>The bigger stores are the way they are because people would rather say no
>to buying from them then saying yes and educating them. Please don't let
>our ferret buddies suffer any more then they have to. Get them homes
>quickly instead of letting them sit there in that fish tank or bird area
>suffering. Please.
I realize that as the new owner of 2 four-month-olds you are just
beginning to enjoy the happiness that ferrets bring. However, you have
not yet experienced the "other end" of the spectrum. Let me share a few
of my own experiences and maybe you'll understand why there is no way I
would EVER buy another pet-store ferret:
I just lost Nikita at age 5. Nikki spent the last year of her life
battling double-adrenal disease and underlying insulinoma, which
eventually killed her. For the last year of her life she was plagued
with itchy skin from adrenal disease, loss of energy and appetite, and
weight loss, and when the insulinoma hit she started having painful
seizures. Her last few weeks were full of pain. I loved Nikita and wish
we had more time with her - after all, when I was researching ferrets,
everything I read assured me that ferrets can expect to enjoy an 8-10 year
lifespan. The literature neglected to mention that does not apply to
mass-produced pet store babies.
Boomer is only 4-1/2 years old and suffering from his second bout with
adrenal disease. His adrenal disease has also given him a year of urinary
problems that have caused him pain, and he has been catheterized three
times. At 4-1/2 years old he looks like an elderly, frail ferret. He
faces another surgery if Lupron shots do not get his aggression and
swollen prostate under control. My vet is not optimistic that he will
live much beyond 5 even with more surgery.
Out of my 6 pet store ferrets, one is deceased at 5 years, killed by
double-adrenal and insulinoma. Another is 4-1/2 and in a slow decline. A
third just passed his 5th birthday. He is loaded with various tumors and
it is just a matter of time. A fourth had one surgery at age 4, and now
he is showing signs of insulinoma. In the last 2 years, I have spent well
over $2,500 in vet bills as my pet store ferrets hit the "advanced" ages
of 4-5 years.
It is no coincidence that all of my pet-store ferrets are having such
short, pain-filled lives; I am not just some unlucky person that happened
to pick disease-prone ferrets from an otherwise healthy population!
Ferrets are mass-produced, trucked and shipped far too young to pet stores
who do not always know how to take care of them. Education is fine, but
you will need to commit an AWFUL lot of time to educating pet store
employees. Turnover, especially in the larger chains, is ridiculously
high, not unlike a fast-food chain or a discount store. You will need
to go in every month and re-educate the new employees, and also the new
managers, as they also are replaced very quickly. Not all stores
appreciate it, either. Not all managers are even open to letting you
do this.
Even if you educate the employees, the baby ferrets are still being
purchased by consumers who often have no clue how to care for them, and
within a year or two will dump them at a shelter. Believe me, shelters
will not appreciate a cry for everyone to go out and start scooping up
pet store ferrets. They know where the majority of them end up!
It is very short-sighted to urge people to buy and rescue pet store
ferrets. Those babies are replaced by more babies. THOSE babies are
instantly replaced. And if you've ever studied supply and demand, you
know that greater demand increases production, at any cost (that's one
reason the US has ended up with our lovely supply of contaminated meat).
Many people (myself included) blame the poor condition of pet-store
ferrets on increased demand. To meet demand, large-scale ferret breeders
that supply pet stores are cutting corners anywhere they can (spaying and
neutering too young, shipping too young, not investing enough time in
weeding out poor breeding stock). The proposal that people start buying
them to "save" them would only increase this problem, not to mention fill
up the shelters even more!
I know what it's like to be a new ferret mom and feel like you don't want
to see any fuzzies languishing in pet stores. But take a moment and think
about the place your ferrets came from, and realize that there is an
endless supply...and a company behind it that does not really care that
it compromises ferrets' long-term health when it increases production.
You'll love your fuzzies all their lives, but you'll lose your naivete
once you start shelling out big bucks for the vet bills.
To anyone considering buying more pet store babies, I have only one thing
to say: Call your shelter!!! ADOPT! ADOPT! ADOPT!!!!!
-Heather W. in Massachusetts
Loving my pet store babies, but watching their days slip away.
Loving Nikita at the Bridge, always. Wish you'd had more than half a
life, little girl.
[Posted in FML issue 3763]
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