While I do not doubt that many of the allegations being made against Petco
stores are probably true, I must agree that we can't indict the Petco chain
as a whole, but must target the offending individual stores.  The ferret
cage in the local Petco in my area is always clean with plenty of food,
water and toys, and they use recycled paper, not wood chips, on the floor.
The ferrets there always seem healthy, though an employee admitted to me
that they don't get much handling simply because the store doesn't keep
adequate staff to allow them time for that.  Our second ferret, who my
daughter bought from this Petco, did bring home ECE, but none of the babies
had shown any symptoms while in the store.  I don't know what they do with
sick ferrets there, and I'm sure this isn't the best of situations for the
ferrets, but it isn't the worst either.
 
Recently I was in this Petco buying Ferretvite for my babies, and the
cashier mentioned to me that someone had brought in a "found" ferret
earlier that day.  They thought she might be sick, because she wasn't as
active as their babies usually are, so they were keeping her in the back
for observation for a couple of days before adopting her out.  I asked to
see her, and was taken to the back room where a beautiful little red-eyed
white was sitting in a 20-gallon aquarium.  She looked perfectly healthy to
me, and was very sweet when I held her.  I think she wasn't as active as
they expected a ferret to be because she was no longer a kit, and was
probably terrified from whatever ordeal led her to be loose.  I told the
cashier I wanted her and left my phone number, not sure how we were going
to handle another ferret, but unable to think of her staying in that
aquarium any longer.  The girl called me later and told me that one of the
store managers, who "knew a lot about ferrets," had decided to take her.
I hope she's in better housing now.
 
Anyway, I digress.  I don't mean to sound as if I'm defending Petco or any
stores selling animals as merchandise, but before we attack an institution,
we should make sure we have the right target in sight.
 
Cheri, Chadley, Dana, the eight kitties, and Alex the dog
[Posted in FML issue 2586]