>Of the many many ferrets they breed, occasionally a very small number of >them are shipped too early. This is an infrequent mistake. Yesterday's FML also included a post from the director of The Educated Ferret shelter which is the local shelter quite close to where I live. As you can see from Donna's post, a few years ago we were not having much of a problem with too-young kits; they were arriving between 8-10 weeks of age, with all their teeth, in fairly good health. The slightly younger kits started showing up about three years ago on occasion, and at first it WAS chalked up to accidental, but now it is a given that the kits will arrive with just fuzz on their pink skins, no teeth, with respiratory distress because they were much too young to be shipped. This is a documented observation and Donna has contacted Marshall Farms about this issue on many occasions to no avail. And it's not been seldom, or a very small number, or limited to our area. It's happening here in Massachusetts almost weekly, and Danielle is posting from Washington with the same information and experiences. It's not an isolated problem. It's widespread and it's growing, not stopping. And it's not being done in error. It's been reported directly to MF time and time again by myself, by people I know, by shelters I have worked with. MF has not been interested. It irks me when people disbelieve or downplay the problem of too-young kits being sent to stores just because they haven't seen it for themselves (and seriously, if you don't work in a pet store or a shelter that gets called to help with these situations, how WOULD you ever get to see it or hear about it other than through other people's experiences??). As I mentioned, and Donna's numerous experiences confirm, the Petco in our area keeps the babies in the back and cares for them (with her help) until they're strong enough - and old enough - to go out on the floor. No one besides the store employees and the rescue people ever see the hairless, toothless, sick babies. Locally we've gotten to the point where almost every shipment is like that, and calls to MF get a denial or a brush-off. And it makes shelter moms feel very angry and frustrated when they're holding a tiny, trembling, hairless 4-week-old MF kit in their hands and someone at MF is smoothly assuring them that they never ship them under 8 weeks! In some of these instances, it's necessary to rely on the experiences of others to make a point. Most people will never see what the baby ferrets look like upon their arrival to the store. But those who have seen it can share information that is very valuable. When I read about other people's experiences on the FML, sometimes I may take things with a grain of salt because working with animals, especially rescue animals, can certainly give people a bias, but I do not dismiss people's experiences as invalid just because I haven't been in a situation where I would have them myself. That's just silly. You can learn a great deal from the things other folks have seen and been through, particularly when we are all joined by the common bond of loving ferrets so deeply that we set aside time to contribute to the FML and share our feelings. I often rely on other people's experiences to learn and form opinions. There are things that I will never have the opportunity to see, but through other people's stories I can learn about things that are out there that I want to take an interest in, and change. I have never seen with my own eyes people starving in the streets in war-torn Bosnia, and I myself am not starving, but through my Bosnia-stationed brother-in-law's stories, I learn about things that are going on that I cannot see, and I take an interest in them and desire to do some small part to change things for the better. -Heather [Posted in FML issue 3625]