It started as a late night phone call... I answered that insistent ring only
to hear a man whispering 'You gotta come and get him tomorrow... and hurry!'
when I replied 'Come where?  get who?' all I got for an answer was a
whispered phone number which I hurriedly wrote on my meds note pad. and a
click.  I couldn't sleep much that night and first thing in the morning I
called that number [the phone operator said it was about 50 miles or so
away] and a man answered on the first ring.  Keeping his voice low but not
whispering this time he gave me the directions and asked me again to please
hurry.  He couldn't go into detail but there was a ferret in trouble and it
needed help right away.  That was about all I could get out of him and all I
needed to hear.
 
Not knowing what I was getting into, I grabbed the large carrier, the lava
bed [well heated], a blankie, and a big fluffy blanket for outside the
carrier to keep it dark and warm inside.  I stuffed the emergency med unit
in the back of the jeepling and made a flying pit stop for gas, and was on
the way.
 
Upon arrival I was greeted by a gentleman and immediately shown into the
garage.  There, in a dark corner, was a very small critter carrier.  Inside
was a barely seeable, unconscious fuzzy.  No blanket, no nothing.  As the
man reached over to open the carrier the little one started to scream and
try feebly to cram himself into the far back corner of the carrier.  He was
filthy and the carrier was awash with watery blood and blood streaked
stools.  He was scraping along on his left side and I didn't need light to
see his right side was horribly swollen.  His face was so misshapen I wasn't
sure if he had use of the right eye and ear or not..  I was sure something
very very bad had happened to this little fellow and that he was in
unbearable pain.  I turned to the man and gently asked him what had
happened..
 
He was obviously very distressed... He explained that the fuzzy had been let
out of his cage [a small cage that he was rarely allowed out of to play] for
an exercise period.  He was well trained so he only played on the linoleum
floor [never going onto the carpeted areas] with his two toys.  It seems a
plant that was not doing well in the greenhouse had been brought into the
house and put on the linoleum floor in front of the sliding glass doors....
right smack in the middle of the play area where the only things on the
floor were the two ferret toys the fuzzy was permitted to play with!
 
The fuzzy thought the pot and plant and potting soil was a new toy for him..
He had climbed up into this big pot and excavated a cup or so of soil out
onto the floor, and then hopped down to taste and play in this new stuff.
 
A few minutes later ['exercise periods' averaged about 15 minutes] the timer
on the stove went 'ding' [signaling the end of the exercise time] so he did
his flat ferret immitation on the floor so he could be picked up and
returned to his cage.
 
But instead he was terrified by a loud shriek as he was roughly snatched up
into the air!  the next thing he knew he was being screeched at while being
pounded with a clenched fist.  Even while screaming in pain and struggleing
feebly to escape he never once used his long, untrimmed nails or his teeth
to save himself.  When the abuser ran out of rage powered strength he was
thrown into a small critter carrier [about kitten side] and the carrier was
thrown out the back door into the driveway... in the wet and cold...
 
The husband nearly ran over it in the dark when he arrived home several
hours later.  The streaks of rubber on the driveway stopped just short of
the blood stain still on the surface outside the garage.  What he saw, using
the headlights, inside the carrier sent him in the house..fast!  All he
could get out of his wife was 'That destrucive little beast is NOT coming
back in MY house!'  Knowing there was no dealing with his wife when she was
in this kind of mood, he returned outside and placed the carrier in the
warmest part of the garage..... He returned to the house and after a silent
meal went into his study to call around to try to find a home for the fuzzy.
He had put a small shallow dish of water inside the carrier but the food had
all gone down the garbage disposal so that was the best he could manage.  By
pure luck he called a pet store in a nearby city that had a small notice on
the back counter that said Ferret rescue/shelter and listed a phone number.
He was about to call when his wife came in to let him know it was time for
his [never miss it] regular TV show..  so that was how I came to recieve the
hurried whispered phone call....
 
From what I could see in the carrier, when he turned on the garage lights,
[he had padlocked the carrier so the fuzzy couldn't be 'accidently' let
outside the locked garage but he still found the carrier outside again in
the morning and had no idea how long it had been out there] I knew this
ferret was badly hiurt and nearly dead..  the carrier and the fuzzy were
awash with blood and waste and the ferret was very still.... any attempt by
the man to open the carrier and lift the ferret out was greeted by
hysterical screams so he was asked to move away and let me try..  It took a
while..  but finally, speaking gently and quietly and moving oh so slooowly,
I managed to get one hand inside and very carefully lift him just enough to
get him out onto the blankie above the warmed pad...
 
He was very weak and cold and his right side was so swollen I couldn't even
see the place the joints in his legs were.  All I could think of was 'Poor
little fuzzy..  ' so, easing him inside, and gently closing the door, then
wrapping the big blanket around it I slowly headed for the door..
 
the man was pleading with me all the while..  'I sent her out shopping but
she could get back any minute..  please take him away before she returns...
she has an awful temper!' I had absolutely no arguement with that sentiment
and hurried to the car.
 
The man just stood there in the driveway and raised his hand in a little
wave and kept repeating [with tears on his face]..  'I'm sorry little guy,
I'm so very sorry..  your in good hands now, I'm so sorry....'
 
Setting a new record for getting back to the main highway, we set off for
the animal hospital I remembered passing on the way in.  Jumping out of the
jeepling, grabbing the carrier, and barging into the waiting area..  I
blurted out to the lady behind the counter..  'I have a badly injured ferret
here and need a vet... fast!' A head popped out of a door down the hallway
that said 'Ferret?' [then turning back to the examining room told the
occupants in a hurried voice...' Another Veterinarian will be right with
you..' and bolted down the hall to help me take the carrier into the
examining room on the other side of the hall.  I was greeted with a face
with big smiling eyes and the opening coomment..'Where is the little
one?..What happened?'  Not I'm Doctor So_and_So ... or anything else..  just
eyes riveted to that carrier and 100% concern written all over him..
 
as he washed his hands he got an abbreviated version of the events leading
up to our arrival at his office.
 
Moving very slowly he opened the carrier door and began to reach inside..
 
the fuzzy had warmed up a little and that had woke him up and he began to
scream in pain and panic and try to get as far away from those hands as
possible..  That vet snatched his hands out of there so fast it was a blur..
but the screaming just kept going on and on... the slightest movement was
extremely painful by this time so the only alternateve was to cut the top
off the darn thing.  [oh well... cable ties work just as well]
 
As the last latch came free and the top was lifted off the fuzzy looked
around, laid his head down, and closed his eyes as if to say..  'I give
up... please just get it over with so I don't hurt anymore.' I couldn't see
for the tears and I think the vet was in about the same shape..  we gently
lifted him, warming pad, blankie and all, onto a well padded table and the
vet slowly and gently got to work..
 
Two hours, and many many tests and shots later, we knew what we were
facing..  His joints were terribly swollen and his entire right side was one
solid bruise.  His internal organs [liver, kidneys, bladder, intenstines
etc.] were also bruised..  But by some incredible stroke of luck there were
no bones broken.  He was hydrated with Ringers and managed to keep some warm
'woozle goo' down... three whole cc's... The vet and I agreed that if he
made it through the night he had a chance, a slim one, but a chance.
 
After the journey back home, driving slow and easy, and stopping often to
warm the heating pad in the microwaves of couple of restaurants along the
way and get a little sip of water into him, he and I settled into the
rocking chair for the night.
 
One sip of water and one bite of food at a time he struggled through that
long night.  And as the sun came up the next morning he looked up at me and
I'd swear he smiled...
 
The look in his eyes had changed..  and he seemed say..
 
               'Nobody hates me
                Somebody Loves Me
                I think I want to Stay!'
 
He is much better today..  He can stand alone to use the litter box, he is
eating pretty good amounts of food, and drinking by himself.  He watches the
other fuzzys all out playing and touches noses with them often..  This
little boy is on the Mend!!!
 
[and you know?... the vet couldn't have made one thin dime in all that work!
the bill was so low!]
 
I refuse to use his old name as it might be linked to some very bad
memories... so this wonderful Holiday Season I thought I'd ask your help in
choosing a new name for him... What do you say????
 
dayna and the woozles of the MMOMM rescue/shelter
 
[ps: If you ever wondered why shelter Moms and Dads are perfectly content
having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their Holiday dinners, they
have the best little furry happy reasons anyone could ask for.]
[Posted in FML issue 2150]