Hi Everyone,
 
OK, fair warning, Mags is on her soapbox.  Well a little.  I will save that
for last and give you the dreaded Mags update (can you believe some folks
hate this?)   Neither can I. ;-)
 
I have got my school schedule all fixed up.  At school all day on T, W, and
TH so I have long weekends to pester folks.  hehe.  But lots of reading and
tough courses.  In with the real students now, the seniors and grad
students.  hehe.  Most of my thinking time will be in the 17th century this
semester.
 
But the great news is I have two new semi-perm fosters, staying here while
their Mom gets her life calmed down from school and work.  But now have a
ferret lover to house sit for me.  hehe.  They are named Philly and
MaryJane.  Both real cuties.  Philly is a cinnamon panda and MaryJane is a
sable girl.  She toddles around on her own most of the time, but will curl
up and sleep with me.  Philly and Brock are fast friends and always happy.
 
As for this forum.  Well, I have seen regular and repeated comments on
other lists from folks turned off by the attacks on shelters here and think
that no one listens to them.  Unfortunately, right now, I happen to agree
with that thinking.
 
What bothers me the most is the nastiness comes from folks who repeatedly
tell us how much they know, without a damn thing to back it up.  I have
seen several instances of folks who have presented themselves as something
they are not, made up credentials and things like that.  Some talk about
their experience as it was the end all to everything.  I have found that
most of these folks often change what they say, or when confronted, change
what they are.  The truth of these matters is rather nebulous because to
me, everyone is much too willing to take folks at their word about who or
what they are.  I have learned a very hard lesson in that area, most of
them aren't and if you check around in the ferret community and other
places, you can discover this for yourselves.
 
As I have often said, and many took personally (probably out of guilt)
that you should not trust what anyone says as absolute here.  It may
sound too naive but I think that new ferret owners, especially, may get
the impression that some of these folks know more than they honestly do,
because of things they are involved in, or proclaim to be involved in.
There have been, and still are, a number of folks here who claim to be some
kind of expert, either by experience or by education, that they are not.
 
To me, this is as damaging to the ferret community as trying to deny
certain truths about ferrets in the first place.  Someone stated that this
would only make us look like liars, well, to me, saying you are something
you are not is the same thing.
 
I once had a horse trainer that sagely told me not to believe something
about horses until l had heard it from at least three independent sources.
I think this is a good rule of thumb for any type of animal care.  There
are far too many fads in animal care, and some folks may feel guilty if
they cannot, for various reasons, comply with all of this.
 
Get yourself a good vet who is willing to listen and learn.  Observe your
own pets, you are the best person to do that.  Educate yourself by reading
as much as possible and TAKE EVERYTHING WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.  Make up your
own minds about stuff, and if someone is positive they have the absolute
answer to something, RUN LIKE HELL.
 
Maggie is now off of her soapbox.
 
hugs,
 
Mags and her Mob of Mushy Monsters
 
Plagiarism is stealing ideas from one person, stealing ideas from many is
research.
[Posted in FML issue 2557]