Last night was a busy one. Yvonne came down and vaccinated all the
ferrets, Dino came down and spent the night so he could get an early start
on the trip to NH this morning, and Diane Burman came over to help scoop
poop.
This morning we sent 22 ferrets on their way to new homes in New England.
Most had permanent homes awaiting them with open arms. I got a call this
afternoon that all had arrived safely at their new home. Anastasia took
Fugly home today, and called to say he is having a blast running all over
her ferret room chirping up a storm.
As long as the weather cooperates we are hoping to send many of the other
ferrets to their new homes next weekend.
We got LOTS of donations today:
*Glenda came with enough baby food to feed an army (literally!)
*Blakely's package with water bottles, towels and more arrived
*A package of Ferret Chews arrived from the Ferret Store (from Sukie
maybe?)
*Another box from The Ferret Store arrived with TF, a hammock, treats and
toys, but I'm not sure who from
*I received a call from a wonderful woman in Tyler, Texas who arranged for
me to pick up a $25 gift card at my local Home Depot
Thanks to all of you sooooo much! Also I want to metion thanks to the
following people who sent litter: Sukie and Steve, Nicole, and Alicia.
Now on to the really BIG news. SOS has received $4601.00 in donations
towards medical bills for this rescue. I think I can speak for both Kim
and myself in saying that ferret people are by far the most generous,
supportive group anyone could have asked for. I know that I could NEVER
have managed this by myself, in terms of finances, time, or supplies. I
am overwhelmed at the outpouring of generosity that you have all shown,
and the way that everyone has pulled togehter.
I am still getting emails and phone calls offering supplies. I no longer
need anything. But, please remember that there are MANY other shelters out
there who could use your assistance on an ongoing basis. Also, any money
sent to SOS that is not needed to pay off the vet bills for this rescue
will revert back to SOS's general fund to help any shelter in need.
From the beginning I knew that I would be keeping one of the rescues as a
personal ferret, a DEW named Dante that many of you have probably met at
one show or another. Today Jim told me that he also wants to keep "#29",
a silver girl who he's fallen for, I guess it was love at first bite.
He had to take apart the dryer today, it was no longer drying anything due
to the amount of fur built up in the vent system. He pulled about a pound
of lint and fur out, hopefully it will work better, although he just walked
in to show me a screw and nut that he didn't put back when he reassembled
it. :-(
We managed to bring all of the existing cages into the ferret room, and
closed down the shelter in the garage. My power bill came today--because
I'm on the budget plan I don't know any exact numbers, but I do know that
my electric was double last December's use, and my gas was up by about 30%.
The electric space heaters did some damage to my electric bill! Luckily
I have until next August before they'll adjust and I have to make up any
shortfall, so I'll pay extra every month between now and then to catch up.
It's a lot less painful that way :-)
I'm taking many of the donated supplies as we no longer need them and
assembling an emergency kit which will have bedding, litter pans, water
bottles, leather gloves, food bowls, toys, pretty much all that we needed
quickly in this case. In the event of a large scale type emergency I'll
deliver or ship it immediately to any other shelter who needs it. That
way these reusable suplies can benefit ferrets in need over and over.
I have a BOATLOAD of e-mail backed up that I need to answer, please e
patient, I'm still more than a little overwhelmed right now.
Now I need to think of some ferret names. Some of the remaining guys and
girls need more surgeries, or are just not healthy enough to leave. I
don't want to be calling them by numbers forever! :-)
Anne
[Posted in FML issue 3290]
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