Dear Ferret Folks-
 
On sunday, loaded Ping is He (who was adopted from MAFF, the
Massachusetts Ferret Friends shelter) and Puma into their carrier, and
went with my husband Dann to the MAFF Halloween party in Natick, MA.
 
Well, the joint was hoppin'!  There were lots of hoomins, and around
twenty to twenty five fur people.  There were good things to eat (Renee
Downs home-made biscotti...mine, all mine) and lots of marvelous things
at the vendor tables, a veritable treasure trove of fleece!  Piles of it,
stacks!  Hammies, tubes, blankies, slings, and best of all, hand made
bedding crafted by the excellent Diddy.
 
When Ping is He came home with me from MAFF, he did not come empty-pawed.
He came with a few hammies and sleepy sacks that Diddy made for him, his
only worldy possessions.  He sleeps in Diddy's bedding nightly, he and
Puma prefer it to all other bedding!  As an adoptive parent, I thought
that was a really nice touch.  They send bedding along to all the new
homes with the fur person in question.  Now that's a classy shelter.
 
Many shelters were represented there.  I was gratified when shelters won
the raffles for the melatonin implants, who needed them more?  These
weren't stingy raffles, either.  Wonderful prize baskets were given away.
A huge table full of of them, not just one or two.  Lixit water bottles,
grooming supplies, bedding, harnesses, ferret poop jewelry (reproduction
ferret poop jewelry), little outfits, carry slings, jingle toys, chew
weasel treats, Oh, it was Christmas for weasels, not Halloween.
 
There were games, and the much-hyped "ferret playground" was even better
than advertised.  Puma got up into an overhead PVC tube with little
screened observation ports built into the sides and that was it.  She
decided she wasn't coming out.  All other weasels had to pass her in the
tube if they wanted to play, too.  After half an hour Dann (who is very
handy) had to dis-assemble the tube to get her out.
 
The event was overseen by Bob Church who manages to give out a great
deal of technical information without ever being boring, or talking down
to anybody.  His demonstration of how to brush a ferrets teeth was
marvelous!  As he finished up, I quietly dared him to try it with my
husband, if he wanted a real challenge, and was viciously pinched by
Dann, who didn't think that was funny at all.  (Dann does brush his
teeth, but he whines about it, just like a little kid.)  Just scruffing
Dann would have given Bob a real challenge, I think.
 
Ping and Puma were picked up by many people and rubbed, carried around.
The ladies from MAFF were happy to see him again, settled down in his
forever home.  They remember when he was turned in by his first family,
who complained that he was not "cuddly enough." Since dumping him, they
tried out a cat in his place.  Apparently the cat did not live up to
their expectations, either.  They turned the cat in to a shelter, and got
their little girl an iguana, instead.  I think they should turn in the
iguana, and get something they can understand, like a toaster, or a
machine that automatically wets stamps so that you don't have to lick
them.  Something on their empathic level.
 
I met so many marvelous fur people.  The very handsome Trouble.  Whiskey,
who likes to drink booze.  Fat Gus, the chunker.  Russel, who looks just
like a mink.  Amy, who was adopted that day.  Their hoomins told me their
stories, and so many of them, so very many had been abandoned, abused in
some incomprehensible way....I held them and I looked into their eyes and
I saw no resentment, no anger.  They just wanted to be cared for.  Was it
so much to ask?
 
I think not.
 
Dann and I drove home.  Me, with a lap full of exhausted weasels.  They
weren't even trying to get away to explore the car.  They were flat out
tired from playing and visiting and meeting other weasels, sniffing a
million things.  I thought about the sacred trust I had entered into.
These guys needed me.  They depended on me to be there for them, every
day.  Every step of the way.  It's a huge responsibility.  But they have
absolute faith that I can do it, even on the days when I don't feel like
I can.  They see greatness in me, even though I don't.
 
It's humbling, isn't it, when they stand up against your shin, and look
up at you?  It's not a little animal begging.  It's a little soul that
trusts you completely, and their trust is not misplaced, because frankly,
we are the good guys.  We don't have it in us to dump them for a cat, and
then dump the cat for an iguana.  Nothing against cats and iguanas.  It's
(sigh....) Words don't fail me often.  Somehow, they get the best out of
me that I have to offer.  And the MAFF party was a true celebration, a
celebration of how we felt about out fur people, yes, but also a
celebration of us at our best.
 
Hope to see you next year.
 
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML issue 5048]