You know, I guess we should all ask that Food Lion's, Winn-Dixie's, Kroger's, Harris-Teeter, and all of the 7-11 stores should yank those Cheetos, Fritos, Lay's Chips, Doughnuts, Cinnamon buns, and let's see... Ahhh,., WHAT THE HELL- Let's also shut down all of those fast-food "Restaurants, I mean, those triple-by-pass burgers are SOOOOOO healthy. And let's not stop there- if we shut down the sale of alcohol, no more drunk drivers to wipe out innocent victims, teenagers and car-loads of families. THE FERRET STOTE is an incredible business that, quite frankly, without their support for our shelter (and many many more, I'm sure) wouldn't be able to afford to feed their shelter kids GOOD, QUALITY ferret food that makes them healthier and gives them a much better quality of life. And by the way, the Ferret Store actually LOSES money on selling to us shelters-they offer our shelter MANY discounts so that we can feed our over 100 ferrets excellent food. Every day. Every month. And Every year. Do we buy our shelter kids stuff like yoggies? YOU BET WE DO! I like to see nothing better than an old, blind shelter kid who was turned into us 3 years ago because he was "naked" and smelled bad. And if he likes to take his once-a-day peanut butter yoggie and hid it, then sneak back a few minutes later to savor his "candy bar", then I think that's a gift. Not just to him- but to me- who has to see so many horrible things when running a shelter. TREATS are a choice. If an owner buys treats, they should, of course, research the ingredients first. How many of YOU GUYS/GALS read what's in those Snickers bars or Double-stuffed Pizzas? The Ferret Store is not out there to make a buck; I've been buying from them since 1998. They often have to carry a distributor's FULL LINE of products in order to keep that distributor. I know Scott and Joe and a few other folks at the Ferret Store- I've even been luck enough to meet a few of them at a ferret show. They love animals. Pure and simple. But like us shelters, we can only do so much when helping to educate a ferret owner. Even after we screen a new adopter, meet them, make them sign countless adoption papers and follow-up on them in the months after the adoption- It's happened where the new adopter somehow ends up not recognizing an illness, or a blockage, or a tumor- or that the ferret has "suddenly" lost so much weight that it DIES. From starvation. We know. Because that happened to US. And yes, we have Animal Control and our District Attorney pursuing this lovely, well-to-do school teacher in our court systems. We gave this woman a "life-time" return/ guarantee- no questions asked- We always do this. But instead of calling us- even just to ask a question- even after we GAVE her a bag of one of the ferret foods we feed, she still starved this ferret to death. In less than 3 months. Our vet's necropsy was almost as pitiful as the dead ferret. Bottom line here, please don't say bad things about the Ferret Store. They DO care about every ferret that breathes, poops and sleeps. We can all just hope that some pet/ferret owners become more responsible and educated. That's one of the reasons we're here. Why ALL shelters are here. And take a look at the ingredients of a bottle of A-1 sauce sometime. You'll gag. Hugs to The Ferret Store and to all of the caring, responsible pet owners everywhere. Marlene B. Richmond Ferret Rescue League Richmond, VA. [Posted in FML issue 4888]