It's been a rough few days.  I was contacted by a person (not sure if
they want their name mentioned, so I'm going to omit it for now) Tuesday
morning.  Rollen's family had called a breeder that Rollen did business
with, asking them to take the four ferrets that had been removed from
the house by the family.  The breeder allegedly refused (another story
altogether!!), and referred the family to a shelter in a nearby state.
The shelter had taken possession of the four ferrets.  To make a long
story short, the shelter turned the four ferrets over to me Wednesday
night.  I had them spayed and neutered and will take care of any other
medical needs, and then return the ferrets to this shelter, who I'm sure
will care for them lovingly.
 
I've also begun several steps towards making sure that this NEVER happens
in NJ again.  Heed my words.  If you are a breeder, seller, pet store,
distributor, shelter, or anyone else trafficking in ferrets, and don't
have the appropriate license, it's over.  You better have a license, even
if you're from another state.  Don't think you can get away with it.  I
don't care if you are the Queen of England, you are breaking the law.  That
includes ferret shows.  Consider yourselves warned.  This isn't business.
It's personal, and gets more so every time I look into the fearful eyes of
the displaced ferrets in my shelter.
 
I had a lot of folks asking who I was referring to in my post the other
day about breeders masquerading as shelters, and asking why the person who
told me about it didn't tell the FML.  This woman is not on the FML.  She
is not involved in the ferret community like we all are.  The state I was
referring to was Pennsylvania.  Because I wasn't in the "shelter" and
therefore can't give firsthand info, I'm not giving names.  All I ask is
that you think about where you adopt from and donate to.  Look around.  If
it's dirty, if there are a lot of babies or whole ferrets, if they won't
let you look in all the cages (not handle, just look) then I would think
twice.  My opinion.  All I can say is that anyone who comes to my shelter
is welcome to look at all of the ferrets.  They are not welcome to hold
them all, because frankly some bite, and my oldsters (9 1/2 & 8) don't
need the stress of being handled by a stranger.  But anyone is certainly
welcome to look.
 
On to a happier note: Two more ferrets went to their new home the other
night, they'll be living with Matt and his family.  One is a young, sweet
female, the other a middle aged, very scared and very aggressive biting
boy.  Matt and his son have been extremely helpful to us, bringing
supplies, and cleaning cages.
 
I'll be personally thanking everyone who donated to SOS as soon as I have
time to catch my breath.  I wanted to give you all some ideas on how your
money is being used.  These are the prices we've paid for the medical's so
far:
 
ADV Tests: $10/per @ 82 ferrets
Neuters:   $22/per @ 35 ferrets
Spays:     $60/per @ 27 ferrets (1 spay was done at Barnegat for a higher
            cost, one more still needs to be spayed)
Tumor Removal: $150 @1 ferret
 
Also there have been other medical related charges for supplies such as
Synphenol 3, syringes and Distemper vaccines, saline solution and tubes
for ADV tests, Baytril, Orbax and Clavamox, etc.  The boy that needs the PU
has pneumonia and can't have surgery until he clears up.  We also have 13
adrenal surgeries that need to be done, the first two will be done Friday.
The vets that have done all the surgeries are Maywood Animal hospital in
Maywood, NJ, and Ridgefield Park Animal Hospital in Ridgefield Park, NJ.
Barnegat Animal Hospital did one of the spays on one of the girls down at
Kim's.  Kudo's to the vets involved, especially Dr. Kim at Ridgefield Park.
Also thanks to the vet techs who volunteered their services, which helped
us to really contain many of the costs and get extra low costs on the
surgeries.  My hope is that when all is done, there is money left over
that SOS can use to help other ferrets in need.
 
I have a fun story about one of the rescues.  The other night we had one of
the regular shelter gangs out for play time, and after a bit noticed that
one of them looked really orange.  Upon closer inspection we realized that
one of the Christmas Ferrets had broken out of his cage and was on the
floor playing along with the others.  We decided to move him into their
cage with them, and they're all co-habitating really well together.  I
guess he was lonely :-)
 
Two of the ferrets weren't eating on their own.  They seemed starved for
attention, and would eat if I held them while they ate.  I put them in a
cage together, and they are much happier, and eating on their own again.
I think that in the shuffle, many ferrets that had cage mates became
separated from them and were literally mourning them.
 
Poly (pronounced Polly) has settled in as queen bee in my bedroom.  She and
Niko pretty much ignore each other.  When we let them out of their cages,
they go to each others cage to "steal" food :-) They have had a couple not
too pleasant run-ins with each other, but are both just pretty much scared
of each other, and keep their distance.
 
I've received all sorts of wonderful things in the mail over the past few
days, but I'm at work and don't have my notes, so I'll wait until I can
get it right to thank everyone tomorrow.  But you all know who you are,
and I thank you!
 
Anne
[Posted in FML issue 3295]