One of my first foster kids was a stray, we named Lost Boy II, we had
two strays come within 24 hrs so we had a Lost Boy I and Lost Boy II.
the first kid was adopted witnin a week.  Lost Boy II was thin and showed
signs of illness within the week.  i brought him home and started him on
the routine medicines our Vet uses for ferrets with diarrhea and weight
loss.  He did well for a short time and then started loosing weight again
and had some drainage from his ear.  He was taken to the Vet and was
found to have a packed cell volume of 7.  She couldn't believe he could
survive with his count.  He was started on Prednisone and I nursed him,
hoping he would turn around and get well.  That is when I grew to love
this sweet fellow, he was too weak to get around much so I carried him
every where I went, he had his own special bed he rode in and slept in my
bed.  He traveled to and from the shelter with me on my days to volunteer
and loved to ride in a carrying pouch so he could watch the world go by
as we drove around town.  He ate his duck soup like a starving child and
when he returned for his check up his pcv was up to 17.  i had great hope
that he would get better.  He had such heart, he would get around the
house as best he could and I had little bed stations so he could rest or
sleep as needed.  He had the run of the shelter when he was with me and
loved to be carried about.  Unfortunately his time was very limited but
we had three months together and when he let me know it was time to make
that last trip to the vet my heart broke.  I had prayed so hard that a
miracle would happen and he would recover but it wasn't to be.  Those
three months with Lost Boy II were precious and I count myself lucky to
have had the love of such a brave sweet fellow.  I cried for days when
I lost him and to this day I cry over his loss.
 
Another very special foster was bandit, at the shelter he was called Mean
Bandit because he was a biter.  My first day as a volunteer i was warned
about him, he only liked one volunteer and allowd her to cleaan his cage,
she introducted me to bandit and we formed and instant bond.  When he
heard my voice at the shelter he came out of his hammie and waited for me
to go to his cage and pick him up and give him some attention.  Bandit
had Adrenal and Insulinoma but was doing well enough on his medications.
I would tell bandit that one day I would bring him home with me for a
visit but each time I made plans to take him home, we would get a sick
ferret in that I needed to take home to care for so I never had an empty
cage for him to come visit.
 
Well I guess he decided if the only way he could come home with me was
to get sick so he did just that.  He developed a raging urinary tract
infection and infected prostatic cysts and had become very thin.  I
rushed him off to the Vet.  Once he was stable enough to go home I picked
him up and brought him home with me.  Our Vet didn't hold much hope that
he would do well with all of his problems but he flourished at home with
me.  Once his infection cleared up he started gaining weight and would
run around the house going to each food dish to eat and the drink from
each bowl.  Then he would find me and beg to be picked up.  He would
lie in my lap and tuck his head in the palm of my hand to sleep.  My
grandsons came to vist this past July and fellk in love with him as well.
He was naked from his Adrenal Dz so my grandson insited we by him clothes
to wear and a special bed.  He looked so cute in his red and blue shirts
and though t he was quite something all dressed up.  He loved his bed and
would go right to it to sleep.  He knew those were his speical things and
he alwasy went to that speical bed.  He followed me around the house and
would stand on his hind legs and grab onto my lower legs when he wanted
me to pick him up.  He too would travel in the car with me, lying in my
lap as I drove toand from the Vets or the shelter.  He did well for quite
sometime and then he developed a heart murmer and started having fluid
retention.  that was the begining of the end for my sweet Bandit, there
was nothing further that could be done for him.  Again I lost such a
sweet and loving little man.  He will forever remain speical to me and I
had to rename him sweet Bandit.  He would never be called mean Bandit
again.
 
Then there was Willy Nelson, he was a owner turn in.  He was an intact
male, three years old.  He came to the shelter with not only adrenal Dz,
but Insulinoma and he had a huge ugly bleeding tumor on his back, that
turned out to be Hemangioma Sarcoma.  the day he was picked up from his
owners house he was brought to the shelter, I believe he probably never
had a bath in his threee yea rs of life.  I bathed him, he smelled and
was really dirty., that is when I found how big the tumor on his back
was.  I took him straight to the Vets that day and our Vet neutered him
and removed the huge turmor from his back.  Willy was not a handsome
guy, he was probably the homelest ferret I had ever seen but he had the
sweetest eyes and they were so expressive.  He rode to the Vet in my
lap and I told CJ that I would foster him when he was released after
his surgery.  With Willy it was love at first site, smelly, homely half
naked little man he was but there was something very special about him
and we bonded immediately.
 
Willy had been a free roaming ferret who lived with his owner and a
couple of cats.  He only ate cat food and his favorite food was froot
loops.  Willy wouldn't eat ferret food or any food for that matter when
he came to my home.  We did not at this point know he he was developing
Insulinoma.  He would be out of his cage and he would run, jump, play and
chatter around the house but refused to eat.  I started syringe feeding
him Duck Soup and he finally accepted the soup.  He started loosing
weight and not playing about a week after he had been neutered.  I took
him back to the Vet and we found he had Insulinoma.  She was also worried
that he may have had a hidden cancer becasue the Hemangioma Sarcoma of
the skin was unusual and so the possibility of it been somewhere else
was great.  He was only three so the plan was once he gained weight again
and got healthy he was a gppd candidate for surgery for his Adrenal and
Insulinoma.
 
Willie was once of my special boys and like Bandit and others I fostered
he was out with me alot.  He was a busy boy when out and followed me
around the house talking to me the whole time and begging for treats.
He still refused to eat kibble of any kind but he ate his soup and
started to gain weight.  Willie would always make eye conact and had very
expressive eyes.  He hated other ferrets so his time with me was always
one on one, when he got tired he went and climbed into to my bed to go to
sleep.  Like bandit, when he wanted his time oput he stood at his cage
door and begged to get out.  He started loosing weight agian and dropping
his blood sugar and had to go on higher and higher doses of Prednisone.
He never gained enogh weight or got healthy enough to have his surgery.
The same day that my son was killed Willie started acting strange, he
could only walk in a circle and did not make eye contact and I feared he
had developed a neurological problem.  I cried fro my son and I cried for
Willie, I knew something terrible had happened.  That was Sunday Sept
11th, 2005, I took him to the Vet the next day.  I got the call from the
Vet while I was at the funeral home amking my sons arrangements.  Willie
needed to be euthanized and I couldn't be there with him.  I sobbed, i
had lost my son and I was loosing my Willie Nelson, and I could only
feel my heart break into pieces for the loss of both.
 
These little creatures are so special and i would not give up knowing
them and loving them even knowing that at some point I will lose them.
The happiness and joy they bring me far out weighs never have
expperiencing that sp eical love athey give you when youb take them into
your home and heart.
 
These are memories of just those three, there are many more I have loved
and lost.  It is beyond me why someone would abandon these sweet kids
becausee they are ill.  I have six normal healthy ferrets and I love them
and enjoy them but I share a special bond with the fosters I have cared
for.  When i go to Reno i can only atake eight fosters with me and it
saddens me that I can't take them all.  The eight I am taking with me
are all ones I have had long term and could never leave them.
 
My Fuzzy I have had as a foster for over a year and he is fat as sassy
as is Bandito and Sahara, the Bears.  Just my Slinky man is my skinny
guy who looks terrible but eats like a horse and has the heart of a
Lion.There are so many permanent residents at the shelter that I will
miss so much.  They are such good kids, well most of them.  There are
a few naughty ones but not so naught y I can't love them too.
 
This past Mondayb we had to euthanize tow of my fosters Max and Miss
Kitty, I will miss them both so much.  Once you fall in love with these
kids you never forget them and their speical kind of love.
 
i hope that some of you who read this list will think about going to 24
carat and adopting a speical needs kid, to give and receive that speical
love only they can give.
 
We just last week got a pair of ferrets in, the owner said the little
blaze ws deaf and was special needs.  Little did we know until he arrived
how special his needs were.  He wasa thin and his coat wsa poor while his
sisiter wasa fat and sassy.  She said he was a digger and sometimes
shoved his food into the tube of the water bottle.
 
The reason for this strange behavior is thsi sweet baby cannot open his
jaw more than 1/8th of an inch, he has been attempting to find a way to
eat , how he is alive is a miracle, to watch him attempt to eat kibble
is painful.  He has been starving ro 1 1/2 yrs getting just enough to
survive.  iMMEDIATELY i warmed up some Duck Soup and gave hime one
syringe, from there he dove into to the soup and didn't stop until he
finished and them begged for more.  He ate three bowls before he stopped
begging, his bellyy was as full as a tick about to burst.  He hasn't
sto›pped begging for and eating soup since he arrived last Friday
evening.  He will eat and eat and eat.  His eyes are no longer dull and
his coat is improving and he is playing.  Each day he looks better but
shows no sign of slowing down on the amount of soup he requires.  He
went to the Vet on Monday and had xrays and lab work but there are no
answers as to why his jaw is as it is.
 
I can tell you he is a very smart kid, he figured out the shelter routine
in less than 24 hours and knows where the soup is and the microwave beep
when it is done.  He is very happy here someone finally noticed that he
does have special needs and now he doesn't have to be hungry anymore.
He immediately captured everyones heart and is loved by all that meet
him He is so special, it is impossible to now fall in love with him.
 
He may never be able to eat normally, this problem may not be fixable but
he was lucky enough to end up here at 24 carat and now he is the happiest
of ferrets and the love he has shines out through those curious big eyes
of his.  Cj was captured immediately and he will have a happy home with
her for the rest of his life.
 
Being involved with the shelter has been one of the most rewarding
experiences of my life and I spent 35 years in nursing, none of it
compaired to what I found at 24 Carat.  God Bless CJ and all of the
wonderful Ferret people and volunteers that give their time and love
to help these wonderful critters, I will miss everyone when i leave.
God Bless Dr K and Erin for all alll they do and have taught me this
past 14 months.
[Posted in FML issue 5074]