West Michigan Ferret Connection (Dee Gage) and Deb's Ferret Rescue &
Boarding (Deb Fitzgerald) made a road trip from West Michigan to Lori's
to volunteer and bring back DMK ferrets last Wednesday (geez, almost
a week ago already). Jennifer Deming and Rose Jannenga accompanied us
on this adventure; 4 women making what should have been a 7 hour trip
(according to my AAA TripTik) in a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Ford
Windstar. We used Jennifer's GPS system to get down there & it took
us a lifetime. The shortcut ended up taking us 9 hours and I swear we
actually went thru the Black Hole of Ohio. We started out at 11:30pm;
and luckily, we had so much adrenaline going, we drove straight thru.
Needless to say, we used my AAA Trip Tik for the trip home. We got
home (Grand Rapids, MI) at 2:30am Friday morning. We .... and I can't
believe it .... stayed awake .... all of us .... for over 40 hours. The
worst stretch was from the Michigan/Ohio border to Grand Rapids on the
way home. We switched drivers more times than we did the entire trip
down.

I'm speechless when it comes to the magnitude of this effort and how
one person was able to and has been able to manage it. Lori Sies has
my utmost respect for what she's done.

I took a total of 20 ferrets: 11 hobs and 9 jills. Deb took a total of
37 but I don't know what the breakdown is. I'm thinking/hoping we were
able to at least eliminate one of those racks of hutches they were kept
in. You can't imagine how heartbreaking it was to see them housed like
that. Thoroughly disgusting.

I read Susann Thiel's post Tuesday morning and I echo her thoughts.

I am just lovin' this experience. I love the transformation these guys
are going thru. Friday morning I put them in playpens. To watch them
play, run, dance & tumble for the first time brought tears to my eyes.
Saturday they started dooking. They are so happy. Behaviorally, I have
no real challenges. Litterbox training has gone relatively well. Food
digging has been a biggie but it's tapering off. I keep telling them
the food's too expensive to go digging it out ..... think they
understood? We have no biters out of the 20. I have a couple goofy male
kits but no big deal. I was surprised how good their nails look. I have
2 potential mommas and everybody around me is excited about babies. I
only have one hob in rut & he's a sweetie.

My other rescue kids are on the increase. They're coming in faster than
they're going out. I just took one in tonite. I took in a beautiful
champagne boy only 6 months old .... owner just bought him from PETCO
in July ...... "I don't think a ferret's for me," she said.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Wish list? Totally Ferret and wood pellets ..... and not necessarily in
hat order.

Dee Gage
West Michigan Ferret Connection

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DON'T FORGET THE MIDWEST FERRET FELLOWSHIP FAIRE OCTOBER 20
AT THE DELTAPLEX IN GRAND RAPIDS MI ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[Posted in FML 5749]