Hey all :)
 
Well, yesterday I threw my first pet store tantrum.  I'm telling you guys
cause I know you are the only ones that will really care and understand (my
friends who were there with me walked away).
 
I went to Jack's Aquarium and Pet Supply on the outskirts of Cinci
yesterady.  I don't know if they are a chain, but I do know that I go there
instead of the Petsmart across the street because I would (have) rather
support(ted) the little guy.  They have had the same 6 or 7 month old
ferret in there since the first time I went there a month ago.  They
continue to recieve small shipments of babies.  This was irk point number
one, though I didn't say anything about it, just seethed quietly.
 
Irk point number two: There were a total of 5 ferrets in this cage, 4
babies and the 7 month old, all Marshall's (the sign they had referred to
them as "domestically raised...whatever).  The food bowl, of course, was
up-turned and the food had fallen between the spaces in the metal grid on
the floor.  A few ferrets were trying to stick their noses between the
spaces to get at the food.  SOOOO I tracked someone down and pointed it out
to them, politely.  My friends did not find what they wanted, so we went to
Petsmart to look for it, then went to eat.  We ended up going back to
Jack's, because they had the closest thing to what my friend wanted.
Between the dinner and the walking around at Petsmart, it had been about 2
hours.  The food bowl in the ferret's cage was STILL up-turned.  They were
ALL trying to squeeze their noses into the spaces between the grid to get
at the food.  The two kids working there had their a$$es on stools and
their faces in magazines.  My friend went up to the counter and asked if
someone could help him get some feeder mice.  He had to ask 3 times before
the girl got up, speechlessly, from her stool and headed back towards the
mice(this was irk point number 3).  I went up to the counter... I said,
"excuse me, but we were just in here a few hours ago and I had pointed out
to someone that these ferrets had no food, and they still have no food, and
you two are sitting there reading magazines".  He replied, "The big place
where we get them from, marshall, tells us to feed them like that, only
twice a day."
 
My reply back, "I have had ferrets for over 4 years now, and I was a vet
tech for 4 years, and I'm telling you that ferrets cannot be fasted.  If
these ferrets go for more than 12 hours without food, there is a
possibility of insulinoma setting in.(at this point, as the kid gave me his
half-wit stare, I proceeded to get angry) Marshall Farms would not tell you
in any way to only feed them twice a day, and if they did, they would
assume that you had a food bowl appropriate for ferrets.  That bowl (a
steel, round, dog bowl) will get knocked over and played with and slept in
and every other thing every time you put it in there.  All of the products
you have in this store, and you could not use something more
ferret-oriented.  When you come in here tomorrow and your babies are
half-dead, maybe you'll think about that." I also went on a short schpiel
about things that I've heard about Marshall Farms, which we have previously
agreed not to mention on this list.  The kid turned away, sat back down and
continued reading his magazine as I went on.  I WAS INFURIATED.  I WAS
HURT... I thought about those poor baby ferrets ALL NIGHT.  I was tempted
to grab a box of Marshalls, rip it open, and pour it in there for them, so
they could EAT something... IMAGINE a nice meal set before you, with a
steel grid between it and you :-(
 
I did not have a peaceful nights sleep last night, by any means.  I also
did not have the self-control to go back in there today.
 
However, they are the only place near us that carries feeder mice, and I
will need to feed my snakes next week.  They better HOPE those babies have
food that day, or I may feed THEM(THE PEOPLE!!!!) to my snake...
 
Thank you so much for reading, and seething with me, if you did.
 
Claudia & Shnoog ~M^>  the ferrets
Louie & Sheba  =^..^= the cats
Rowan & Isis ~~~~~~~~~>~ the snakes
Hollie, the companion pet,
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/chile/891/
[Posted in FML issue 2793]