This is Susie Lee for The Ferret And Dove Sanctuary, Inc. , sharing a
question and its answer about what we, as shelter-ferret care-folks do.
 
In answer to " Susie Lee: I have been wondering.  Do you ever have to
put any of your animals down, because of aggressions or injuries???  "
 
Dear A*****, ....
 
Any agressive personalities get isolated and treated with extra
individual patience, according to what they have problems with.
"Nervous" biters get loads of peace and quiet and tend to get their
nerves steadied again, and cease biting.  Fear-biters get patience and
tolerance and learn their is no longer anything to fear, and forget about
biting.  The process of helping these special "cases" return to states of
trust and peace is always a long one, generally taking us between two to
eight months, depending on how long the fear-reinforced behavior went on,
before.  But even the worst-behaved has always come back into the
envelope of Love.
 
Now, as to injuries, it depends on if the injury may be so severe that
there is no means by which to repair them or nurse the animal back to
some semblance of wholeness.  To date, only one came even close, and that
was Katie O'Cato Ferret, who was severely bitten by a rottweiler some 6
years or so ago.  Incredibly, each of the dog's huge incisors missed a
vital organ or a major artery, so, even though horrendous and extensive
damage was done to a tiny 2-pound, unoffending little lady, she was saved
by the veterinarian's operating on her within 20 minutes of her massive
injuries and then nursed back to health to live out her life in happiness
and contentment with just a few long scars and some chronic back
stiffness, but, miraculously, no paralysis.
 
Only 2 little souls, (out of 8 years' worth of so many!) have we taken
to the vet's to be assisted to their final sleep who were in extreme
end-stages of metastacised cancer and had gotten to the point of
screaming in pain.  We're Not here to force other creatures to live out
their lives in extreme pain which can not be abated nor treated.  Extreme
and untreatable pain or discomfort is, actually, the only reason we even
consider vet-assisted euthanization.
 
To see most of the critters, go here...
 
http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/ferret_rescuer/index.html
[Posted in FML issue 4853]