Get rid of--The words I detest the most when describing giving up a pet. I received a call today from a friend who knows I have a ferret. Someone at work has to "get rid of" their ferret. The ferret wasn't getting enough attention. Seems they have two cats and a dog. I said the ferret could get enough attention if they wanted to give him attention. I read him the riot act about pets not being disposable and that when you get a pet you make a commitment. He said the kids love the ferret. Then why isn't he getting enough attention and what type of parent teaches a child that it's o.k. to trade one pet for another? I told my friend the situation could be worked out if they wanted to make it work. Otherwise to advertise the ferret for a price and try to find a responsible home, not another disposable one. I wish I could have taken the ferret, but my financial situation is that I can only afford proper vet care for one, so I limit myself to one. He also mentioned that the ferret came from a breeder in another town. That got me even more mad, because there are way too many ferrets winding up in the CT shelter because of all the Petcos. I told him the shelter would only advise to try to find a home on their own, as the shelter has a limit of how many ferrets can be cared for. We used to take every ferret, but have to be more discriminating, and offer to send people a brochure on finding a new home for a ferret. It just makes me feel so bad that another little ferret will be uprooted from the home he knows because some people can't make a commitment to a pet and teach their children the responsibilty of pet ownership. Same old story. We've all heard it before. After I got off the phone, I had to go hold my precious boy and couldn't imagine how anyone could give up one of these sweet innocent angels. -- Moxie and Nexus the moose, missing Chance [Posted in FML issue 3873]