(It's really weird being on the NWFR mailing list where no subjects are
allowed. How to know if you care to read the post or not>)
 
"Charleen Schuster" <[log in to unmask]>: wrote:
>it seems like to me its the Breeders back east that is the problem not
>the Pet Stores.
 
I'm really glad that you brought this up.  I don't agree with you that it's
the breeders fault, after all they're just trying to make a living and will
do it however they can.  I run a shelter that is trying to support our
animals by selling products and I can guarantee you that if I receive
defective, inferior or damaged merchandise, I return it to the distributor,
as do all pet supply stores!
 
The vendor is more than happy to take the non-live product back and replace
it with a better quality or undamaged product.Why should it be any
different with live merchandise?  If pet stores reject the merchandise
(ferret) then the distributor (breeder) will make changes to improve it's
product and customer relations.
 
>If you are so upset about this why don't you call Triple F.  Farms and
>talk to them, instead of cutting down Petco.
 
The answer is, because I don't purchase their merchandise and therefore
have no influence on Triple F (or Marshall Farms).  If reporting what's
going on at Petco is called "cutting down", that's fine because that is
where I *do* have some influence.  By forcing the pet stores to take
responsibility for the "inferior" merchandise they are selling (or
frequently for the inferior way they care for the merchandise they sell)
they can communicate with their distributor and if not satisfied can always
take their business down the road to the next ferret farm.  As long as you
the consumer continue to purchase substandard supplies (ferrets) from a pet
store, they will think everything's just dandy.
 
>and had a contract with a vet in their area to have all ferrets that are
>sold from that pet store taken at 5 to 7 months and have them spayed and
>neutered then.  They would then get a refund from the pet store when they
>had this done.
 
Shelters tried this with puppies and kittens for years and it just didn't
work.  The animals would still end up with "just one litter" before the
adopters had their animal altered and in a lot of cases they just never
did.  That's why shelters started altering puppies and kittens at such a
young age (6-8 weeks).
 
>You ask why I don't have shelter ferrets.
 
Gee, I don't think I asked that.
 
>I am sure I will probably never have a ferret from your shelter, you
>probably wouldn't let me adopt one,
 
Hmmmmmmm, well we require that the adopter feed a good quality ferret, not
cat food; we require that the ferret be caged when unsupervised; we require
that you "know about ferrets" or have read the appropriate books or that
you do some volunteer work with our ferrets to learn their good and bad
habits; we require that you take your ferret to the vet for an exam and
distemper/rabies each year; we require that your ferret live in the house
with you; we require that you not euthanize nor "get rid" of your ferret
simply because you may be in a position to be unable to afford vet care;
we require that you return him to the shelter, regardless of age if you
are unable to adhere to any of these points; we require that you sign a
contract agreeing to those points.
 
>you'd find something wrong with me
 
Very possibly a true statement as I find *something* wrong with most humans
including myself.  However, I've found homes for 138 perfect ferrets so far
and they all went to homes with imperfect humans.
 
>There are many toys in Pet stores that are not safe, for dogs, cats and
>ferrets.  But they continue to sell it if someone is willing to buy it.
 
Had to go into your next topic to discover that you do understand how
merchandizing works, sorry I wasted space explaining it above.
 
Sandi
HouseBun Archives
   http://users.loa.com/~phause/HouseBun/
[Posted in FML issue 2584]