Yesterday was my birthday and I spent it away from the computer. One of the places I went to was the new Petco store in Butler. I wasn't very impressed by what I found there.
The store was set up for cat and dog people. Those of us that have different pets were directed to a small and crowded center island that had different critters. I asked about ferrets and was shown a foot long aisle that had several brands of food and some toys.
Near the aisle was an octagon glass holding tank. In it were several baby ferrets in in. In the back of the holding tank three ferrets were sleeping but it was hard to tell if they were breathing because thier breaths were so shallow. A very good example of dead ferret sleep which to most can be disturbing even when you know what to look for.
A young girl came in holding a baby ferret. She had bought him two days before and now had to return him because her landlord wouldn't allow her to keep him. You could tell she had been crying and was heartbroken to have to give this little ball of fluff up.
Her mother was with her and was not suportive of her daughter at all. She had a bad expirence with the little guy. Ferrets love feet and if you present bare toes you are going to get bit. She wore flip flops over to her daughter's apartment and found out that ferrets do not have chiel teeth like hambsters or rats.
Her mother's other complaint was his smell. Ferrets are part of the Musk family and they do have an odor. In Pennsylvania all ferrets are descented unless you are a breeder but ferrets still have a slight odor to them. Feeding them foods high in omega oils will increase that smell. There are several products on the market to help reduce the smell if you don't like it.
The store did this girl a disfavor with inaccuarte information about training him to use a litter box. She had been told that a triangle shaped litter box is no good for ferrets. When in reality it is exactly what you want for a ferret. Ferrets look for corners to back up into before relieving themselves.
I had to leave the store for several reasons. The main on was I was starting to feel the effects of ferret math. (Its like eating potato chips, you can't jsut have one.) Another was my fur kids wouldn't have been overjoyed to deal with an over active youngster.
The other reason was I wanted to find the manager and tell him/her that the display case was ont ideal for the ferrets in it and that several bits of information thy gave that poor girl was incorrect.
One of the babies had the tell tale blaze on his head. I am sure the store has no clue that he might be deaf and that he will need someone that is understanding of his problem.
Yesterday showed me just how much you need to research about unique pets before you shell out money for the pet only to find out that you can't deal with it or your landlord is against your pet.
All critters are cute at first...depending on what you consider cute, but the cuteness can and will wear off as the pet grows into it's personality.
Jo
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