Hi,
 
I'm a new ferret owner, having purchased my first fuzzy 'Boris' just 3 weeks
ago.  Both my husband and I are animal lovers, sharing our home with 4 cats,
7 dwarf frogs, assorted fish and now 2 ferrets.
 
On Monday of this week I stop by what turned out to be a shelter for
Rabbits, Rodents, and Ferrets.  I had driven out of my way to see what kind
of ferret things that had, when I got inside I realized that it was a
shelter.  That had at least a dozen adult ferrets, most over the age of 2,
two were around 1 1/2 out on display.  I had been thinking that it might be
nice for Boris to have a ferret friend, especially since he was trying to
teach the cats ferret games and they were not catching on to the chase me
game.  Having 4 cats and Boris (13 weeks old) I thought it would be better
to get a ferret that was under 6 months of age.  I asked if they had any
other ferrets, telling them what age range I was looking to adopt.  The took
me in the back and showed me 2 new boys they had just taken in a few days
earlier, they were very close in age to Boris.  Of course I feel in love
with the silver mitted boy and had a name for him the minute I saw him.  I
was told that the women who took care of adoptions was not there and they
were uncertain as to what the status was on the 2 boys they had just showed
me.  I filled out paper work for adopting the little mitted boy.
 
I called on Tuesday morning and got little new information about his status,
I was ready to pick him up that afternoon, had the carrier in the car, had
told Boris all about him, I was disappointed but holding out hope for a
Wednesday home coming for him.
 
Wednesday I called and talked to someone else who told me that the status
for adoption was uncertain as the boy I was interested in was biting, I
could not find out from them if he was biting all the time or just if he was
picked up while playing.  They did tell me he was not biting hard, I told
them I was still interested and would like to get him by the end of the week
as I had a vet appointment Saturday morning for Boris to get a shot and
check-up and would like to be able to take the new guy with me to the vet.
I was told that they would call the lady 'Sandy' and for me to call back
that evening.  I once again drove miles out of my way and went by the
shelter only to be told that they were not going to adopt him at this time
and that when they did he would have to go with the other one as a pair.  I
also found out that he had not even been to a vet yet and they didn't even
know when he would be going.  Now I was really disappointed.  In talking to
the girl I found out something that really bothered me, it seems that the
help is fighting among themselves as to who is going to get a certain female
ferret they have.  I asked if there were any other ferret shelters in
Seattle (I had look in the yellow pages and could not find any listed), I
was hoping that they might know of one, but was told that they were the only
shelter in the area for ferrets.
 
This shelter left a bad taste in my mouth, too bad as both my husband and I
give to Hooterville Safehaus for dogs and cats.
 
I'm 47, my husband is 40, we have no children, at least not any that only
have 2 legs :), my cats see the best cat vet in Seattle, Dr R., he is board
certified, he recommended the vet Boris will see on Saturday.  We have a
huge 4 bedroom home, all the areas that Boris and Chester are allowed to
visit freely have been ferret proofed.  I can not for the life of me
understand people that get pets and then don't want them.  Both my husband
and I have a committed relationship with our children, I could no more give
one of them away then to cut off my right hand.  I ended up last night going
back to where I had purchased Boris and getting another ferret, he is the
same age as Boris and they are very hard to tell apart.  The new boy is
named Chester and he does the funniest war dancing.
 
Sorry that this was so long, just had to air my disappointment with the
shelter.
 
I do have a question.  Boris and Chester seem to be doing great together,
they danced, dooked and chased each other all over their bedroom, when it
was time to go in the cage for the night they both got to biting each other
on the neck, Boris doing most of the biting, it looked like they were trying
to shake each other, they was no loud crying, but some soft cries like, oh,
that hurts, let go.  Should I be worried?  It really scared me, I even took
them back out of the cage and all was fine.  Their was no blood and they
were OK this morning.  I need to know what a real ferret fight is like.
 
Thanks,
Suzy and David
Boris and Chester, the 'FNG' fuzzies
Izzy, Spud, Kody, Chloe, the jumping fuzzies with very long legs
Black, Tan and the gang of 5, not fuzzies, but very funny frogs
 
Suzy Cecere
Systems Engineer
Physio-Control Corporation
 
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425-867-4483
[Posted in FML issue 2245]