I thought long and hard about this post and had actually decided not to send it in until I spent the majority of my day at our shelter vet taking turns with the vet techs picking deer ticks off of a sweet little girl Diane got a call about yesterday (she was abandoned outside and walked into someones house while they were carrying in groceries) . She probably had more than 200 ticks on her-it was the worst infestation the vet had seen in her over 20 years of practicing. The only thing that probably saved her life is that she is so young. I would happily be put on a waiting list to obtain a personal ferret from a private breeder if it meant that I never again had to assist in taking pictures for an animal control case of a dead emaciated ferret who literally starved to death because it didn't occur to his owner to take him to the vet when he stopped eating--or if I never had to rush a ferret to the vet with a leg wound that was literally rotting away (the owner on the phone had assured Diane that he just had a "pea sized bump"-same owner chased me down the driveway as I rushed the ferret to the vet to get his carrier back) the leg was later amputated. If I never again had to 24 hour nurse back to health a ferret that was on death's door because he had a bug for over 2 weeks-and he was never brought to the vet. We weren't even sure he was going to live through the first week and it took me about a month before he even acted like a "real boy" again. I would wait as long as I had to for my next ferret if I never again had to spend most of my day at the vet with a ferret who had suffered an injury that had torn both rear ACL's and then was abandoned with his sister in an apartment. If I never again had to teach a ferret to trust again because the hands that should have only touched them with love, had betrayed them, or if I never had to watch another ferret literally will himself to death (it took him 7 months) no matter WHAT I DID because his mother broke his heart and just never came back to get him. These are just a few of the stories, from one small shelter. I truly believe if more people had to put more thought and more money into obtaining a ferret--some of these stories would still exist, but there would be fewer of them. Human nature seems to hold less value in that which is easily obtained--and it's hard to make an "impulse buy" when you are put on a waiting list. Having an animal in your life is not a right, it's a privilege. Michele Paulhus Asst Director, South Shore Ferret Care, MA -- "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." ~Edmund Burke~ [Posted in FML 6811]