Hi all . . .
 
The "harness" revision never ceases!  Dave and I went to a Pet Expo in St.
Paul, MN this weekend and found some terrific ferret harnesses.  Very light
weight, nylon, H-style, and velcro closures instead of buckles or the little
plastic clips.  We got extra large for Pepper--they guy was skeptical, but
it fits him perfectly.  And the velcro stays tight, too.
 
I also got a K9 Kruiser, which is a bike attachement for the dog.  But I
guess that's sort of off-topic.
 
I have to say I was a little disappointed with the ferret part of the Pet
Expo.  I guess I expected more ferret products like cages, clear dryer hose,
pellet litter, Sherpa bags, etc.  to be available there, but I only saw the
harnesses and some very expensive carry pouches.  And no one talked to us.
All the ferret exhibitors seemed very self-involved, gabbing among
themselves and completely ignoring visitors.  I didn't see any public
education happening at all.  There were lots and lots of ferrets, but no one
that seemed very interested in talking to us about them.  We thought we'd
check it out and maybe enter our ferrets in next year's show, but the whole
atmosphere was one of disorganization and chaos (from our view, anyway).
And we really hoped to have our hearts stolen by some critter waiting for
adoption, but we coudn't tell which ferrets, if any, *were* up for adoption.
We were very interested in a large male, and were exclaiming over how
wonderfully huge he was, when a lady nearby paused in her conversation for
two seconds to say, "He's only four months old" and then resumed her
conversation.  And that was as interested as anyone seemed to be to talk to
us.  Except for the people from WarmFuzzy Rescue where we bought the
harnesses.  They were great.  One of their ferrets even reacted to the
command "dead ferret!" by hanging its head down and playing dead!  I wish I
could figure out how to teach my fuzzies tricks like that!
 
On the other hand, the dog area was filled with people happy to talk to us
about their products, their animals, and animals that needed adoption.
 
We did fall in love with a baby ferret at the Pet Ranch at the Burnsville
Mall, but did not buy him.  He was too young to be in a pet store, and the
worker not very knowledgable.  I asked how old the kits were, and she said
7-9 weeks.  No way.  These babies were still wobbly on their feet and
couldn't have been older than 5 weeks.  Super, super, super tiny, and I
don't see how they could possibly have been safely descented/altered and
shipped so young.  I wish I'd thought to check for the Marshall Farms
tattoos, but I didn't.  My Mort was from Marhsall Farms and I got him a week
after the pet store got him, and he was small, but still 3x the size of
these kits.  These babies looked like they should still be drinking mother's
milk.  That made me too nervous.  Besides that, we were afraid our
rambunctious boys would hurt that teeny kit.  He just seemed so fragile.
 
Ok, this last is for anyone who collects statistics on animal bites: This
info comes from my US Postal Service Update newsletter, in an article about
dog bite prevention, so the numbers should be from federal stats: 4.7
million people were bitten by dogs in 1996, the majority of them children
under age 14.  11 children under the age of 10 were *killed* in these
attacks.
 
Now, let's find out how many children were killed by ferrets in 1996, hey
what?
 
--Sheri
[Posted in FML issue 1941]