I have been too upset to write this sooner.
 
It is so sad but it happened again!
 
How many more times will this have to happen before people listen?  These
big Midwest Cages are not meant for ferrets!  Anybody owning one; please
modify them with the proper shelving and ladders or get rid of it!  They
are meant for cats and just because Midwest throws a hammock in, it do's
not make it fit for ferrets!!  The shelves are too slick and narrow for a
critter with fur and the ladders are too steep!  You can do something about
that!
 
For over a year now I have been trying to convince this lady to modify
her Midwest Cage with shelving so her two little girls would not get
injured.  She runs a Petco store, she know that these are meant for cats
and not ferrets.  I got them to stop selling the cage for ferrets but she
said that her ferrets are doing fine in there.  We had ferrets fall and
kill themselves that way in her store, so she knows!  Well, she has no
time for her ferrets and they are in the basement all the time.  I finally
convinced her to let me try and find a good home for them through this list
and you guys won't believe this; on the same day I was going to post them
on the list, she called the store and told me to forget about it, the one
little girl fell and broke her neck and she was going to give the other one
to a friend of hers!
 
I've been sick and throwing up for days and now its been a week and I am
still so upset by this, I can hardly sleep or eat without choking.  I feel
like I have killed that little one myself.  One day earlier and they would
of been safe.!
 
Today I had to talk to her again to let me try and find someone here who
could give this other girl a loving home and she agreed.  She first wanted
to bring her to the store to live with the baby ferrets there for good.
She thinks that she would mother the new little ones every time they get
new ones in and maybe that would work, I don't know.  But I do know that
she would never get any rest, these little ones would be all over her all
the time!  I have 8 of my own, all different ages.  Yes they get to play
together all they want but the older ones have the option to go to their
own quarters to rest in peace if they chose to.  Also; who do you all think
has been literally taken care of the newbee's there when they arrive for
the past two years?  ME.
 
After seeing two of them starve because they were not able to eat hard
food, I make sure they get soft food when MF sends a bunch before they're
ready, which happens all too often.  This store has come a long way since I
first went there and showed them as much as they would let me about ferrets
but it's still not good.  Employees keep changing all the time and I start
over and over again and it should not be my job but if I don't, the ferrets
will suffer.
 
Now I have to ask if some one out there would be willing to take this
little girl in to their home and love it before something will happen to
her too.  I am so worried that she will miss her cage mate and go in to
depression, happens all the time.  She is about two years old and healthy
from what she tells me.  She says that she seems fine so far but started
nipping some.
 
Folks, she will need lots of extra loving and attention and it's her second
home already so I would like if someone with prior ferret experience would
make this her permanent one.  I am over my limit with rescues now and just
can't take in anymore.
 
The ferret is free but she probably will ask something for the cage.  I
will buy that one myself and destroy it if I have to, if some one don't
want to fool with modifying it!
 
Is there some one out there that can help?  I live in Belleville, Illinois
and please e-mail me if interested.
 
With a heavy heart,
 
Helga
[Posted in FML issue 2957]