BIG, please excuse the length of this post, but since I so rarely write to
the FML, I should get an extra inch or so:-) [It's just fine. BIG]
I've had ferrets just 6.5 years now, but can't say that I knew anything
about them until I got on the Internet. I'm blessed to live in the metro
Washington, DC, area where I've been a client of both Pamela Slack and
Charles Weiss. I'm also very lucky that Faith Hood lets me come to her
shelter now and then to clean ears and clip nails and ask questions.
Volunteering at a shelter is the most rewarding thing any ferret owner
could ever do. It never ceases to amaze me that these ferrets with
checkered pasts are so accepting and affectionate towards people. Each of
my ferrets has been a turn-in or rescue, and they have all been perfect.
Please add a shelter ferret to your home this year.
Some of you already know that I'm also the managing editor of The American
Ferret Report, official publication of The American Ferret Association.
I've been volunteering for the AFR for just over 1.5 years now, and I
think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I'm forever grateful to the
many people who have sent their stories and pictures to the AFR and to the
veterinarians who have for no compensation written and reviewed medical
articles. The AFR has also developed a small but growing permanent staff
of contributors, and the dedication of these people is truly amazing. If
you want to help ferrets and can't volunteer at or adopt a ferret from a
shelter, publish your positive experiences with ferrets in any publication
you can find. The more people know about ferrets, the better care ferrets
will have.
Anyone who knows me has already heard an earful about my ferrets, but I'll
put upon the rest of you now too.
Azrael was my first, and he passed away almost 2 years ago (after two
surgeries and lysodren) with adrenal disease. Azrael had belonged to a
friend of mine in college and when my friend was no longer able to take
care of him, I said I wanted him. My friend drove from Nebraska to
Virginia on 4th of July weekend in 1993 to deliver this 8-month-old wonder
to my door. I knew less than nothing about ferrets and raised Azrael like
something between a guinea pig and a dog. He didn't get any shots, ate
Friskies from the pink box, and ran loose in the car. The first 6 months I
had to sleep wrapped in a cocoon of blankets because he wanted to play with
my toes at night. Eventually, I learned a bit, but I must say he lived
large that first year, and I simply cannot believe that he didn't die in
the dryer or escape into the yard. I did not deserve that fabulous,
intelligent animal, but he seemed to love me in his own ferrety way and
groomed my feet every night in bed until he lost his spark. To this day,
memories of Azrael curled against the instep of my foot help me fall
asleep.
George was a rescue from an animal shelter that shall remained unnamed
because I acquired George under less than honest circumstances (those of
you on the FML in 1996 might remember George's story). This particular
animal shelter does not adopt ferrets that are found but will return them
only to their owners. George was slated to be put to sleep when I got the
word, so posing as his owner, I picked up this little whippersnapper using
the vaccination records of my nearly 4-year-old ferret as proof of
ownership. I intended to find George a good home, and I did...he lives
with me. Azrael hated all other animals, so George and Azrael spent
alternating days in the cage (which I had to buy after curious George's
arrival) and had separate playtimes for just over a year. George just had
a bilateral adrenalectomy two weeks ago and has recovered fabulously. He's
a charmer, sleeps on my lap when I'm working on the AFR, and never misses a
snack.
A few months after Azrael's death, George and I went to visit my family
in Ohio where I acquired poor Buddy from a pet store. Buddy had been
starved, abused, and dumped at this store and had obvious adrenal disease.
Initially, I placed Buddy in the Baltimore Ferret Shelter, but I went back
for him. I don't think Buddy had ever known love, but he couldn't get
enough attention. Buddy was not woken up from his adrenal surgery because
he had advanced liver and intestinal cancer. I lost him just a few weeks
after he came to live with me when I thought he had a good life still ahead
of him.
After Buddy died, George was acting very depressed (he and Buddy had become
cautious friends), so I thought about buying a kit from a breeder. I
didn't want any more endocrine diseases for awhile! I had picked out a
nice silver mitt but had reservations about this active bundle overwhelming
my timid George when another breeder contacted me about a nice little
Marshall's jill that had been left at her place and was looking for a new
home without so many ferrets. Another 4th of July ferret, baby Grace
entered my house and just a few hours later I put my back out. She spent
her first week sleeping next to me on the living room floor and doing her
business where ever. That has now stopped, and she is the world's most
perfect, affectionate ferret. She even loves George, who wants to wrestle
and chase when she would rather be playing princess and the pea on my bed.
Gracie sleeps with me nearly every night and grooms herself on the bathroom
rug while I'm drying my hair in the morning.
Please open your home to a ferret who needs you. Soon you'll find that it
was you who needed him.
Lori Barber
[Posted in FML issue 2902]
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