Post by concernedanimallover on Sept 6, 2014 12:16:26 GMT -4
Hi, I just want to start out by saying I am not a ferret owner and never really looked in them until recently, but as an animal lover I feel these animal(s) need help. I wasn't sure where to post this, so please let me know if I am in the wrong place.
I have a friend , lets call him Jake( for privacy/security reasons. I'm not sure what he'd do to me if he found out I was talking about him), who has owned ferrets for quite a while. As far as I know, he is looking into being a foster owner for ferrets. I know he did get an older foster once, however he only had her for 2 weeks before she passed away(which I though was due to age at first, but to my horror I now see that was probably not the case). He had many of them for a number of years so I never questioned the methods of raising them, until they all started dying. It started with one, then 3 died within a month or twoof each other and a month later a 4th passed away. I was shocked and was concerned it was something infectious so I asked Jake if it would spread to the remaining ferrets. He said no and that it was Insulinomia and that it was very common for ferrets to die from it. It still struck me as odd that so many would die so close due to the same thing and the rational part of me felt like there must be something behind it. I did some research and found that it's not just a cancerous disease like he played it off to be, but rather a metabolic disease that can be caused by a non-suitable diet. I thought that was strange because he claimed to have them on the best possible diet for ferrets. I now realize how horribly wrong he was. Their main food was a a cheap kitten food and for treats they would get large amounts of high calorie supplements and fruits/veggies. I noticed recently that this brand of cat food was one of the worst rated food for ferrets on this site; moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret . However, the diet was not all of the problem with him and how he raised his ferrets. He works a lot. He was not home a lot to give the ferrets attention. When he was home he would put his time into playing games and watching tv/movies. They would often stay in their cage for days without being taken out or played with. Their cage would often not be cleaned for weeks with the litter soaked in urine and coated in feces. Needless to say they were being neglected and even though he says he "never has time" for them, he still has his mind set on fostering as many as possible, but I am so afraid he'll get them and they'll all suffer and die because of him.
Please, if there is anyone who knows how I can get in contact with someone to make sure no other fosters go into the wrong hand, just let me know.
Also, I am sorry if I am overreacting, but this just doesn't feel right to me.
I have a friend , lets call him Jake( for privacy/security reasons. I'm not sure what he'd do to me if he found out I was talking about him), who has owned ferrets for quite a while. As far as I know, he is looking into being a foster owner for ferrets. I know he did get an older foster once, however he only had her for 2 weeks before she passed away(which I though was due to age at first, but to my horror I now see that was probably not the case). He had many of them for a number of years so I never questioned the methods of raising them, until they all started dying. It started with one, then 3 died within a month or twoof each other and a month later a 4th passed away. I was shocked and was concerned it was something infectious so I asked Jake if it would spread to the remaining ferrets. He said no and that it was Insulinomia and that it was very common for ferrets to die from it. It still struck me as odd that so many would die so close due to the same thing and the rational part of me felt like there must be something behind it. I did some research and found that it's not just a cancerous disease like he played it off to be, but rather a metabolic disease that can be caused by a non-suitable diet. I thought that was strange because he claimed to have them on the best possible diet for ferrets. I now realize how horribly wrong he was. Their main food was a a cheap kitten food and for treats they would get large amounts of high calorie supplements and fruits/veggies. I noticed recently that this brand of cat food was one of the worst rated food for ferrets on this site; moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret . However, the diet was not all of the problem with him and how he raised his ferrets. He works a lot. He was not home a lot to give the ferrets attention. When he was home he would put his time into playing games and watching tv/movies. They would often stay in their cage for days without being taken out or played with. Their cage would often not be cleaned for weeks with the litter soaked in urine and coated in feces. Needless to say they were being neglected and even though he says he "never has time" for them, he still has his mind set on fostering as many as possible, but I am so afraid he'll get them and they'll all suffer and die because of him.
Please, if there is anyone who knows how I can get in contact with someone to make sure no other fosters go into the wrong hand, just let me know.
Also, I am sorry if I am overreacting, but this just doesn't feel right to me.