>Date:    Sun, 12 Feb 1995 02:12:17 EST
>From:    "Jill A. Kaszynski" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: PLEASE HELP ME!!
>
>i'm also wondering about the petstore's role in all this. is there an implicit
>guarantee that i'm buying a healthy animal? should they have to pay for
>Caelan's vet bills if he was infected by a ferret that was already sick at the
>time i purchased him?
>
 
I'll let the doctor do the doctoring but..
 
All GOOD pet stores have some sort of health guarantee (and some not-so-good
pet stores have them too). The pet store I worked had a two week guarantee
on small animals (such as ferrets). Chances are, if the pet took home some
illness, it will show up within two weeks. Only puppies and the more
expensive kittens carried guarantees against congenital defects and that was
for two YEARS. If the ferret died you would have to bring back the body to
the store and our vet would look at him. If it turned out to be something
like a disease or virus, you were reimbursed for your vet bills... ALL vet
bills that pertained to the incident which included taking other ferrets in.
You were also given the option of a replacement ferret or your money back.
This doesn't bring back your baby, but I think it is a way to make amends
and help ease the pain. Check out your pet store and review everything you
signed. Ask to speak to the owner or manager personally, sometimes the
salespeople have their hands tied and really DONT have authorization to help
you. We only had this problem happen ONCE in the time I worked there, and it
too involved the death of a ferret. This, however, was a different incident.
I sat in on the autopsy (sp?) and the broken bones and bruises were enough
to tell us that it was abuse the killed that ferret. We also had reason to
believe that wasn't even one of OURS because it was HUGE and the past two
weeks we'd only sold babies. Anyway, the point is, never buy a ferret from a
pet store without a health guarantee, and check out yours because you may
just have one. We at the Adam household regret your loss and pray there
isn't another. Good luck to you.
[Posted in FML issue 1105]