can be closed off with sliding doors that close the hatchways
and then an entire quarter can be opened.  Clean-up must be a cinch.
 
In products there was still a bit of that Fiesta junk there, and a few
of the small litter boxes.  (The original set-up in small enough to need
the small boxes, actually.) There was not much of a selection of ferret
food on the shelves.
 
The staff was friendly and courteous and did ask questions to make
sure that we knew things about ferrets.
 
So, my experience was more along the line of what we'd come to expect
there.
 
I hope the person whose experience was different does get in touch with
Dr. Mike so that it can be figured out what happened.  That is the only
way to make effective corrections.
[Posted in FML issue 4882]