Dear Fellow Ferret Friends and Supporters,
Some of you may know Kristine Lunny, the shelter Mom at Friends of Fuzzies
in Bend, Oregon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kristine and
FOF, here is a little background.
Kristine started FOF about 5 years ago after much conjoling by her husband
let him have a fuzzy. Kristine immediately fell in love with this fuzzy
and than convinced her husband that she should start a full-time shelter.
Five-years later, Kristine continues to contribute a great deal of
information to the fuzzy community. Although she is not an active member
on the FML, she is the person behind the Secret Santa website for the
past two years. I was lucky enough to meet Kristine last November when I
adopted two kids from her shelter. Since than she has been an invaluable
source of information, from food supplementing in duck soup to ferret
diseases, surgery to shelter/home sanitizing. I really admire the ways
in which Kristine has continued to support FOF and the care she provides
to the shelter kids. She is a full-time shelter mom, open around the
clock for visits and/or telephone calls. She has an excellent working
relationship with her vet and she also raises 3 girls aging from 5-12,
and a husband.
For the past two years, Kristine has actively tested all fuzzies that are
taken in at FOF for ADV exposure using the Avecon POCT test. Sometimes
she has tested kids 2-3 times. She has had 100% negative results using
saliva. But just last week she lost her first kid out of adrenal surgery.
Timon bled out one day after surgery. With ADV actively on our minds
since the Symposium, Kristine immediately worried that ADV could be a
possibility and did a blood test using Avecon POCT - the result came back
positive. After that she began retesting all the fuzzies, personals
included and 27 shelter kids using blood samples. The results came back
both positive and negative. She has had conflicting results from both
saliva and blood, including redoing blood tests twice only to receive
positive and negative results. This has led us us to believe the Avecon
POCT test to be unreliable. After spending hundreds of dollars on the
Avecon tests, she is now going to send blood samples to United Vaccine to
see if the results are the same as with Avecon. We anticipate continuing
more tests after the UV results. Needless to say this had caused Friends
of Fuzzies a lot of headache, heartache, and now lots of money.
Kristine normally raises money on the adoption fees and being able to sell
food and supplies to local ferret owners. However, to be safe, she has
stopped all adoptions and selling of product until she is more certain of
FOF's ADV status. In other words, she has no income at this time. I am
very grateful to Kristine for the care she extends to the fuzzies while at
her shelter. Although this testing is causing her financial strain, she
continues to persevere to find the answer to FOF's ADV status. I feel
she is doing us all a service by finding out where the most accurate tests
can be obtained for future reference.
I know Kristine would never ask this herself, so I would like to ask all
of you, if at all possible, to make a donation towards her vet bill or to
FOF directly. I, in turn, will send you a genuine homemade sleepsack for
your donation. Donations can be sent to:
LaPaw Animal Hospital or Friends of Fuzzies
FBO: Friends of Fuzzies 2308 NE Ravenwood Drive
1288 SW Simpson Ave., #G, H Bend, OR 97701
Bend, OR 97702 541-383-2281
541-389-3902
or Paypal account: [log in to unmask]
Please include a note with your return address that you are making the
donation towards the ADV testing and I will send you a sleepsack ASAP.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email or on
the FML. Or you can contact Kristine directly at the number provided.
(Although she doesn't know I am posting this to the FML yet).
Thanks for your help! And fuzzyhugz to all the kids out there.
Friend to FOF,
Tanya G.
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 3706]
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