marid
New member
Posts: 33 
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Post by marid on Feb 15, 2017 0:49:39 GMT -5
Hi all,
I am not naming the shelter but I was at a shelter with a friend today to help them adopt two kitties. The adoption agent and I spoke about ferrets after she disagreed with me when I told my friend I was raw feeding (and that he might want to give his kitties some hearts). This adoption agent tells me that ferrets are vegetarian. They should *only* eat fruits and vegetables or kibble. She also told my friend that cats should eat kibble as a meal and canned as a treat. But canned is better if be you can't fees raw.
What should i do?! I mean, I am thinking of fostering or adopting any future ferrets they get but if they give this info to adopters... Those poor ferret owners might be led to believe that it's ok to feed them fruits and vegetables and no meat!!!
Should I make a complaint with the shelter? I showed the lady my vets website that says ferrets are strictly carnivorous but she didn't seem to care......
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 1:13:10 GMT -5
I would definitely see if you could speak to anyone else who works there about this situation, with resources on ferret nutrition available to back up your case. That sounds extremely dangerous for the poor ferrets.  |
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Post by LindaM on Feb 15, 2017 2:13:53 GMT -5
It doesn't surprise me really.. most people are incredibly misinformed. I've often been in our local Petco, getting some supplies for the cat and ogling the poor new baby ferrets, and have done my best to inform people that come over to look at the ferrets there, especially after the one staff member told a family it would be perfectly okay to keep a ferret with their 2 guinea pigs...
A lot of people out there still equate ferrets to being rodents and rodent-types. Giving your hamster some fresh fruits and veggies, no problem.. therefore, they think the same apply to ferrets.
I would try to get a hold of someone higher up in the chain of command, a manager or owner if you can to make a complaint like that. That advice can bring a lot of heart ache to inexperienced ferret owners and death to their ferrets. It doesn't help that most commercial ferret products aren't good for ferrets, nor ferret books saying occasional fruit and veggie treats throughout the week is fine.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Feb 15, 2017 6:05:22 GMT -5
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marid
New member
Posts: 33
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Post by marid on Feb 15, 2017 11:06:43 GMT -5
Thank you everyone!
I'll try and email a person higher up with some proof. I just can't believe they don't do a bit of research before! C'mon! Everyone has access to a computer these days!
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Post by Sherry on Feb 15, 2017 11:19:10 GMT -5
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 15, 2017 17:18:14 GMT -5
i assume this is shelter for all kinds of critters. seriously, feeding an inappropriate diet lacking any kind of usable nutrition is nothing short of abuse. All you have to do is show the similarities and differences between ferret teeth and cat and rodent teeth and something should click. geez
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Post by storm on Feb 18, 2017 20:17:47 GMT -5
Sometimes it's not always lack of information. I've seen times when people have a set of morals about not eating or using animal products, (and there is nothing wrong with that) and project those ideals on animals. thus the invention of things like vegan cat food or vegan ferret food. Because of this they can't understand that some animals can't go vegan.
I'm not saying that that is the case but I've seen it happen. Either way you should try to raise a stink about it for the sake of the ferrets and the people who may want to adopt them.
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Post by FerretsnFalcons on Feb 18, 2017 21:57:54 GMT -5
Uh oh, how awful! I hope you set them straight. I was appalled the other day when I picked up a ferret info pamphlet at Petsmart and read that 10% of a ferret's diet should be fruit such as apple, banana, or melon! And for treats they can have raisins, peanut butter, and alfalfa hay! Petsmart doesn't even sell ferrets, so luckily I don't think anyone gets their ferret info from them.
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Post by msav on Feb 20, 2017 11:55:49 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I went to the children's museum and Zoo in Palo alto, California. They were feeding fruits, vegetables ect. I took photos and posted on the forum and internet. The flood of calls and emails to the zoo prompted immediate correction of their diet and a general statement from the zoo.
I am surprised how a Zoo can not now enough about the animals they keep to feed them a proper diet.
I just saw a video on the news about the Oakland zoo that had a suppose ferret expert than said that domesticated ferrets are vicious predators and should not be kept as pets. All the while they were feeding them Peanut butter on camera. SO much misinformation From Zoos of all places.
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Post by storm on Feb 20, 2017 18:53:29 GMT -5
A couple of years ago I went to the children's museum and Zoo in Palo alto, California. They were feeding fruits, vegetables ect. I took photos and posted on the forum and internet. The flood of calls and emails to the zoo prompted immediate correction of their diet and a general statement from the zoo. I am surprised how a Zoo can not now enough about the animals they keep to feed them a proper diet. I just saw a video on the news about the Oakland zoo that had a suppose ferret expert than said that domesticated ferrets are vicious predators and should not be kept as pets. All the while they were feeding them Peanut butter on camera. SO much misinformation From Zoos of all places. Zoo aren't necessarily animal welfare or conservation minded, sometimes their just for profit, just like some pet stores. I don't really like visiting zoos any more. Don't get me wrong, some are good but as I got older I started to see more of sad animals in cadges rather than loved animals in habitats. I've also learned as I got older the number of 'experts" who have the talent of talking with the sound of having authority on subjects and expert knowledge without really knowing squat. |
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Post by LindaM on Feb 20, 2017 19:50:26 GMT -5
msav I gotta agree with storm on that. I don't visit zoos in general, but since I moved to the States, I've really been missing my homeland. So last year on my birthday, my hubby took me to the zoo so I could see the animals there, more specifically, those that I grew up with. I was outraged to see how they kept the elephants, lions, and giraffes.. I was actually messaging my mom on the phone at the time and kept sending her photos as we went through the zoo. Having seen, and grown up with the proper environments for African animals.. my heart was just broken for them, and my mother felt equally enraged. The habitats created for those animals didn't even come close to matching their natural grassland environments. And that applies to most of the animals that were there.. seriously, even the most idiotic farmer in South Africa took better care of their ostriches than that zoo did. Most zoos these days just don't know a thing about what they're doing or the animals that they keep.
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Post by msav on Feb 21, 2017 0:16:22 GMT -5
I actually had no clue about Zoos. the one in palo alto was the first zoo I have ever been to. I figured that the Zoo would have competent animal keepers. It made me glad that I never supported a zoo by visiting and paying admission. I am not about to stat now.
My few experiences with Zoos has made me completely against them. I always thought of them as a place of learning, Now I know they are just full of misinformation.
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Post by LindaM on Feb 21, 2017 0:37:15 GMT -5
They're supposed to be places of education, a place where you can take a child and they can witness and learn about animals from all across the world. Nowadays, it stands a bigger chance of showing your child the cruelty and neglect of humans towards animals.
I've also noticed that a good majority of the people that do go to the zoos, don't care a jot about the animals they witness in there. There was a kid screaming at the top of his lungs at the bewildered Meerkats in the one enclosure, while there are "Please keep quiet" signs on the entrances and on the walls nearby, I wanted to smack both him and his incompetent mother who was more concerned with her friend than anything else, and unfortunately the dark glares thrown her way by other couples didn't deter her or her child one bit.
I wish people could go back to a time where people were respectful towards the animals and each other.
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