A couple of weeks ago a man dropped off his young ferret, about three
months old I believe, to have his prolapsed rectum repaired.  Cute little
guy named Roscoe..the ferret not the owner.  This jerk has yet to pick up
his ferret, come to find out he is a soldier living in the barracks here
in TN.  WHAT MADE THIS GUY BUY A FERRET AND TRY TO KEEP IT HIDDEN from the
U.S army.
 
We sent out a letter of abandonment yesterday, come January 24th I will
have a new addition to my business.  Of course that is easy for me to say,
my husband is in Miami for some trauma/ICU training, and he darn well knows
when he left we only had 5..I have a month to come up with a good one!!
 
Something really shocked me yesterday,a client came in with her dog, a
beautiful Rott/chow mix, a potentially lethal combo if not raised properly.
the dog had a ear infection and appeared to be a little head shy, which
made it hard for me to examine, she then suggested I get a muzzle, because
the dog was a little nervous because her husband had beaten it the previous
night because it would not stop rough housing with the other family dog,
then the dog proceeded to try and bite husband, she told me he almost shot
the dog.
 
What I find amazing is, over the past several months how many times I have
her owners tell me how they have beaten or spanked their animals, they say
this like it is an acceptable way of raising their animals.  This same
woman just got out of the hospital from having a baby, she noticed the dog
looking funny at it, I kept my cool and offered other forms of discipline,
but all I could see was front page news...so sad.  WELL IT IS A BEAUTIFUL
day here in Clarksville Tennessee, the ground is covered in 2 inches of
snow..a wonderful playground for ferrets and children.
 
June Louis and the Tennessean zoo
[Posted in FML issue 3304]