>Sandy does not keep ferrets that are ill and she turns them over to >Liane Beckwith, who has more medical experience. (Hi Charleen!) A small correction: we DO keep ferrets who are ill (currently soup feeding 4 right now and another one at a foster home), but it's certainly accurate that Liane, who is a Nurse Practionair in "real life" has much more medical experience than I do. :-) Liane's shelter (as are most) is at her home and she has been taking our "excess" biters and older ferrets who have trouble finding a permanent home, as "sanctuary" ferrets. Liane is also a hospice for ferrets who come in who are not good candidates for surgery, or who have some of the un-operable cancers. We usually keep only a couple of ferrets (at a time) over age four at our public shelter, since they stay around longer and are more difficult to place. We try to keep only 1 "biter" at a time to work with. We house (currently) 133 total animals (rabbits, rodents & ferrets), so keeping more than a dozen or so "intensive care" animals at a time is about all we can handle. As a public shelter, open 7 days a week, we are able to place more ferrets than a private shelter operator who has a full time job and a family, so Liane and I have worked out the best way to find the most homes for our ferrets. We have some wonderful people here in the Seattle area who do look for older ferrets as friends for their ferrets. Liane and I refer people to one another so that a ferret will go to a new home, regardless of which shelter s/he currently lives at. The PETCO's here have an "auto refile" computer system. When they are low on a particular product, corporate PETCO in San Diego automatically sends them more of the product. (That includes ferrets, guinea pigs, rodents, fist and birds.) Several store managers informed me of that, and since I was surprised that animals were also "auto" ordered, I checked and the district managers (2 areas) who confirmed that was true. This is also the case in Texas. I therefore assume that's the case in all areas where PETCO stores are equipped with computers. So *IF* (big if, since I haven't been able to get anyone at MF to confirm there is a problem with "faked" MF ferrets being sold by PETCO's here, then it is easily traced to corporate PETCO in San Diego. Two years ago PETCO did order from PV and then Tripple F for a couple of months and then went back to ordering from MF. The next time the Killians are in Washington state visiting their relatives, we invite them to drop by (no pre announcement necessary) and we'll love to show them around. :-) Sandi Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House 14325 Lake City Way NE Seattle, WA 98125 206-365-9105 [Posted in FML issue 3442]