Hi all, I didn't think I'd be posting again this soon, but here it goes:
 
I took my mom to a pet shop, after a doctor visit yesterday and was really
concerned about the ferrets there not having any water in their bottle,
being housed in a aquarium with pine shavings, under bright lights and pine
shavings in their food dish so that there was no food visible(if there even
was any).  I didn't have any copies of the "Why not cedar shavings" by Dr.
Bruce Williams, or any other literature to hand them to back up my points,
so I thought I'd find a book in the store to help.  The book that they had
in the store, RECCOMEMDED shavings as a part of the temporary housing!  Not
good.
 
So, I got up the nerve to go the clerk, and the owner was right there too,
and asked why they use shavings, and she said "I don't know, we've always
used them." Then I told them that they have been known to cause respitory
problems in ferrets, and of course no one would believe me, so I told them I
would send them proof in the mail.  I also told them I was concerned about
the ferrets not having any water or visible food and she replied " we just
opened and haven't got to them yet".  I looked down at my watch and replied
" its 1:45 and you opened at 11 a.m., that really made her angry.  The
confrontation went on and on of course, and she was smarter than I was
because she had 10 or 20 years experience(I can't remember which)and I was
new to the ferret care, only having mine 4 months, so I should keep my nose
out of it.  It was amazing that the employee in the back had enough time to
play with one of the dogs, and another was tending to some mice, but nobody
had time to give the poor babies water.  In a cage diagonal to the ferrets
was a bunny that had a water bottle that was a clear bottle that had so much
aglae on it, it turned green all around.  GROSS!!
 
I told these people that I had access to 2,000 or so ferret people that
would back me up with my concerns about the conditions in their shop, so I'm
hoping a few of you in my area can help.  They are Pets Plus, located in
Lockport, NY at 421 West ave(Route 31?) Please stop by there if you can to
check up on these poor little guys, and speak with these people if you can.
Obviously I didn't get through to them, but if enough of us speak up, they
will listen.
 
I was very curtious and nice to these people and they got very defensive and
the owner acted like she wanted to start another argument with me as I was
leaving.  I used to think this was a nice shop, and we used to buy aquarium
stuff there, and my mom even got a puppy there, but no more!  What I
expected them to do was to say "thank you for letting us know that they
didn't have any water" and that would be that.  So please, please, give them
a visit.  They sure haven't heard the last of me yet.
 
also, if you have any suggestions of what to do to help these fuzzies, and
future ones or could tell me what could be done with this situation, feel
free to email me or post it here, so we all know what to do.
 
Thanks,
Laurie, Tinker & Koty
[Posted in FML issue 1506]