>From:    Ben Wilborn <[log in to unmask]>
>I don't understand some of you people.  When a solution for one person is
>the best thing for them, (declawing) YOU think it is a sin.  When YOUR
>fuzzy bites to the Bone, YOU think it is ok, because they were scared or
>you mistreated them.... I am getting real tired of people bashing others on
>here about how they take care of there ferrets.... I get the feeling that
>many people treat there ferrets better than their own children, which is
>totally sick.... So to all the people that think declawing is bad, are you
>against the tattoo of 2 dots in the ear, because that hurts them, and how
>about giving them shots, because that hurts them, and how about getting
>them spaid and neutered, does that hurt them???  ...
 
Ben, when our 12 year old son David came to us with printed research on
ferrets in hand and the request for one of these fuzzy bundles of joy for
his upcoming birthday present, his father and I sat down and reviewed all of
the data he had gathered.  At the dinner table the following day we raised
important issues of care and proper maintenance of his prospective new
friend.  David had all the right answers and he met all the requirements.
David bought the cage and had enough of his allowance budgeted for
vaccinations.  We went to the pet store and there was one kit left, a small
sable male and 2 young boy's David's age were poking the kit with a pencil.
Before I could react David stormed over, took the pencil from the boy's and
snapped it in two.  In one felt swoop David scooped up the kit and walked
out the door cradling his new friend like a new born baby.  His father and
I paid and followed our son and a very grateful kissing kit out to our car.
David named Meeko on the ride home.  All was fine, David was living up to
his end of the bargain and Meeko enjoyed his new found freedom with full
run of David's bedroom (we have 3 rotties and a cat).  All of this happened
in June.  Although we had cats and dogs through out the years, none of
these pets became family members through David's intervention.  We watched
as our son blossomed into a nurturing responsible young adult.  David
organized a playroom filled with empty cardboard boxes with dryer tubes
connecting them, a litter pan in every corner, steps built by David himself
to enable Meeko access to David's bed where Meeko would nap on David's
pillow during the day.  When school began in August, I would watch Meeko
pine and long for his companion, I asked David if he thought Meeko would
like a companion ferret to keep him company during school hours.  David was
worried that Meeko would abandon him for the new ferret but, after only a
few day's (and a videotape of a sad Meeko) David threw himself into the
quest of finding Meeko a companion.  We saw a business card from a local
ferret rescue (Brevard Ferret Lovers Rescue Inc.) posted on our Vets
bulletin board and called.  DD Glasser answered the phone.  After a few
questions we made an appointment to bring Meeko over to pick out his new
friend.  It was Erin a tiny petite sable female who had been found in a
bird cage on a pitchers mound in the middle of Hurricane Erin who picked
our Meeko.  It was during this adoption that we heard of a little girl
(David's age) who had her pet ferret (Rascal) literally ripped from her
arms and destroyed and tested for rabies by public health for biting her
nurse during an office visit just a little over a year before that day we
adopted Erin 3 1/2 years ago.  My heart sank as I envisioned the same
horrid possibilities befalling our own son and his beloved Meeko.  After
talking to our son about this case David turned to us and asked for our
help in righting what he/we felt to be an obvious wrong.  It took 3 1/2
years of research and now our state of FL is ferret friendly, and in that 3
1/2 years our son has committed not to one but to five cages to clean every
day, 14 ferrets to feed and administer medication to (when needed), has
administered sub-Q fluids to our dearly departed stroke/heartworm DEW Max
on numerous occasions and insisted upon setting up a triage for Max next to
his own bed where he fed Max with a syringe every 6 hr.  on weekends (I
took over on school days).  David is now 16 and proudly boasts of his many
accomplishments to his friends and as for his father and I?  We simply sit
back and bask in the glow of a son that will most assuredly someday be a
very nurturing father himself, God willing We have in great part Meeko,
Meeko's friends and David's decision to thank for what not only we but,
David's teachers feel to be a very mature well rounded articulate young man.
 
Marie Wallace
[Posted in FML issue 2466]