For those ferret-lovers who have ferret math hitting - hard - but whose
pocketbooks just can't sustain the costs of bringing another fuzzy into
their home, yet they have more love to give...
 
Have you considered fostering?
 
Many shelters, rescues, and ferret groups offer fostering as an option.
 
What's Fostering?
Fostering is opening up your home to a homeless ferret in need of a place
to go until their permanent home is found.  Sometimes fostering is just
on a temporary basis, because a shelter can't take any more, but a ferret
is in need of a home.  There are also longer-term and even permanent
fostering options, for ferrets who are older and unlikely to be adopted,
or who have medical conditions requiring more love and extra care.  Some
ferrets have behavior issues: problems with litter-training, aggression,
biting issues, or are just meeting other ferrets for the first time and
need a chance to get used to them in a home situation.
 
Why Foster?
Fostering is a chance to give more ferrets the love and care they deserve
without taking on the full financial responsibility of the ferrets.  In
most fostering cases, the shelter, rescue, or group continues to pay for
the ferret's medical care.  The foster family provides the shelter, food,
and love.  Don't even have a cage?  Most shelters and rescues have cages
that can be borrowed with fosters, or purchased for very cheap.
 
What if I Don't Want to Give Them Up?
When an adoptive family comes along, a foster family usually has the right
to opt to adopt the ferret themselves if they would like to keep it.  If a
foster family is interested in only long-term ferrets, they can choose to
foster the ferrets that will be "permanent fosters".
 
If you think you'd like to be a foster family for some needy homeless
ferrets, please contact your local shelter or rescue!  There are many
ferrets waiting to live in homes with families and other ferrets and get
the kind of attention they can't always get when they are one of many
shelter ferrets.  It's also a way to ease the numbers in the shelters, and
when you foster a ferret, it opens up a placement in the shelter so that
when a very sick, malnourished, or injured ferret comes along, there is
room in the shelter for them to be rescued and nursed back to health!
 
If you're in New England, NEFFER has a Foster Network of loving homes for
abandoned ferrets!  See us at www.neferrets.org, or drop us an e-mail at
[log in to unmask]
 
Foster a ferret today!
 
Sincerely,
 
Heather Wojtowicz
Permenently fostered by Dante, Nikki, Dusty, Beanie, Boomer, and Rocky
[Posted in FML issue 3706]