I am Back - not fully recovered but back enough to be MAD AS a HATTER! Anyone reading this list will recognize me for advocating ferrets sold OLDER than 5-6 weeks of age. There are REASONS for this. How many folks on this list who have owned multiple ferrets from pet shop sales - purchased as early alter - have managed to see these animals live long & healthy???? Many vets on the FHL have remarked that they feel ( no no studies have been done) that early alter DOES CONTRIBUTE to adrenal disease in ferrets-- especially at younger ages ( under 6 years of age) . NOW WE CAN BE FURTHER INSULTED! IN the last publication of Pet Product news - A Fancy Publication, animal lovers it seems - will face a similar fate with "Peter's Rabbits"- the new line of early alter pets promoted in the publication by Peter Reid , VP of Marshall Pet Products. "Just in time for Easter " these early alter bunnies are touted to be the end all of pet retailers. I am sure SPCA & HSUS are happy the young baby rabbits are already altered when they arrive at a tender age at petshops. However - I am SURE that we will hear about the health maladies this presents for the House Rabbit Society and small shelters which get gifted with these animals in the future. WHEN WILL THIS END? WHEN IS MANUFACTURING OF ANIMALS FOR PROFIT not a humane enterprise? WHEN IS THIS Mutilation going to end so pet lovers can have healthier animals? I suggest NEVER-- UNLESS we all STOP PURCHASING animals in Pet Shops! The more we buy the more they make-- this has proven TRUE over many years-- as many years as I have been doing rescue (12). SIGH! We need to take responsibility- if we want to buy ferrets , rabbits etc in the pet shops we ALL need to bear the responsibility for those animals abandoned by the purchasers! We need to educate the public. We need to accept the responsibilities when these pets become ill-- because the manufacturer DOES NOT! I have personally heard the reply on the phone - "what do you expect? This animal would be dead by 3 years of age -- if it were in the wild." Well folks they are NOT in the wild they are manufactured and SOMEONE NEEDS to be responsible for the results of tampering with mother nature - the lack of immune systems debilitated by neuter at too young an age - and the high rate of illness and cancer. CLEARLY it is NOT the PET PRODUCERS... NONE of them accept any responsibility-- and none of the stand by a pet guarantee / warrantee. The pet producers - manufacturers is a most appropriate word-- have made it so difficult for those who have pets which are ill to collect a refund or spay-neuter refund they even force you to purchase their own food and provide receipts claiming that feeding another brand of quality ferret food nullifies the pet warranty. IS this honest and forthright ?? I DARE to say not! Now, I KNOW THERE ARE A FEW FOLKS OUT THERE who will state I am picking on one particular pet manufacturer... I am NOT-- I am trashing the entire system which butchers ferret kits at far too young an age for retail gain. THIS IS AN OPEN BLAST to each and every MILL out there! YES, IMO they ARE MILLS- there is no happy ranch where ferret kits sleep in luxury while nursing. These are dirty and cramped accommodations where ferret kits are severed form the love and warmth of the teat the minute they can suck mush into their mouths. Where they are neutered and vaccinated in assembly line fashion for shipping to retailers. I ASK- the next time you look at a kit in a petshop - which has been deprived of nurturing and socialization by its mother- which has been mutilated with spay/ neuter and anal gland ( de-scent is a mis nomer in title it has NOTHING to do with ferret scent) with an electro cauterization process before their eyes are open -- which have been boxed in tiny crates with inadequate food & water to be flown or driven over miles to reach retailers...PLEASE STOP and think-- is it really worth it? This animal, Unsocialized by MOM, with immune system compromise from early gonad intervention - will be YOUR responsibility when it arrives at our home. YOU are allowing this horrid disregard to ferrets ( now rabbits) to continue by buying the at your local pet retailer!. PLEASE consider walking BY the display - THEN call your shelters love those who are already victims of this terrible atrocity to mustelids. I ask this at the request of Disney FerretWise- It was Disney's Dream to have a loving home. Disney was transferred from a NY shelter which was overrun to Ferret Wise in June 2001. At a mere 3 years of age - we had hoped to find Disney a home of her own. However because Disney did not like other ferrets - and we could not find her a single ferret home -- Disney remained at Ferret Wise- and is spending her last day here with insulinoma, adrenal and intestinal cancer. Disney will leave this world in a short time without realizing her dream.. HOW MANY MORE will suffer the same fate???? YOU HAVE THE POWER to stand up and DEMAND healthier pets! DO IT NOW - if you do not-- many many more will be produced as they have been - and will suffer the same fates- or worse. In Disney's Memory-- Start now DEMAND older age of sale - DEMAND later spay / alter and SCREAM for the end of pet shop sales... and Maybe Disney will be able to look down from above and know her fate will not be that for every little ferret which is not wanted after it arrives in it's first home. START NOW ... and Please support the ferret shelters! Alicia D www.ferretwise.org [Posted in FML issue 4449]