I found Marie's eloquent description of David's maturation with ferrets
magnificent; it belongs in a ferret or pet book.  Marie has a history of
being intelligent, logical, effective, loving, and well-stated, but even
for her this was just wonderful.  My suspicion is that her son has so often
seen mom not take the easy, lazy or undisciplined way that behaving as
beautifully as he has is just a natural extension of that understanding
kindess.  What we reap is what we sow...
 
Meghan, ferrets often like to wipe their rears on the edge of a litter pan--
I can't see aluminum being very comfy for that.  Try expanding curtain rods
for holding the barrier, but use them on the side Dervish is supposed to
stay away from since the rubber cups may be inviting.  You can find them at
all sorts of places for just a few bucks.  Be careful to not let Dervish
play with bag-stuffed sock when you aren't watching since plastic can cause
a blockage -- same sort of warning another sharp-eyed soul gave about the
beannies.
 
Barbara:  plastic carpet runner or somethng similar like a chunk of
cardboard...
 
Re: United Way: there is a difference in the states between non-profit (in
which a group proves itself to be non-profit which affects its own taxes)
and tax-deductable which is a federal thing that takes an age to get
(Having once been involved in an educational charity while it was pursuing
and then getting the status -- though that work was the headache of a
different committee member.).  WHICH of these does UW require?  Also, what
% of the moneys collected go to the shelter named rather than to UW
administrative costs?
 
A number of states DO have autonomous local health depts.  The degree of
autonomy differs from state to state.  By those states' laws the opinions
of the local depts often can NOT be impinged upon by the state depts even
if the state folks know a GREAT deal more about the topic.  Nor is KY the
only state in which a Compendium of Animal Rabies Control member, advisor,
or associate (i.e. someone who knows the topic EXCEEDINGLY WELL) risks
being ignored by others who know squat simply because it's possible to do
so due to the chosen state organization.  In these cases education (for
officials, medical professionals, and the public) and usually legislation
are ESSENTIAL and those can only be done by the people who live there,
though, as I said they don't have to reinvent the wheel since there are
resources on approaches and data which have already WORKED elsewhere.  The
most basic thing is to get and have copies of the Compendium, of course.
 
Oh, that also goes for the young lady in the military; you want to have
that document handy.  Remember that all the ferret volunteers are just
that -- volunteers -- so sometimes their own lives must take precidence, or
they may not have easy access to photocopying machines, or their lines may
be down, or whatever, so YOU need to be prepared just in case.
 
You can copy it from the AVMA site, and Pam Troutman has distributed
literally THOUSANDS of these through STAR Ferrets.  I think there is likely
to be a link from Ferret Central.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2467]