Not wanting to jump too wildly into the fray, I noticed the post from the
person who commented on going to petstores and getting one before it becomes
a shelter ferret.  I got my first ferret from a pet store.  I fell in love
with her right away and the other ferret we had at the time loved her.  In
Indiana, where I was living at the time, there were no shelters in the area.
Technically she was a shelter ferret because the petstore I got her from had
taken her back from someone who was moving and could no longer care for her.
My second ferret, Baxter the bad boy biter, also came from a pet store.  I
didn't really know about the shelters in my area ( I have noticed an
increase on the fml from shelters in Arizona), so when I decided that Minka
needed a friend, I went to our local pet store.  When I got him I
rationalized that I was just saving a step in Baxter's life.  He probably
would have ended up a shelter ferret as he (until most recently) bit and
hung on for dear life, usually drawing blood and I had to pry his jaws apart
to get him to let go.  I do understand what those of you are saying that if
we don't get our ferrets from pet stores then the demand would go down, but
that doesn't change the fact that there are plenty of people who will buy an
impulse ferret then dump it.  I don't want to think about what would have
happened to Baxter if he had been bought by someone else and then dumped
since there are NO ferret shelters in my community and the nearest one is 70
miles away.  I am sure, given the way he used to bite, that he would have
been dumped or worse.  On a happy note on Baxter's biting.  This afternoon I
got my first weezo kisses from him on the face.  Whenever he threatens to
put his teeth on my fingers all I have to say is No bite and he backs off.
I thought he was hopeless, but now I know better.  (Okay okay I still don't
trust him with the tips of my thumbs and he isn't allowed out while I am
trying to sleep, but we have great improvement!!)
 
Sorry this post is so long, but that's just the way it is
joanne & minka & baxter
[Posted in FML issue 2411]