There is absolutely NO TRUTH to the rumour flying about that I'm going to
be the next president of the AFA.  I am not even a member of the AFA.  I
am helping with ADV research fundraising in a joint effort with them as my
time allows.
 
Carrie wrote about being ferret parents while in the military:
Carrie-- As a shelter operator, I can certainly see both sides of the
picture.  While it sounds like you are a great ferret mommy, regretfully
you seem to be an exception to the case.  You brought up some valid points
about this being a mobile society, but, regretfully once you are in the
military, you are more or less "owned" by them.  Military folks are
generally rotated every four years, and don't have much of a choice as
to where they will go.  They get "orders".  People who work for private
companies are generally allowed to turn down transfers, job offers and
such.  The likelihood of someone in the military being transferred overseas
is markedly higher than that of a private citizen becoming an ex-pat.
While some bases will allow ferrets, a good deal of them won't.  Granted,
off base housing is sometimes an option, but not always.  Anyone stationed
at Patuxent River NAS right now can tell you about that.  I don't think
I've ever gotten an adoption request from military folks, but I get lots of
calls for turn-ins from people stationed at Dover and McGuire.  Just from
that perspective alone, it's not a good track record.  Yes, you can always
opt out if your orders are to HI or CA, and you can't get them changed.
But, if your husband was 16 years in, and was ordered to HI for his final
tour, would you walk away from it for the ferrets?  Would you really and
truly give up the pension for that?  Perhaps you would.  But the majority
of military would not.  It's just a fact of life.  I'm sorry that
regretfully you are lumped in with everone else in the military.  There
are some really fine people who serve this country.  But there are many
who are not so fine when it comes to taking care of their animals.
Regretfully, that's the way it is :-( I am certainly not judging you.
You sound like a very concerned and caring ferret owner.  But you must
look at it from the perspective of the shelter owner as well.  When we
place a ferret, we carefully think about the long term effects of the
placement.  Yes, sometimes problems do come up.  But we try to take steps
to make sure that ferret will be where we place it for the rest of his
life.  It's really heartbreaking to adopt out a 2 year old ferret, only
to be called when the ferret is 5 1/2 and told "I'm bringing it back" for
whatever reason.  That ferret is now pretty much unadoptable, and will
spend the rest of it's days in a shelter.  It's not fair to the animal.  I
know it's not the answer you wanted to hear, but I hope maybe it helps you
to understand a little better as to where the shelters are coming from.
Thanks for being a good ferret person.  BTW- you *might* want to try this
tactic--volunteer at your local shelter for a few months.  Once they
realize how serious, caring and concerned you really are, they might
change their minds :-)
 
Stephanie wrote about giving a ferret meds:
Have you tried the liquid Prednisone?  I've found that with some ferrets,
the liquid of anything is easier.  I slide the syringe down into the corner
of the mouth with ferret scruffed and the head tipped up, and squeeze.
I then keep the head up and stroke the throat, causing an involuntary
swallowing.  Follow with a treat.  I haven't found one yet that I couldn't
get a least most of the dose into that way.  You might also want to talk
to your vet about using an injectable of some sort.
 
Anne
[Posted in FML issue 3209]