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Wed, 21 Aug 2002 09:00:55 -0600
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In response to Joanne who wrote:
>I am a shelter and to me it is VERY personal.  I have had two ferrets
>die... both in July.  It was the hardest thing I have had to deal with.
>They were my babies... whether they were with me as "my pet" or as a
>shelter ferret.  If you read my posts from Zorro and Oggie you will
>see...
 
Dear Joanne,
 
This is not what Bob was saying at all.  Bob understands that any
donation, even a donation of bones, is a very personal one.  If there
was a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being extremely personal, 9 would still
technically be listed as less personal than a 10, but still a personal
situation.  As being one of the people who made a donation to Bob, I can
tell you that he asked me time and time and time again if this is what I
wanted to do for he wanted me to be sure that it was what I wanted.  He
got from me personal ferrets... not shelter ferrets.  That's how much I
trust him.
 
When Bob is making reference to a shelter ferret being "less personal" he
is talking about the bond issue.  I too love each and every ferret that
comes into my home that is surrendered to our shelter.  But love and true
bonding are two different things.  Bob is not saying they are not worthy
of love or care.  He's not saying that at all.
 
I look at this no differently than what I would do for my vet.  My vet is
a very caring man, who would bend over backwards to help you with a sick
ferret.  He is a good man.  A kind man.  A decent man.  In his practice,
he had operated on many ferrets who had a bad right adrenal gland, and we
all know that the right adrenal gland is in a troublesome place.  After
reading, and discussing the procedure with other vets, he knew he had to
have hands on experience to do so.  After all, we all want an experienced
vet when it comes to having our animals placed under the knife.  But
remember, they only get the experience by doing.  He wanted the
opportunity to remove a right adrenal but he did not want to perform it
on a ferret that was someone's beloved family member, adopted into a
home, that had bonded with its owners and family... he didn't want them
to have to deal with the possibility that the surgery may not work and
their ferret may not survive.
 
About that same time, a ferret came to our shelter that was obviously
adrenal and a surgery was scheduled within the week.  This little girl
came to me as a unwanted, and unloved discarded pet.  I sat and pondered
this whole situation and then called the vet and told him that if her
right adrenal was bad to try the surgery on her.  And lo and behold it
was.  I knew that in order for my vet to benefit ferrets in the future,
as more and more were coming in with bad right adrenals, that he had to
gain the knowledge through the experience.  There had to be a first time.
I made a tough decision... not because I didn't care for her or love
her... I cried the whole time she was in surgery.  I worried for her like
I would for any of my own ferrets in surgery.  She came through and the
surgery was successful.
 
Bob was not saying that shelter ferret's were less worthy of love or care
or anything of the sort.  He understands that a bond between an animal
and its owner is a strong one.  Since I too am in the same position you
are, and see ferrets surrendered weekly, I understand in order to
mentally survive, that I must view the newcomers as ferrets that don't
belong to me.  I try and prevent bonding.  Sometimes I tell myself that I
am only "babysitting" them in order not to fall for each one of them head
over heels.  If I didn't do this, then I would end up being the crazy
ferret lady down the street with 400+ ferrets in her home and they'd all
be mine.  Bonding is something that happens at different rates with each
ferret.  Sometimes the bond happens right away.  Sometimes it takes
months (okay, days!) but I never know when it's going to happen.  But I
don't bond with my friends ferrets and I guess that is how you have to
look at it too.
 
I guess all I am asking is for you to think about this from a different
perspective.
 
betty and her blur o'fur
for the love of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3882]

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