LOOOONG post - bear with me...I want potential adopters to have all
information...

I am attempting to find a really good and loving home for my little
girl, Zoe Sweet-Sprite, a petite sable lady of about four years of age.

I am moving to Ireland in five weeks, immigrating there to join my
Irish husband, and had already made arrangements for a new home for
my two ferrets. We had planned this about a year ago and were just
awaiting my immigration clearance. However, Zoe's buddy Dexter passed
away earlier this week, completely unexpectedly, after a 48-hour
downhill spiral, and I am still in shock. I am trying to give Zoe lots
of extra attention and provide stimulating new activities and toys for
her, but she does seem to sort of wander around in her playground
looking a bit dazed and just staring out, before just shuffling off to
curl up someplace and sleep for hours (sort of her norm). She only lost
Dexter five days ago.

The woman who was going to take Zoe in is very animal friendly and has
a couple of dogs and cats, but no other ferrets. A year ago when we
began planning this, she had one ferret and was excited about two new
companions for him, but that ferret passed away and now Dexter has
passed and that would leave just Zoe. She works full-time and has
several pets, and does not want to get another ferret simply to give
Zoe a companion, so Zoe would live out her days alone. She would get
playtime and attention, but I worry that it just would not be the
all-day stimulation she has gotten from either me and, at one point,
three other ferret buddies, then two, then one, now none. Obviously,
if I were staying in the U.S., I would just contact a shelter and find
her a friend, but that's not an option now. I have scoured my social
landscape for other possibilities, but I do not know any other "ferret"
people beyond internet forums.

Okay, down to nuts-and-bolts:

ABOUT ZOE:

*She is judged to be about four years of age. I took her in as an
"extreme biter" who was going to be put down and I offered to try to
cure her of her biting problem. I not only did very well with her
biting, but fell in love with her and didn't trust the person she'd
be returning home with not to continue doing to her whatever had
caused her to be so terribly skittish and bitey in the first place,
and convinced him to hand her over.

*She is no longer much of a biter, but I would not really trust her
unsupervised with small children. She bites playfully when you play
with her and does the "lick, lick, chomp" thing, thus giving you some
warning, but never breaks the skin and just generally has mellowed out
incredibly, but it's best to be vigilant.

*She is used to dogs and harasses them endlessly, though I have
toothless pugs who can't really hurt her if she upsets them. They just
run away as she tries to groom their toenails. Gets along very well
with other ferrets, just joins right in, plays, and snuggles with them
for naptime.

*She is used to children and loves the attention, but would need to be
supervised due to potential for biting.

*She has never been free-roam, but goes from a large cage to supervised
playtime in a gated-off room to a large "playground" to provide
stimulation, etc., throughout the day.

*For her new parents, I would provide her with a six-month supply of
her food, which is a mixture of half a dozen different kinds of kibble,
Bandits treats, Ferretone, some toys and balls, largish "small dog"
wheeled travel kennel, litter boxes, bed, new fuzzy crinkle tunnel,
etc. Also, since the cage is very tatty and six years old now, I would
either buy a new cage or provide you money to buy one. If you don't
need a new cage for her to join your family, I would just give you the
money I would have spent on a cage and you can buy whatever your
critters need.

*I would send you $25 a month for her expenses or yours in general for
all your ferrets. I know no one is going to retire on this, but I also
do not want to take anything away from your own ferrets or shelter
because you took Zoe in.

*I would of course help with future vet expenses. In all honesty, I
cannot promise that it would be a "money is no issue" situation and
that I would have the financial resources to go all out for treatment,
chemo, surgery, etc., if she were to become ill. Right now, I do not
know what my employment/income situation will be until I am settled
in Ireland. That is something we will just have to play by ear and
negotiate when/if the time comes, but I will never just abandon her to
your total expense! And of course, the monthly $25 for her daily care
will never be a problem regardless of the income situation.

*I would want to be able to check on her and keep in contact with you,
though I would try not to annoy you with this! LOL

*I would not want to hand her over immediately, as her brother passing
away and going to a new family right away would just be too much, I
fear. I would like to get to know you for a while and perhaps bring her
to you in four weeks or so.

AND FINALLY... (don't fuss at me BIG, this is the SHORT version of this
posting - I love this baby!)

*I live in Alabama and because I have only four full days off work in
the 32 days that I have until I leave for Ireland, I cannot drive her a
really long distance, though I could take one of my Saturdays to drive
250 or so miles in any direction. HOWEVER...I will be flying out of
Newark, New Jersey, and will be leaving Alabama on May 30th or 31st to
drive up that way. I will be passing through the Carolinas, Virginia,
D.C., Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey, and could make a 100-mile
detour in any direction. Also, if you drive any distance to meet ME, I
would of course pay your gasoline expenses.

I am a bit hesitant to limit myself to these areas in the case of the
perfect situation for her being someplace farther away, so please do
contact me regardless and maybe we can brainstorm to work out
transportation. I just wish I had more time to do this - but if I put
off entering Ireland beyond the two times I have already pushed it out
due to family crisis and personal illness, I risk losing my entry
clearance and would have to start all over with a process that took 18
months and cost over $10,000. I really wish I could just take six
months to find her a great home, but I can't.

I hesitated to post on these boards because I know there are limited
resources for ferrets in need and I do not want to take an open spot
away from an abused or sick ferret, but I just HAD to try and see if
anyone here might be looking for a companion for their lone ferret, or
otherwise feel they have room for this little girl in their family. I
will not be randomly posting to Craigslist or any other such broad
anonymous venue, and this is not an emergency situation as she
technically does have a place to go, but I would like to at least
attempt to find Zoe ferret companions and a stimulating environment.

As an aside, does anyone have any pointers about what more I can do
for Zoe beyond what I am doing already, to help her get over Dexter's
passing and adjust to being an "only" ferret, not only while I have
her for the next few weeks but also in case she does end up in the
previously-planned situation as a lone ferret?

I am doing the best I can to really step it up for her, but doing this
while trying to plan an international move while working (from home)
10-12 hours a day, six days a week, is proving daunting and exhausting.
She seems okay, eating and playing, but seems to spend a lot of time
waiting for me to come by and play with her again (or maybe I'm just
projecting), and it's breaking my heart that I just don't have hours
of free time for her, though I do interact with her in some way nearly
every half hour, even if only to kiss her sweet sleeping face.

Any assistance or ideas on either front (rehoming her and/or helping
her to adjust) would be appreciated! Thanks for making it this far and
forgive me the lengthy post. This is the single most important thing I
am trying to plan vis a vis this move, and my heart will be heavy until
I know Zoe has a good situation to go into.

Please feel free to contact me directly at [log in to unmask]

S

P.S. - Sorry this is so long and rambling. I am bit distraught about
this - moving and immigrating and being away from my husband for 18
months are all very stressful, but I thought I had found my babies a
good home and now feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me.
I haven't even properly grieved Dexter's passing because I'm in panic
mode about Zoe. After re-reading this, I feel silly and hysterical, but
I guess I have to just not care what everyone here thinks of me, as
long as I find the right home for little petite Zoe Sweet-Sprite. I've
been a lurking member here for years and would love to see a familiar
name offer to give her a home. Dreaming? :)

[Posted in FML 7049]