Sukie Crandall wrote in the FML:
>your statement does not make sense to me: Petcos
 
And then Sukie wrote:
>And this is "good" because...?  MF has no more problems than any other
>large farms and fewer than some.  My bet is the source of the problems
>...has been within Petco...
 
While you are certainly entitled to you OPINION and you are certainly
entitled to BET that you are right.  And while you are constantly
discrediting information because you have over 20 years experience with
ferrets and others do not.  None of that makes you RIGHT.  Your experience
does NOT discredit the experience of others and it's becoming tiresome
that you imply that it does.
 
While I have a mere 7 years experience with ferrets, I too know how to
age ferrets and I have handled and inspected and verified with my own eyes
and with that of several veterinarians that ferrets are REACHING the petco
stores here in the Seattle area, at 6 weeks of age and LESS.  The baby
ferrets shipped to the petco's in the Seattle area are frequently placed
in a "sick" cage for observation as soon as they arrive.  (They don't do
that for any other species they sell, why is that?)  The "sick cage" is
usually an aquarium in the back room, which does not have adequate (IMO)
ventilation.  If they do not have diarrhea and appear playful for another
7 days, they are then put out front to be sold.
 
Sukie also writes:
>Simple fact of the matter is that if MF kits wind up in places where
>folks are ferret knowledgeable they wind up no worse in terms of
>health...
 
It's NOT a "simple fact" Sukie.  Many of these way too young baby ferrets
are dying, whether or not an experienced ferret rescuer gets them, and
provides vet care for them and tries to nurse them back to health, just
to see them die in our arms." Four of six babies who recently died at an
Everett Petco were taken to an emergency vet, but died anyway.  Petco is
now trying to get MF to reimburse them for their $1,500+ vet bill for
those ferrets.  This is only one of the incidents which has sparked petco
to look into purchasing their ferrets from someone else.  Obviously they
aren't going to be making a profit when we insist they spend that kind of
money on vet bills.
 
And Sukie continues:
>Just have found far too many people, esp. those relatively new to ferrets
>and a few who see saints and devils where only humans reside lay blame
>where it often doesn't belong.
 
Sukie, every year you make similar statements, as your years of experience
grow others still are "relatively new to ferrets".  I'm certainly
resenting your statements, as do others who are "relatively new to
ferrets" compared to your years and years and year of experience.  There
is a real problem with many of the MF babies being shipped and perhaps
it is because petco has insisted upon you ferrets, but the problem DOES
exist.  Saying it doesn't does not make it go away.
 
Sukie continues:
>Since folks have told of very healthy MF ones in other Petcos I think
>your problem rests with your local Petco store ...
 
This statement is not logical.  Of course there may be healthy ferrets in
addition to sick ferrets.  If MF (distributors) ships healthy ferrets,
they arrive as healthy ferrets.  If MF (distributors) ships ill ferrets
they arrive ill.  Just because one of your kids is sick, doesn't mean
that the other one is automatically sick as well.  If any business finds
that it's distributors are damaging their product, they will educate or
discontinue working with that distributor.  If the ferrets are shipped
sick, this still falls back on MF.
 
Sukie,
While you have tons of excellent experience with ferrets, you obviously
do not have experience with the problems we see, primarily in the petco
stores, with the MF ferrets.  The petco's in the Seattle area started
buying from other distributors 3 years ago for about a 6 month period.
The prices of their ferrets went up a bit, but we also were not called to
help the sick ferrets who had arrived, because there were none.
 
I hope that all petco's will purchase from another distributor for some
period of time.  If we continue to see babies dying in pet stores, then
so be it...you were right.  But based on past experience, I anticipate
that the problem with dying baby ferrets will become minimal to
nonexistent ...and yes, I'm willing to bet on that.
 
One more thing.  Sukie, there has been two previous incidents where you
have implied on this list that I have no knowledge or integrity as to what
I'm writing.  In both of those cases I sent you documentation which backed
up by statements.  You failed to make any comments or make any retractions
to your comments about me either on the FML or privately.  Please don't
play that game again.
 
Sandi
 
Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House
a non-profit animal shelter
14325 Lake City Way NE
Seattle, WA 98125
(206)365-9105
Open 7 days/week or visit our on-line store at:
http://www.rabbitrodentferret.org
[Posted in FML issue 3792]