Sometime during the month of May, 1996, a few people walking by a trash can
heard scratching coming from the inside.  They took the lid off to see what
was making the noise and saw a small animal.  One of the people recognized
the animal - it was a ferret.  Central Wisconsin Ferret Shelter was
eventually called and a small female ferret was rescued.  The little female
was very sick because she had never been spayed.  She was nursed back to
health, spayed, and became a favorite of the shelter director.  Jon had
decided to keep her, but by late winter of 1997, things at the shelter
were crazy and Jon started looking for a good match.
 
That's where we come into this story.  We had 2 ferrets at home and were
looking for a third.  When we visited the shelter on March 1, Jon told us
he would allow us to adopt the little female.  When I first met her, she
bit me really hard between my thumb and forefinger.  Then she let go and
bit in deeper and harder.  Jon told us that because of her background, she
bites strangers to let them know that she can take care of herself.  He
also told us that though he had taken good care of her, she had always
seemed alittle sad.  That broke my heart.  My husband and I decided to take
her and name her Chara and make sure that she was happy.  That night at our
home Chara bit me one last time and then she must have decided that she had
finally come home and never bit me again.  Chara has been very, very happy
with us.  She has danced and played and wrestled these four years.  Chara
has never been able to get my husband's ears clean enough and has had quite
a fixation about them!  She has been the sweetest little affectionate
blessing!
 
Chara learned a little trick with a cloth ball she was fond of.  She would
lay on her back and make the ball go around and around with all four feet.
We would applaud and tell her that she was a circus ferret!
 
January of this year we noticed that she was putting on weight and that it
was mostly in her abdomen and took her to our vet.  Chara had liver cancer
and it was spreading quickly.  We took her home and started her on the meds
given to us, and after talking to a few people on the FML we also tried
some supplements and milk thistle.  At first she shrunk back to normal, but
recently nothing would help.  She was sleeping most of the time, though
still eating.  This morning I was going to call the vet to talk to him
about her, but last evening before going out for a few hours, I tucked
her in a snug little sleeping place she liked and when I got home she had
never moved--she was gone.
 
I guess I'm writing this because it's therapeutic and also because abused
and forsaken animals can make wonderful little companions and should be
given a chance.  Sure I love to look at baby ferrets, they are so darling
and sweet.  But our ferret shelters, run by harried and overworked
wonderful people, are bulging with ferrets that are just waiting for a
good home.  Maybe someone on this list is thinking of adding to their
fuzzy family.  I hope you can find it in your heart to give a little
"Chara" a chance for happiness.
[Posted in FML issue 3377]