I have been too upset to write this sooner. It is so sad but it happened again! How many more times will this have to happen before people listen? These big Midwest Cages are not meant for ferrets! Anybody owning one; please modify them with the proper shelving and ladders or get rid of it! They are meant for cats and just because Midwest throws a hammock in, it do's not make it fit for ferrets!! The shelves are too slick and narrow for a critter with fur and the ladders are too steep! You can do something about that! For over a year now I have been trying to convince this lady to modify her Midwest Cage with shelving so her two little girls would not get injured. She runs a Petco store, she know that these are meant for cats and not ferrets. I got them to stop selling the cage for ferrets but she said that her ferrets are doing fine in there. We had ferrets fall and kill themselves that way in her store, so she knows! Well, she has no time for her ferrets and they are in the basement all the time. I finally convinced her to let me try and find a good home for them through this list and you guys won't believe this; on the same day I was going to post them on the list, she called the store and told me to forget about it, the one little girl fell and broke her neck and she was going to give the other one to a friend of hers! I've been sick and throwing up for days and now its been a week and I am still so upset by this, I can hardly sleep or eat without choking. I feel like I have killed that little one myself. One day earlier and they would of been safe.! Today I had to talk to her again to let me try and find someone here who could give this other girl a loving home and she agreed. She first wanted to bring her to the store to live with the baby ferrets there for good. She thinks that she would mother the new little ones every time they get new ones in and maybe that would work, I don't know. But I do know that she would never get any rest, these little ones would be all over her all the time! I have 8 of my own, all different ages. Yes they get to play together all they want but the older ones have the option to go to their own quarters to rest in peace if they chose to. Also; who do you all think has been literally taken care of the newbee's there when they arrive for the past two years? ME. After seeing two of them starve because they were not able to eat hard food, I make sure they get soft food when MF sends a bunch before they're ready, which happens all too often. This store has come a long way since I first went there and showed them as much as they would let me about ferrets but it's still not good. Employees keep changing all the time and I start over and over again and it should not be my job but if I don't, the ferrets will suffer. Now I have to ask if some one out there would be willing to take this little girl in to their home and love it before something will happen to her too. I am so worried that she will miss her cage mate and go in to depression, happens all the time. She is about two years old and healthy from what she tells me. She says that she seems fine so far but started nipping some. Folks, she will need lots of extra loving and attention and it's her second home already so I would like if someone with prior ferret experience would make this her permanent one. I am over my limit with rescues now and just can't take in anymore. The ferret is free but she probably will ask something for the cage. I will buy that one myself and destroy it if I have to, if some one don't want to fool with modifying it! Is there some one out there that can help? I live in Belleville, Illinois and please e-mail me if interested. With a heavy heart, Helga [Posted in FML issue 2957]