I too have been reading these posts and agree with Larry. It is
important that the Shelters spend time in the stores, both educating
the Staff as well as the customers interested in ferrets. The PETCO's
in my area WELCOME and ENCOURAGE all Shelters/Rescue Groups to come in
with their animals, and that includes the Ferret Shelters. The only
difference that I see with this and other states ... In Massachusetts,
you can not adopt an animal on the property of a PETCO or any other
store that you set up on. Now, we never did even when you could ...
I guess we have a stricter standard than say some of the other types
of animals :-) You have to physically go to the Shelter or the Foster
home to adopt/pick up the animal.

"Meet and Greets" are important to do in any store that carry ferrets,
we do one every month in our local PETCO. If we had more people
involved and had the time .. We too could do them every weekend,
unfortunately .. There are only two, sometimes three, of us that do all
of them :-(  We also do a Nails/Ears and Teeth cleaning Clinic" for a
small fee just for ferrets to help draw in and EDUCATE ferret owners.

Also, Anita Bell wondered "What PETCO gets out of having Shelters come
into their stores to do Adoptions". Not sure about PetSmart or Pet
Supplies Plus .. But, PETCO gets nothing from the Shelters adopting
out some of their animals.

Do I think it's possible to get PETCO to stop carrying ferrets ... YES!
The Rabbit people did it, why not us. It will take some doing, but it
is possible. I don't care who is in charge of trying to Campaign this
issue. Do I want them to stop ... I will admit ... Most of me says yes
and part says no.

Debi Sadowski - You brought up some good points about most PETCOs ...
but not all. And this is another reason we need to get into them and
EDUCATE the employees. At the very least we should be campaigning PETCO
to do a better job about TRAINING their people about Ferrets. I am
sorry that you have had such bad experiences with the PETCOs that you
have visited .. Not all PETCOs are equal. I will admit that I work at
one .. The ENTIRE STAFF here does CARE!! We have actually refused to
sell a ferret to someone we feel would not make a good parent. I know
that this doesn't happen in most though and one of the reasons I want
to see them stop carrying ferrets. I would like to clear up two things
that you brought up though. Their return policy is 15 days, not 7 and
we do encourage them to return them to us if they find it is not a
match for their household. Also ... Per Policy, the store is required
to have the ferrets vaccinated for distemper and rabies at 14 weeks, 16
weeks and 18 weeks of age if they are still in the store at those ages.
If you have a PETCO NOT doing that, they are violating Company Policy!

I also agree ... In most PETCOs where there is also a ferret owner,
the ferrets are better watched over and handled. But if there is not a
ferret person on, tragedies that you have mentioned do happen and even
more in these times when we are so under staffed and there are times
when only "kids are covering the floor :-(

I strongly agree with the Anonymous Poster - "Petco is probably the
most responsible chain pet store when it comes to taking care of the
animals, but no one is perfect and it does depend sometimes on the
manager." Many times we too have "adopted out" animals that are older.
I too have seen them spend thousands on surgeries and then adopt the
animal out because the animal is no longer "perfect" and sellable.
There is another large animal retailer in my area that does NOT believe
in taking a sick or injured animal to the vet ... it is taken out back
and inhumanely KILLED! They also carry ferrets :-( Talk about a chain
that should NOT be carrying ferrets ... THEY are IT!! I had people come
in to my store for supplies and to look for another ferret,, that had
bought their current ferret at the "other" chain. I started to ask them
questions and wanted to know what their ferret's name was ... They
replied, "HIS name is Stevie." To which I replied ... "I hate to tell
you, Stevie is a girl" They had been told it was a boy and was most
definitely a girl, LOL. At least even "the Kids" in my store know how
to tell the difference. If we stop carrying ferrets ... This will be
the ONLY place in my area people will have to go to buy them :-(
SCARY!!

I will finish with this ... PETCO does mean it when they say "Animals
Come First" and if ANYONE goes into one that they don't feel is doing
right by ANY animal ... contact the Store Manager and "nicely" voice
your concerns. If THAT doesn't work .... CALL the Corporate Offices...
They WILL correct the problem! And if it continues ... keep calling!
I have seen Store Managers loose their jobs over poor animal care.

Dianna
The Educated Ferret Association

[Posted in FML 6621]