You know that set of family members I mentioned who killed the ferret,
Heather, by not providing veterinary care?  I got them to return some
of the $300 worth of supplies I provided when they refused to give that
ferret (who had been dumped on them) to a ferret shelter.  Among those
things was a very good cage which they managed to rust the bottom of.
How does anyone do that in a short time with a ferret living in it?  They
also threw in one piece of bedding the original person had for the ferret.
They had roughly cut the door to a much wider opening.  That was strange
for a small female so I asked them why.  "The ferret got fat."  Well, on
questioning it sounds like the poor thing had ascites.  I really think
that the possibility that she died (needlessly) of heartworm is very high,
given the descriptions and their area.  Heather died at the tender age of
only two years from lack of vet care as surely as she would have from
beating or food deprivation.  If those two people were asked they would
say, "We love animals.", but knowing them so well for so long I'll tell
that what they love is having animals around.  If they actually loved the
animals themselves they would provide care.  Now they have a dog with a
problem which the vet thinks can be easily corrected but which will likely
pose a real risk if not corrected.  Are they getting care?  Nope.  They
said, well, if it's not that then who cares, and if it is then might as
well let her just live what time she has left -- no weighing of how much
time she COULD have with care at all.  It would not work to send money for
vet care; I tried that with Heather when she was with them.  Some people
just have bricks in their heads and ice in their hearts... A ferret dead
due to deprivation of medical care is no less dead than one who died from
any other avoidable cause, any other form of neglect.
[Posted in FML issue 3835]