Roary wrote:
>One has to question the premise of the question - what to do if you
>have to flee in the middle of the night and you don't want your
>fuzzies to suffer? Are we expecting WW3 and a nuclear holocaust,
>maybe? Probably not. It is probably for less important, more
sinister purposes of the "what if I lose everything" brand. That is
>why I ignored it.

Excellent point.

Like Roary I did not read the original post completely. I saw the
start of it and ignored it until a later person wrote about emergency
situations like fires.

Those who have read the materials on animal hoarders know that
thinking, "There is no one else who can love or care for these animals
the way that I do." is considered to be one whopper of an indicator of
need for serious mental care intervention. So, if someone here thinks
in that way then the person needs to be aware that is not a healthy
perspective and to move himself or herself away from that stance
because to not work toward clearer thinking invites deterioration.

That isn't to say that all are equally good, but if anyone who is
thinking clearly had to think, "Okay, who are the various people I
would take a dumped ferret to for care, and who would I want to
include in my Will to have my ferrets should something go wrong."
multiple people would wind up coming to mind.

If a person loses all then the logical thing is to find another home
for the animals but if that is not possible then use a shelter.

Shelters can be found. Here are two wonderful resources:
http://www.supportourshelters.org/
http://www.ferret.org/links/shelters.html

If there are people here who want to read more about animal hoarding
and the danger signals for when it stops being a normal pet situation
and gets into a hoarding situation (more animals than the given person
can care for and illogical thinking about their care), plus what that
means for the health of all involved:
http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/
and
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/54031
are two good places to begin learning.

Except for a terminal animal who needs euthanasia for reasons like
pain -- which a veterinarian should be the one to tackle to minimize
suffering --there is almost always an alternative that is more
constructive and more loving, as well as more mentally balanced,
than death.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 6336]