Linda Iroff writes:
>Unfortunately, education does not work.
You are Dead Wrong here. If you plug away at something, things do get
changed. But yes, they take time and sometimes alot of time. It take
time to print off flyers, distribute them and get them to use them. But
it DOES work. I and a couple of my ferret friends have educated people
at our local Petco (employees) about ferrets, their needs and their draw
backs. What good foods to feed, cheaper litter so that people can afford
the better foods, I have dropped off Good flyers there explaining the
issues ferrets develop. What good treats to offer, what are not so good
treats etc. They are doing a wonderful job at our Local Petco. The
only thing I see they need to improve is the cages they offer. They are
HORRIBLE for ferrets. And again, I am working on that problem. We got
another local pet store to stop carrying ferrets, because they did not
have the proper set up. They agreed to push rescue ferrets and have
asked us to help with that. We in turn suggest to people who adopt from
us to shop there.
In high amounts, Ferretvite or Nutri cal could be bad. I know of people
who are giving it like a treat everyday. High amounts of it. But to
remove it would not be good because it is need. There again, education
is the key. It is not the "Fast" answer to the problem.
The people who will not listen will find another place to get Yoggies, or
Raisins etc. You can't get the food stores to remove raisins. I tell
people NO RAISINS WHAT SO EVER. I tell them 1 raisin to a ferret, is
like 300 to us. Are you going to sit down and eat 300 raisins? They are
shocked. But they listen. If I had a $1.00 for everytime they said they
did not know that, I would be able to fund my shelter no problem. If
they don't get the Yoggies in the ferret section, they will get them in
the cat, dog or small animal section. Or worse yet, take there business
to another local petstore who has not removed that item. It is hard to
go about the problem that way. I think having the pet stores maybe add
tags at to what is a healthy treat for the ferret, like they do with the
Heart Healthy stuff, might be a better option.
I would like to see the Ferret Food companies lower their prices also.
Because it is for "Exotic Pets" they raise the price of the foods. I
always suggest a cat food to feed to ferrets, because I know in the long
run people are not going to feed the expensive foods. If push comes to
shove and they have to buy food for their families or buy food for their
pets, the pets are going to get the cheap stuff. So I suggest all price
range foods, which I have checked out labels for to give them many
options. But once again, that is education of the owner.
With the high percentages of ferrets getting sick (about 89%), people
need to know that going into ferret ownership. You can say processed
foods are not good either. Feed raw/live diet. That is what alot of
people in Europe do and their numbers are way down on issues of getting
sick. But this would require alot more work and mess and it is so much
easier getting the kibble.
When I write my letter, I am going to suggest a Manger training session
on ferrets. Train the mangers, have the managers train their employees.
Revise their Care sheets and make sure to mention the high health issues
that ferrets can have. Have photos shown to the managers of an adrenal
ferret. Have them have access to more in depth flyers about the
diseases. But also state that despite their high issues of illnesses
that they are WONDERFUL pets who provide hours and hours of comic relief!
Marguerite
TinyPrints On The Heart.....
TinyPrints Shih Tzu, TinyPrints Ferretry and Rescue
http://www.tinyprintsontheheart.com
Ebay Sales to Benefit TinyPrints Ferret Rescue Medical Fund
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZalohaferrets
TinyPrints Ferret Rescue PetFinder Web Page
http://www.tinyprintsontheheart.petfinder.org
TinyPrints Ferret Rescue Store
http://www.tinyprintsontheheart.com/onlinestore.htm
[Posted in FML issue 4874]
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