Laryssa, Some PetSmarts have been selling ferrets BUT the last time I checked (admittedly 1 and 1/2 years ago) here is what they were doing RIGHT then that I would love to see all pet stores emulate: 1. The ferrets were ALL at least 12 weeks old on arrival. 2. The ferrets had a complete canine distemper vaccine series and their IMRAB 3 rabies shots BEFORE sale and came with vet certificates saying so. 3. The cage set up was a multi-level one without pine or cedar so the ferrets got a lot of exercise, minimal lung irritation, and the food and water were well away from the litter boxes. *****Wouldn't it be great if ALL pet stores did those things?***** (BTW, in relation to that Pet Supplies Plus and a second one mentioned it sounds like perhaps local issues should be handled with local solutions since from the descriptions the stores vary widely and some very good stores were also mentioned. On the other hand, I have to agree that national offices should be customer sensitive. It is sometimes amazing how insensitive to both customers and workers (below the Golden-Parachute tier) a number of corporations have become, esp. in the last half dozen years. Recently, some people we passed were chatting on a sidewalk about being screwed out of their retirement health care or their pensions (or parts of those); a group built with quite a number of us in the same sorts of positions -- in our case 2/3 of my hubby's pension was lost to the company reinvesting in itself and that entirely changed our prospects despite our careful saving on our own because it was a multi-decade pension -- and it was startling during the conversation that ensued the very wide range of corporations which were comfortable treating people in such a fashion. Failure to respect customers is a similar problem in my eyes; it shows a corporate disassociation from what in the past has mattered because of a feeling that the customers and workers are "little people" and therefore have no choice, and that they will assume that all corporations are similar. Personally, I figure that it does not at all hurt to say, "Do you realize that your competitors "so and so" -- fill in name(s) -- treat the ferrets and their customers better? If you are assuming that people can't walk their money over there then you are making a costly mistake.") -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML 5404]