Wow....I just finished catching up on a week's plus of FML's. (Yes, I'm
one of those who read the entire FML so it does take a while!) All the
things that happen while you're on vacation!
 
To: Dr. Williams
In reading more than a week's worth of FML's at a time, it was clear
(although I knew it already) that you spend *lots* of your own time helping
so many ferrets and sometimes more importantly their owners here.  The
helpless "not knowing what's wrong" is a horrible feeling for anyone to go
through and so the information you give is just as important to all the
owners as it is their fuzzies.  I like to give a special "thank you" to you
and any of the other vets that take time to answer questions here!
 
Re: Condolences
My heart condolences to all you who have lost their little buddies recently.
They are beyond hurt and pain. They loved you as you loved them. You meant
alot to each other so perhaps you will both cross paths again in this life or
another.
 
Re: Emotionally Sensitive Ferrets
You bet! My husband and I went on a vacation for a week. My sisters, who
live near by and that our fuzzies know well, ferret-sat for us. Although
Squirt would be happy to get out and play and see them, he would soon start
to be really mopey and would wander around looking for us. Pippi looked for
us, but was just too excited on being out of the cage to be mopey. The new
two....it's hard to tell. They're still in the super spazzy stage. (They're 4
months old.) Actually, Squirt gets real mopey (almost hurt) when he misses my
husband Mike. Mike is Squirt's very special person. He snuggles with Mike often
and me rarely. I got to see the mopey stuff when Mike was on a business trip.
Squirt picks his special people - Mike and my sister Karine. Although I spend
lots of time with him and he likes me, I don't happen to be one of his special
people. He chooses who he does for his own reasons. Pippi is a little more even.
She likes Mike and myself about the same - possibly slightly favoring me
since she trys to get my attention more than Mike. (Her way of getting your
attention or teasing you to play is to nip your feet. She nips then looks
at you or dances around you.)
 
Re: Black Footed Ferrets
I think it's just plain cruel to turn animals loose that have never learned
to be a true predator or how to escape being prey. I grew up in a rural
area and I can tell you that if you have a barn you'll never have to go
looking for a cat. People just drop kittens, cats, cats with kittens, etc. off
figuring they will be able to feed themselves. They were all starving. All the
kittens would have died and *very* few of the cats would have made it - if any
 at
all. We know of ones that didn't unfortunately. How can people truly expect
animals that spent years in cages are going to amazingly learn how to survive?
Especially when these animals have not had the opportunity to ever learn or make
use of any survival skills? Really, they're no different than these cats or
our fuzzies.
 
If private ownership is a no-no, why can not these animals be loaned to a
zoo like the San Diego Zoo or the National Zoo in DC? It sounds as though the
quality of life for these animals would be greatly improved. People could see
one of the rarest mammals in North America. These animals would be ambassadors
- people who see animals at zoos are more likely to care about the animals they
see and more willing to commit financially.
 
In the Age of Budget Cuts, is there not better things to trim than the pittence
that is spent on wildlife or environmental issues in this country? I
remember seeing a news story about a man who worked in the Captial Building in
DC who's only job was pushing elevator buttons for the congressman in a 2-3
floor building. His salary was, of course, paid by tax-dollars.
 
-kim
 
Kimberly Burkard        |              _
Xerox, Rochester, NY    |       _____C .._. fu-til'i-ty   n. 1. an act having
[log in to unmask] |  ____/     \___/  no useful result  2. herding
[log in to unmask] <____/\_---\_\    ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 1203]