You know, I guess we should all ask that Food Lion's, Winn-Dixie's,
Kroger's, Harris-Teeter, and all of the 7-11 stores should yank those
Cheetos, Fritos, Lay's Chips, Doughnuts, Cinnamon buns, and let's see...
Ahhh,., WHAT THE HELL- Let's also shut down all of those fast-food
"Restaurants, I mean, those triple-by-pass burgers are SOOOOOO healthy.
And let's not stop there- if we shut down the sale of alcohol, no more
drunk drivers to wipe out innocent victims, teenagers and car-loads of
families.
 
THE FERRET STOTE is an incredible business that, quite frankly, without
their support for our shelter (and many many more, I'm sure) wouldn't be
able to afford to feed their shelter kids GOOD, QUALITY ferret food that
makes them healthier and gives them a much better quality of life.  And
by the way, the Ferret Store actually LOSES money on selling to us
shelters-they offer our shelter MANY discounts so that we can feed our
over 100 ferrets excellent food.  Every day.  Every month.  And Every
year.
 
Do we buy our shelter kids stuff like yoggies?  YOU BET WE DO!  I like to
see nothing better than an old, blind shelter kid who was turned into us
3 years ago because he was "naked" and smelled bad.  And if he likes to
take his once-a-day peanut butter yoggie and hid it, then sneak back a
few minutes later to savor his "candy bar", then I think that's a gift.
Not just to him- but to me- who has to see so many horrible things when
running a shelter.  TREATS are a choice.  If an owner buys treats, they
should, of course, research the ingredients first.  How many of YOU
GUYS/GALS read what's in those Snickers bars or Double-stuffed Pizzas?
 
The Ferret Store is not out there to make a buck; I've been buying from
them since 1998.  They often have to carry a distributor's FULL LINE of
products in order to keep that distributor.
 
I know Scott and Joe and a few other folks at the Ferret Store- I've even
been luck enough to meet a few of them at a ferret show.  They love
animals.  Pure and simple.
 
But like us shelters, we can only do so much when helping to educate a
ferret owner.  Even after we screen a new adopter, meet them, make them
sign countless adoption papers and follow-up on them in the months after
the adoption- It's happened where the new adopter somehow ends up not
recognizing an illness, or a blockage, or a tumor- or that the ferret has
"suddenly" lost so much weight that it DIES.  From starvation.  We know.
Because that happened to US.  And yes, we have Animal Control and our
District Attorney pursuing this lovely, well-to-do school teacher in our
court systems.  We gave this woman a "life-time" return/ guarantee- no
questions asked- We always do this.  But instead of calling us- even
just to ask a question- even after we GAVE her a bag of one of the ferret
foods we feed, she still starved this ferret to death.  In less than 3
months.  Our vet's necropsy was almost as pitiful as the dead ferret.
Bottom line here, please don't say bad things about the Ferret Store.
They DO care about every ferret that breathes, poops and sleeps.  We can
all just hope that some pet/ferret owners become more responsible and
educated.  That's one of the reasons we're here.  Why ALL shelters are
here.  And take a look at the ingredients of a bottle of A-1 sauce
sometime.  You'll gag.
 
Hugs to The Ferret Store and to all of the caring, responsible pet owners
everywhere.
 
Marlene B.
Richmond Ferret Rescue League
Richmond, VA.
[Posted in FML issue 4888]