First of all...Greetings and Merry Christmas to All. Ferret Food, Kitten Chow and running out of food. To the person who answered the post about Purina...Don't you think you were a little harsh? Even copying and pasting some excerpts from their post and including their email address link...They did ask for an answer to their question: "Is Purina Kitten Chow okay to feed ferrets?" A simple "NO my friend, it is not..." and go on to explain how most of the protein is from veg. not meat and I haven't gone out and looked at a bag in a while, so your comment that it's made mostly of corn is, at least to me at this time, unfounded. If I were asked what to do if someone ran out of good ferret food I would have said that if they could make some chicken baby food up for them it would serve to feed them a meat based food that was good for them and get them used to something they may have to feed them if perhaps they became ill or were recovering from surgery etc. Your idea to keep back some good food as sort of a reserve to last until more could be acquired is actually a good idea. Wal-Mart is indeed a horrible store that sells anything that can make them a profit, disregarding any other factors...money is king in their owners (I know it's a publicly traded company and I mean the holders of 51%+) world of plenty with no limit of what they can posses. Michael Jackson with all his riches (when he was alive...Idiot) was even able to purchase the "BONES" OF ANOTHER HUMAN simply because his skeleton was unique due to a severe case of childhood arthritis and he wanted it to place it in one corner of his home that's the size of a small town. Shelters, hoarders & fraud...People involved with the FML really do judge and pick ferrets from the Ferret Giving Tree then not send anything because they feel the place isn't a shelter or isn't one anymore or worse, aren't able to take in anymore due to over capacity or other reasons!? I am operating a rescue and this is the second year we put up some ferrets on the tree. Our first experience with the tree last year is one of mixed feelings. One person or couple, whatever/whoever they were, were just doing it for advertising, took 4 of our ferrets from the tree and sent ONE small box of samples of food or treats or whatever the home made stuff was supposed to be plus one small bag of Wysong Architype II ferret food and maybe a ball or something. No that's not all, there was a price list and order forms and some business cards I think. Not ONE of our rescues would touch that stuff with a 10 foot pole and there was actually 2 that were very young and not imprinted yet! I felt cheated for my ferret's sake...They were honest refugees of the throw-away mentality of America. I remember when TV's and radios were repaired and some of you may even remember shoe repair shops! Nowadays, if a person gets tired of something or it doesn't work right it's just thrown away, and that includes pets with feelings and hearts and love for their human that was wasted because it wasn't returned. (I digress) That same year we were blessed by someone who over indulged our rescues (only 1-2 were taken from the tree) with many beautiful lovingly hand made bedding items, toys and you name it's...I want to say her name but I'm keeping everything anonymous in this post. She may know who I'm talking about, the person who saved Christmas at this particular shelter just might know who I am and I hope she'll keep it to herself. This year another wonderful person took many more of our ferrets from the tree and I was just SHOCKED not only that it could happen to us two years in a row but the ONLY times we posted...you see we hadn't received anything yet and as it turned out she made Christmas for this shelter this year... The other care packages were really nice too and we got no advertisers this year but I was just waiting to be disappointed again this year and it never came to pass because this person is an angel and as I said earlier I want to say her name but... anonymous. She showered us with gifts and even I was blessed, yes the human got something and it was something good! If someone is taking in ferrets or took in as many as they could in the course of operating as a shelter and I'm not saying that anyone with 5+ ferrets should call themselves a shelter but I mean if they have a legal business relationship with the IRS in the name of a shelter whether or not they have their 501c3, they should have the right to call themselves such. Everyone knows operating a shelter in a NO PROFIT business and not having the 501c is only a hardship because that little number will get you the right to do so many things to generate income and help and discounts etc., etc. The ones who, for whatever reason don't have their 501c need more help than anybody else if the truth be known! Wait, the truth is known and it's known by me...I don't have mine and sure wish I did especially when I'm at the vet's, really low on money and I have to spend my own food money on a procedure for one of my babies, a ferret that nobody wanted and just threw away with no regard for their feelings or whether or not they'd survive the night for that matter. They mustn't have...no bulletin board postings anywhere in my small town for a lost ferret! He was skinny and covered in fleas when he came to us, found by someone who knows me and what I do and not many do...gotta keep it a secret because I don't have my 501c3! Maybe someone might call me a hoarder and then everybody dies because no one else in this town wants 'em! I guess the local vet would make money to kill 'em all and I'd probably be fined to make up the city's costs plus expenses! I say leave the judging up to God and live your life and let others live theirs, unless you think you're entitled to be seated next to God of course. Merry Christmas everybody. [FA] [Posted in FML 6923]