#petcodobetter

There has been so much anger about the way ferrets are treated at Petco, but nothing ever seems to help. Anyone who tries to talk to them about it gets stonewalled, and nothing comes of it. The only way we can get their attention is to be loud enough that they can’t ignore us anymore. Ferrets are the top small animal pet in 15 STATES in America. Considering the popularity of buying ferrets from Petco, that is a LOT of people going into pet ownership with inadequate/inaccurate information about the animals they want to love and nurture.

Petco needs to take responsibility for the animals they sell, and for giving accurate information about those animals. Prospective owners need to understand the amount of time, and energy that goes into caring for these amazing creatures, as well as the added cost of seeing an exotic vet.

All we want is for Petco to start respecting their own care standards.

Again, for emphasis:

This is the link to the original post on facebook.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=140393777435966&id=100043960330502

Dear #Petco,

I have attempted to reach out to you on multiple occasions to address my concerns regarding your ferrets and each time I have been ignored. To add insult to injury I am not the only person in the community that you have brushed off. I am now reaching out to you in a more public way because these problems are serious and need to be seen. I will be addressing several things in this post, all of which are widely known about in the ferret community, some of which are mentioned in the Petco ferret care sheet.

I want to make sure that I am clear on the fact that this is not an in-store employee problem. You have some amazing employees that are doing their absolute best to care for these animals and you have some employees that are just trying to do their jobs. These employees need your help to provide decent living conditions for these ferrets. Your policies and lack of employee education are preventing that progress. I beg you to release updated training videos that teach them how to perform basic care as well as notice injuries and illnesses. While your care sheet does include this information, your employees are not trained to actively spot these problems and make sure that prospective owners understand how to identify them as well. By better educating your employees (all of your employees) on the animals they are working with, you could improve the in-store care of your animals enormously.

As stated in the Petco ferret care sheet, ferrets are obligate carnivores. As you know, this means they cannot digest anything other than meat. Their digestive system is more sensitive to plant matter than cats. Unfortunately, Petco does not carry any food that is healthy for a ferret’s digestive tracts. Honestly, there is no perfect kibble. Marshalls premium, for example is mid quality and meets only basic needs. However, there are better options with higher quality ingredients that could also be sold within the store:

Wysong ferret epigen 90 digestive support

Nature's Gold ferret food

Young Again ferret food

Stella and Chewy's Freeze dried raw cat food

These are all wonderful options to have available in-store for a variety of owners. I guarantee owners including myself would happily buy any of these options from you. Currently, your stores only offer options known to cause many health issues. These options are not only readily available in your store, but recommended by employees:

Kaytee – Advertised as a blend of fruits, vegetables, seeds and grains. The opposite of what a ferret should be eating.

ZuPreem – Wheat and potato are in the top 4 ingredients.

Mazuri – Brown rice and soybean meal are in the top 3 ingredients.

Sheppard & Greene – Rice and corn are in the top 5 ingredients. (corn is in there twice)

Sunseed Vita Prima – rice, corn, and wheat in the top 5 ingredients.

These foods are causing more harm than Petco realizes. Many of the ferret foods on your shelves(including those listed above, and others) contain ingredients like Peas, chickpeas, lentils, and sweet potatoes; which are known to cause (potentially fatal) bladder stones in ferrets.These foods unfortunately include Tapioca, malt, and molasses as well as other forms of sugar, which are all known to cause insulinoma and diabetes and more. It is a horrible, shocking thing for a first-time ferret owner to think they are feeding their pet a healthy food, and watch their ferret have a seizure because of that food. Many foods also contain BHA, BHT and Sodium Benzoate, which are preservatives that are known causes of cancer. Petco has removed cat and dog foods from its shelves with these ingredients, and it seems unethical that these foods with the same ingredients are still stocked and recommended just because they are for ferrets rather than cats or dogs.

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/c/betternutrition-ingredients

Petco has taken great pride in carrying a wide selection of high quality foods for many species including cats and dogs, but ferrets are not included in this store expectation. I have been told several times that Petco products are expertly tested and backed by veterinarians; I cannot believe this, knowing that your only options for ferrets all lead to serious health issues and ultimately death.

Most often, ferrets and their related products are displayed in the rodent section of your stores. There is a common misconception that ferrets are in the rodent family, though in reality they are more closely related to a cat than a mouse. Being housed in the rodent section perpetuates this issue because prospective owners think they are purchasing a low maintenance pet that will be happy to stay in a relatively small cage and run on a wheel. The idea of ferrets being low maintenance pets is wildly inaccurate. It causes thousands of ferrets to end up with owners that unwittingly put them in situations that cause their health to decline and ultimately, die much younger than they should. As it stands, you have the ferret care level labeled as average. If you were to label them as at least intermediate, this could inform the potential owner that these animals are higher maintenance and require more care, attention, and dedication. They also require an exotic veterinarian, which incurs a higher cost to be seen. Because ferrets health can decline quickly, taking them to an exotic vet is not a possibility, but an inevitability.

Living conditions are very important to the health of a ferret.The amount of space, type of bedding, as well as how they are fed and watered, can drastically affect the health and happiness of a ferret. The display cases that available young ferrets are kept in are not ferret safe. For example, the Petco ferret display cases usually have paper bedding, which is known to cause upper respiratory infections, due to breathing in the dust from the bedding. Unfortunately, many newly adopted ferrets go home with URIs for this reason. Also, ferrets will sometimes eat paper bedding, risking deadly bowel obstructions. There are bedding options that do not hold these dangers, such as Marshalls paper pellets, Purina unscented yesterday's news, or even straw. Plus, they are just as easy, if not easier, to maintain.

Another problem is that the display cases are overcrowded, creating a breeding ground for illness for young ferrets. With overcrowding comes ear mites and (again) upper respiratory infections that easily pass from ferret to ferret in those cramped living conditions. Many ferrets are leaving your stores with both of these ailments. If you are going to be housing 7+ ferrets for any amount of time, an acceptable amount of space would be about 17sqft. A single ferret, would need an enclosure at least 3ft L x 3ft W x 2ft D. These size requirements are extreme for a store display, but these current cases are barely large enough for one ferret. By adding more levels and having less ferrets at a time in these cases you would allow safer conditions for their stay. I understand the display cases are only meant to hold ferrets for a week or so at a time, but it is not uncommon for ferrets to be in these display cases for months at a time.

There is a common problem with the food in Petco ferret displays; not getting switched out often enough, or being taken care of properly. Often, they are given [Marshalls] soupies; which are ground up kibble with water. Soupies are great for ferrets, because it helps prevent prolapse in young ferrets! However, soupies(or any wet style food) should only be left out for 2 hours maximum. If they are left out longer, (which is not advised) they need to be rehydrated properly. The soupies in Petco display cases tend to be left out until it is old and crusted over with paper bedding mixed into it. Leaving them out for so long causes upset stomachs and diarrhea- leading to malnutrition and dehydration - or even worse, starvation. These health concerns are only magnified by the exclusive use of hanging water bottles in the displays. These bottles do not allow enough water for the amount of work it takes for a ferret to use, and are causing your ferrets to get (and remain) dehydrated. The combination of hanging water bottles and old, crusty soupies can be deadly for young ferrets.These bottles are also widely known to break the teeth of young and very old ferrets. Hanging bottles are an unnecessary risk, bordering on inhumane when used as the only hydration source. They should be provided with bowls, which are much easier for ferrets to drink from, and less hazardous to their teeth. Your store carries a wide variety of auto waters that will be just as easy to fill as the bottles.

Outside of nutrition and living conditions, customers(in most stores) can simply ask to interact with these ferrets and they are handed over without a second thought. Ferrets are susceptible to many illnesses that are easily passed around (flu, colds, strep and distemper, to name a few). Handling a ferret in a public space should be done with caution.

It is my understanding that Petco is phasing the severely outdated Marshalls pamphlets out, and they are being replaced with the Petco ferret care sheet, which are significantly better, but still concerning. In these care sheets, paper bedding is recommended. However, while some bedding can be used, soft fabrics are often preferred by ferrets, such as small fleece blankets.

A very big concern in the Petco care sheet is the recommendation of monthly baths with shampoo. Bathing ferrets at all is only recommended when absolutely necessary, and never with shampoo. The shampoo strips their natural oils, making their skin itchier and their musk even stronger. Even with these concerns, the Petco care sheet is far superior to the Marshalls pamphlet.

Unfortunately, Petco does not uphold the standards and recommendations advertised in the care sheet within their own store. The care sheet recommends having a large, multi-level, wired habitat with good ventilation. However, not only are the ferrets at Petco kept in plexiglass enclosures that do not allow proper ventilation, the recommended cages are not readily available in store, and need to be ordered online. Because of this, many ferrets being adopted are leaving the store in unsuitable enclosures, such as guinea pig cages. The first exposure to the care of a ferret any potential new owner has, is the care given by the store selling them. The ferret care sheet says to scoop the litter boxes in a ferret enclosure daily or as often as necessary, and to change the bedding once a week. There are many accounts of customers observing enclosures that have not been cleaned in so long, that they are infested with bugs. The care sheet also recommends trimming ferrets claws every few weeks. A ferret that I adopted from Petco myself, had claws so long they were digging into the pads of her paws. She had been at the store for 4 months. If Petco doesn’t hold itself to its own standards for pet care, how can any new pet owner be expected to meet those standards? Teach by example; actions speak louder than words.

These young ferrets deserve better care and their future owners deserve more information before adopting. So many new owners learn the basic care of a ferret from the standard Petco employee. By giving your employees the proper education; Petco has the ability to make a huge difference in ferret care and stigma. But as it stands, they are only adding to the serious consequences of our society being undereducated and assuming ferrets are stinky, rabid, savage rodents. These young ferrets deserve more, and as the Petco ferret care sheet shows my requests are the bare minimum for their health and safety.

I want to be clear. This is a problem that has continued for far too long. The conditions that Petco ferrets are kept in are unacceptable. I've included pictures and videos from Washington, Texas and Massachusetts. This is a nationwide problem and the nation is watching. This is not a cause I am taking lightly, and I am not going to go away. I don’t quiet down; I will only get louder.

Sincerely

Sarah

#PetcoDoBetter #WeaselNotRodents #StopPretendingThisIsOkay #AVoiceForTheFerrets

Online Sources

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGbxjYrOVGt86pFUdRWZyHPkLOpiQMVB/view?fbclid=IwAR2_vIAqYUrnCoCdbtjMUGPhaf_58kZXzAZrAexm6jDjdZJn0MEBQ499Bik

Petco.com/Caresheet

http://www.ferret.org/pdfs/education/cages.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0_cSGh2eB2h7GvEoqJbfSZB4RffDxb_S2UuogLmtM_nRGOxbp9BZuFhxU

https://www.ferret.org/pdfs/education/bestlitter.pdf

https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=8299309

VeterinaryPartner.com is not affiliated with Sarah Burch

Brooks, W. (2010). Insulinoma. Veterinary Information Network. Retrieved from: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3181

VeterinaryPartner.com is not affiliated with Sarah Burch

Brown, S. (2014).Ferret World. Veterinary Information Network. Retrieved from: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2774

VeterinaryPartner.com is not affiliated with Sarah Burch

Rhody, J. (2006).What ferret owners should know about insulinomas. Veterinary Information Network. Retrieved from: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2427