I don't want to turn this into a flame war or even a serious debate.  Both
the killians and alphachi had good points - but if you refer to my original
message, at the end of the letter, I wrote:
 
>hopefully they'll be interested.  The points of failure in this idea would
>be 1) MF's interest in tracking the info; ie, why would they care after they
>get the revenue?  2) Pet stores complying with handing out the correct cards
>with the correct ferrets 3) Owner response.
 
See?  I knew why it could be doomed to failure.  What I was more looking for
were suggestions on the best ways to let MF know that WE CARE about the
quality of the ferrets they put out - and my suggestion was 1) to notify
them ourselves, and 2) to try and get them to institute some low-level
method of tracking such that we can provide feedback that they can log,
monitor, record, put into a database and then fry the hard disk of the
server, whatever.
 
What other ways, then, are there to let them know that we think they should
pay attention to the longevity and long-term health of their ferrets?  Do we
care, as a consumer base?  alphachi is right - MF has to be held accountable
for their product.
 
bill k wrote:
>They very well might.  Many in the ferret "community" can talk rationally
>with them and they do listen to those people.  Several can not talk
>rationally when they let misguided emotions run away with them.
 
That's fine; I understand.  I *could* send MF my vet bills for Friday's
adrenal surgery and for Friday's lymphosarcoma treatments.  :) Would that be
irrational?  But, seriously, who has influence with them, or what liason at
MF should I attempt to contact?
 
bill k wrote:
>Marshall Farms doesn't usually place ferrets directly into pet stores but
>goes through brokers.  Along the way the pet stores end up with no clue
>as to where the ferrets came from.
 
alphachi wrote:
>PET SUPERMARKETS are a large southern chain that purchases many, many MF
>ferrets every few weeks.  They KNOW where they are getting them from.
 
Whatever.  Both of you are right in my experience.  Some stores know that
their ferrets are from MF.  Some stores don't.  I got Potpie through a
broker that bought from Path Valley, but I didn't know that until I got the
paperwork.  They didn't tell me.  I don't know where Noodle came from, and
the store had the GALL to tell me they wouldn't release the name of the
breeder to me, nor any information about the breeder.  In some stores, even
when the ferrets have two blue dots in their ears, the manager has "no idea"
where the ferrets were bred.  The point being, it would be nice if MF could,
as the seller, attempt to enforce a 'batch' tracking method (not an
individual ferret tracking method!) that at the very least could id a group
of ferrets by month/year born, etc.  Closely enough for the information to
be useful to MF.  This may not be possible due to very good reasons stated
by bill k about the points of failure in brokers, pet stores, and the
shippers.
 
<various arguments deleted>
 
bill k wrote:
> If you would rather follow emotional appeals to the evilness of Marshall
 
That's funny, I thought that in my original post I was being quite civil and
attempting to establish respectable accountability.  I try so hard to be
rational about everything (EXCEPT my ferrets)!  *insert gentle poke of humor
here*
 
You're right, though.  We ferret owners are heavy on the emotion.  That is
an admirable quality except in that it often gets misdirected and because of
the medium (email), often misunderstood.
 
>From:    Sandi Ackerman <[log in to unmask]>
>...The pet stores in my area of the world order their "livestock" directly
>from Marshall Farms.  They can order anywhere from 1 to "whatever"
 
Ah.  So in some cases, at least, it *could* be feasible.  Some is better
than none.
 
Regardless of whether or not it would be helpful, efficacious, or impossible
to implement, I am going to contact MF asking them to try to start providing
a means for people to respond to them on the long-term health of the ferrets
they sell so that they can provide a better product.  Point: people won't
buy a ferret from a breeder from which blah-% of the stock dies within 4
years.  A reputation can get around.  Ferrets are growing more popular, and
there are plenty of other reputable breeders out there that ARE putting in
the effort to breed healthy ferrets.
 
Melissa
 
 ___ Melissa Litwicki __ [log in to unmask] ___
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 1982]