Laryssa,

Some PetSmarts have been selling ferrets BUT the last time I checked
(admittedly 1 and 1/2 years ago) here is what they were doing RIGHT
then that I would love to see all pet stores emulate:

1. The ferrets were ALL at least 12 weeks old on arrival.

2. The ferrets had a complete canine distemper vaccine series and their
IMRAB 3 rabies shots BEFORE sale and came with vet certificates saying
so.

3. The cage set up was a multi-level one without pine or cedar so the
ferrets got a lot of exercise, minimal lung irritation, and the food
and water were well away from the litter boxes.

*****Wouldn't it be great if ALL pet stores did those things?*****

(BTW, in relation to that Pet Supplies Plus and a second one mentioned
it sounds like perhaps local issues should be handled with local
solutions since from the descriptions the stores vary widely and some
very good stores were also mentioned.

On the other hand, I have to agree that national offices should be
customer sensitive. It is sometimes amazing how insensitive to both
customers and workers (below the Golden-Parachute tier) a number of
corporations have become, esp. in the last half dozen years. Recently,
some people we passed were chatting on a sidewalk about being screwed
out of their retirement health care or their pensions (or parts of
those); a group built with quite a number of us in the same sorts of
positions -- in our case 2/3 of my hubby's pension was lost to the
company reinvesting in itself and that entirely changed our prospects
despite our careful saving on our own because it was a multi-decade
pension -- and it was startling during the conversation that ensued the
very wide range of corporations which were comfortable treating people
in such a fashion. Failure to respect customers is a similar problem in
my eyes; it shows a corporate disassociation from what in the past has
mattered because of a feeling that the customers and workers are
"little people" and therefore have no choice, and that they will assume
that all corporations are similar. Personally, I figure that it does
not at all hurt to say, "Do you realize that your competitors "so and
so" -- fill in name(s) -- treat the ferrets and their customers better?
If you are assuming that people can't walk their money over there then
you are making a costly mistake.")

-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org

[Posted in FML 5404]