Roary, Your list of things that you learned from your ferret is GREAT!
Sometimes I save the funny stuff for last and come back and read it
after the rest. Some of those are good for people whereas others would
be almost sociopathic in a human. LOL!

Nancy, there is a saying, "Nothing very, very good or very, very bad
lasts very, very long." Sometimes it can be a helpful thing to
remember. Heal well, please! I wish you many better times to balance
it all.

Hmmm, well, I know Nell and have passed on info often to her, but I can
see why there is confusion caused by the repeated lack of consistency
in her posts.

Confusion breeds questions.

Lack of consistency and of forethought breed confusion.

I don't think that anyone meant to cause these things but it is totally
obvious when looked at from a general standpoint WHY they happened.

I think that reading Nell's past posts also can provide people with
excellent reasons to perhaps NOT take ferrets to areas which lack good
veterinary training and approaches, or if taking the remainder to have
them for their lifespans to perhaps not add others later, and to find
people willing learn and arrange for consultations from vets who are
expert in the animals and their conditions with the local veterinary
options. Of course, hindsight does not help Nell right now, but it
might help someone else in the future, even in a less extreme situation
like moving to a location in the U.S. where the only vet options would
need to learn ferrets.

Some other things people get to learn is that the USDA* has website
pages with both import and export info, that shipping animals can be
difficult, tricky and pricy, and the regulations differ among species
of animals. It's been quite a learning exercise, but it still is
obvious why the changes back and forth are pretty much bound to cause
questions for people who have not met Nell and sometimes even for those
who have, though the nature of those questions will differ in those two
groups. For example, knowing Nell, I know that this is not a purposeful
attempt to misuse any donations, but I can see why those who do not
might wonder about that especially in this day and age when there are
so many rip off places emailing and phoning all of us. (Which I why
when we could afford to donate readily I wound up looking up charities
every single time in reputable and independent third party sources to
see how much donated money went to the those actually with need, how
much to administration, how much to fund raising, how much to
advertising, etc. before deciding.)

So, I do not see any reason for anyone to fight on that score since
what arose was not malicious but a natural consequence of the flip
flops in the series of posts.

Similarly, I do not see any fights being present in the Lupron
discussion, merely people presenting information from each side and
that is important because it ultimately is the best way to help
ferrets and ferret people.

* <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/animal_import/animal_imports.shtml>
and others

Sukie (not a vet)  Ferrets make the world a game.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
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
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

A nation is as free as the least within it.

[Posted in FML 7726]