>I have spoken to MF directly many, many times over the past few years. >They themselves told me that their ferrets go to a distributor. Well, >I was wrong. Even though you can see documentation for yourself, you >still don't believe. <sigh> Perhaps it's not clear that petco is a >LARGE corporation, they have their own distribution centers for their >corporation. (I took a quick look at the "Distributors Listing" on the >MF page and there are at least a couple of distributors in the Pacific >Northwest who are not listed there.) I give up. You can lead a horse to >water, but you can't make him drink..... Hi Sandi, I'm having trouble understanding what you are saying in this post. It is me, not you, sometimes I look at a post and am unsure of what the person means at times. Could you explain? For the record, I'm not saying that its impossible that MF delivers directly to a store. No, I never said that. I'm saying that Lissette was wrong in her general statement that MF has no distributors or holding areas (that no middle man for MF exists). I said that they do exist, I know it for fact. I am not saying for every petstore, its impossible for me or anyone else to know that. I'm saying they exist for most (if not for all for all I know). They do go to these distributors for very small petstores in many cases, I"m talking orders of only 1-3 ferrets per mom and pop store. I wouldn't have been able to get a 500 dollar surgery fee paid for a ferret by MF if my ferret was not proven to be a MF ferret with documentation (which all but one of mine are), toe tatoos, etc. The distributor has not been on the delievery forms with the ferrets, nor on the health records I got. I realize too yes, that some small pet chains may have its own holding distributor somewhere owned by the company. I just was saying that it is fact that Petco's here in the southeast get their MF ferrets from a distrubtor holding area (middle person). That is all I was saying. That they do exist. I was not arguing in general at all. I'd never do that. I was arguing how broad and general Lissette was sounding when she said middle men dont' exist at all. I was not challenging anyone. Just the broad statement. I said that I'd trust myself finding the existence of a middle man, talking to them, as well as the breeder themselves, before I would trust the word of many petstore owners and managers. Why? Because as I said, many many of them will stake their lives that they are getting these ferrets straight from NY. They are not. Its not that they are lying at all. It's not that they are ignorant. They are not at all. It's just their own misinfomation. I've seen it time and time again. They deal with MF directly via paper and phone. MF then deals with the distributor. Thats all I'm saying. So really I'm open to all possibilities, and don't need to be led to water there is nothing to give up with me. :) I'm not arguing any specific case. Just general statements that were said by Lissette. And I was clearing up the fact that I was going by any "hearsay" that she said I was going by. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't state that there was a website if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. I would not have stated that I talked to MF directly if I hadn't. I would not have stated that I spoke to distributors directly and dealt with them if I hadn't. If I got my info from a second party to the situation such as a petstore, I would have stated, "in this specific situation this petstore owner/manager stated this about this" (which by the way is hearsay if you are not the actual manager, as in Lissettes case). Ya know? Thats all. Its cool. I dont' debate. Only if I see something with my own eyes, etc. I won't even debate this, as I have not visited physically any distributors. And I am not physcically there to witness any specific Petcos in the West. You and I have no debate at all. cool? with greatest respect as always, Wolfy Ps Lissette, please don't take any offense. I just had to state that I myself was not going by hearsay in my case. I also had to state the fact that these centers are existent. I wasnt' meaning to offend you, or to debate a specific store's delievery. :) Please visit: http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/ for information on ferret deafness: http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/deaf.html [Posted in FML issue 3798]