Okay, here's the deal... I agreed to board two female ferrets for three and
a half weeks while their owner goes home to England.  He brought the kids
over Monday evening.  I didn't have him fill out ANY paperwork b/c I didn't
feel right about asking him to... Either way, I'm not real happy with how
he cares for the two.  He's not abusive, or even neglectful... I think
maybe just... uninformed?  Or maybe _I'm_ the one who is uninformed, that's
why I turn to you.
 
They came in a reasonably sized wire cage that I have no real problems with
since they will come out often.  But UNDER the cage, not where they're
laying on or anything, but in a pull out tray, the owner has wood shavings.
It's pine, which I understand isn't as bad as cedar, but wood is wood, no?
This isn't good, right?  In the cage, he has a big ceramic bowl that the two
like to sleep in.  Fine...  but that's ALL they have in there.  No towels or
t-shirts or anything.  Well, maybe they're out all the time and don't need
anything in their cage, so that's not so bad either.  I put a towel in the
cage anyway.
 
The next thing that concerns me is their food. The owner told me half fill
one of their little bowls with the Kaytee ferret food (that he provided) and
then put two spoons of cat food in one of the other bowls. Well, it's the
MOIST cat food. And they aren't free fed. My Beckett could stand to each
just once a day because he borders on chubby... no, he IS chubby, but THESE
two are skinny scrawny little girls. Their coats are real rough, he said
their ears stink.. they stink b/c they have MITES, which I'm treating. Their
tails look very ratty, not exactly bald, but missing hair and I think they
have those little blackhead on them. I replaced their litter with newspaper
b/c I wanted to be able to get a good look at their poops. They both had
diarhea yesterday but I think it was just stress. Lots of fairly solid poops
now. Oh, and he had them declawed. NOT that I want to start a debate on this
yet again, but it just seems like one more thing sad about their condition.
 
Now, my big question is... do I totally blow off what the owner instructed
me to do? Or do I continue to care for them in a way I wouldn't care for my
own? I threw out the wood shaving and lined the bottom with newspaper. I
don't have a problem with his brand of kitty litter so I'm dumping out the
newspaper from the litter pan and putting litter back, now that I'm happier
with their poops. I'm free feeding them their Kaytee. They've eaten a LOT
more than he says he feeds them, btw. I've added Vitosol (sp?) to their
water, and I'm giving them a fair portion of Ferretone. I'm treating their
mites as well. What happens when the owner comes BACK? Do I tell him I've
been free feeding them, that they get ferretone, that they need a towel in
their cage, that he shouldn't use wood shavings? Or do I let him think I did
exactly what he said? My goal is to put some meat on these bones, some hair
on these tails, and some softness to these coats. I honestly hope he doesn't
even recognize them when he comes back. How should I handle this? Should I
go back to how he SAID to care for them?
 
I'm very sorry this is so long. I wasn't sure what to cut. I'm really in a
pickle here. Thanks for your help.
 
Ahn
[Posted in FML issue 1420]