Responses from Whole/Natural Prey Suppliers
If for whatever reason you have to make that sad decision to rehome your ferret while in Japan, here are the steps you need to take and the information you need to have before hand.
I. Who to contact?
Leave me a comment on this post or any post on this site and I will contact one of the two places below of your choosing. Comments left on this site are first sent to me BEFORE publishing so this can all be handled privately without your email address or questions displayed publicly. I personally recommend going through the JFA first only because they have more resources as a group at their disposal. FerretShelter@HOME is a privately run shelter in Aichi (unconfirmed location) Prefecture.
☆ JFA
☆ FerretShelter@HOME (check this site anyway for the clever shelter icon. Spot it?? )
II. Why contact me and not the actual shelters directly?
Case of JFA: Yes, there are people in the JFA who speak English very well, but really it's another stress on their already hectic schedules to have to interpret native English. And besides, they will likely send it to me for confirmation anyway as they have in the past.
Please do whatever makes you feel more comfortable though. This is a terribly hard decision to go through in the first place.
Case of FS@HOME: I have only met the shelter operator once. At the very first Kyoto Championship Show. in fact. A very pleasant, nice man. I seriously don't think he speaks a word of English though.
III. Things you will definitely need to have done in advance:
document with basic info - age or best approximate, sex, breeder, personality
vaccines updated
food and treats
photo - would be nice
IV. Things that would be really nice for your little friend to have:
Their old toys.
Their old bedding.
An old shirt of yours you have worn for a few days previously.
☆ The JFA screens the ferrets new family before placing her or him into their new home. If a new home can not be found by the necessary time, there are foster parents available that the JFA has also screened.
☆ As we have seen in America, once the economy takes a heavy hit the animal shelters fill up at an alarming rate. It is no different in Japan with maybe the exception that ferrets are so expensive right off the bat that people do not invest in them as lightly as they would a dog or cat. Nonetheless it does happen that a lot of ferrets are need of rehoming suddenly. FS@HOME encountered that recently when they had an emergency intake of 16 ferrets from one owner. Reading the article on the main page, it sounds like this had a little touch of hoarding involved even though it seems they were well taken care of. Anyway, the point I am poorly trying to make here is file a request with the JFA first. FS@HOME is a little overwhelmed right now.
Cheers and see you again! (^_-)-♪
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