It has almost come to the end of the year with all but one of the ferret
kits that I and or our volunteers have taken in have been rehomed.
 
Thinking back over the year one or two situations stick in everyone's
mind as to how, why and by who some ferrets were lost or abandoned.  What
sticks in my mind are the kits that were left outside the backdoor of a
pet shop in freezing weather, these particular kits were very thin,
underweight, filthy, covered in excrement, badly dehydrated due to a very
bad case of fleas and a bad cases of ear mites, after some time with one
of our volunteers they turned into healthy fit kittens that went to new
homes.
 
Once one of our vets had a look at them and she treated them for the
fleas and ear mites, with a shot of antibiotics to treat a slight
breathing problem of some of them, and some Dyrolite to help with the
rehydration of the kits, they went on to make some good pets.
 
The last litter to be taken in this year was a litter left in a garden
centre while the owner went next door to buy some cigarettes, these kits
were so wild and after being bitten by most of them, the garden centre
owner put the kits in a plastic barrel while he could find some one to
take then on, he found my number and left a message on my answer phone
requesting my help to take on a large number of ferret kits.  These kits
were so wild that it took me some time to be able to handle them without
getting bitten, even so it took quite a long time to find new homes and
all but one of these kits found new homes within 30 miles of my home, so
it look like he will remain here and be vasectomised with the others that
are due to be vasectomised when that come into season.
 
Because my vet charges me very little to vasectomies hob ferrets, I
prefer to have this done so that the hobs can live as naturale a life
as possible without producing any offspring, also if anyone takes on one
of these hobs they can take on whole jills at a later stage.  Like a lot
of people who rescue animals the funds can be rather sparse at times so
rather than just blindly rush in and have all the jills spayed and the
hobs castrated having hobs vasectomised means that less funding is
required.
 
By having a more naturale life as whole ferrets, our ferrets here in
the UK have a more healthier life than ferrets in some other countries
like the USA.  Reading on the Internet about ferrets in the USA the only
impressions that stay with you is that ferrets there are spayed and
castrated before they are five weeks old, this to me is mutilation of
such a great animal, and they are up for sale in pet shops by the age
of six or eight weeks old.
 
I have thought for a long time that ferrets here in the UK were being
sold far to young by some breeders and ever since the rabbit fancy put
an age limit on the sale of young rabbits at which rabbit breeders can
sell young rabbits.  I thought that young ferrets should have the same
age restriction put on them, so unlike some people who breed or rescue
ferrets / rabbits no one gets any of my rabbits or ferrets until I know
they are twelve weeks old.
 
http://www.geocities.com/houseferrets13uk/index.html
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ferretwelfare/index.html;
 
Website:www.charity-commision.gov.uk The UK Charity Commissioners are
appointed under the Charities Act 1993 principally to further the work
of charities by giving advice and information also checking for abuses.
Aims:To give the public confidence in the integrity of charities.
http://www.webspawner.com/users/ferretwelfare/index.html
 
Nothing in life is normal, it is just more usual.
http://www.headway.org.uk/ Some great people who have supported me
through my illness.
http://www.asacp.org/ Adults against child pornography.  If you suspect
any sites report it.
[Posted in FML issue 4366]