Hello Everyone,
 
I was hoping to make this intro with the announcement of my new fuzzy to
our home, but unfortunately that is not going to happen.  I guess then I am
writing because all of you will understand my sadness and loss.  I work at
a Humane Society, and was given a sweet little two year old silver mitt MF
male because he had been found wandering in someone's back yard.  He was
not in too bad a shape physically, but had obviously never been loved on
and didn't know how to handle someone paying attention to him.
 
Because he was a stray, he was set up with a cage at my work to see if
someone would come forward to claim him.  As no one did by the end of his
seven day waiting period, I started making plans to take him home with me.
The little bugger had of course already stolen my heart. :o)  I spent
large amounts of time with him before and after work, playing with him and
teaching him that cuddling was a good thing.  At home I read news groups,
subscribed to this mailing list, and read everything I could get my hands
on about ferrets, FerretCentral should give me frequent reader miles. :o)
Though I have known other ferrets personally, this would have been the
first one I actually owned, and I wanted to be prepared.
 
The biggest preparation I had though, was to write a letter to the office
of military housing since we currently live on base.  Ferrets are
considered by the military, or at least this area, to be exotic pets, along
with snakes, large lizards, and as they put it; anything else that is not
normally kept as pets.  (Yeah, Right.)  I already have two cats in
residence, but was told by a number of people, including a base vet tech,
that ferrets pass pretty easily.  Of course this was also before the change
of command here.  Now it seems that rather than going by the two dog or cat
limit of the surrounding town, the base now considers the limit to be ALL
pets.  They turned me down flat, even after two separate submittals.  The
second time I got a personal reply from a Colonel, who shall remain
un-named, that included excuses such as "ferrets might urinate on
carpeting", (base housing has no carpeting installed by the base itself.)
"they might chew on things" (can you say sup-er-vis-ion and
fer-ret-proof-ing?) and that he considers the ferret as a dog or cat since
they are let outside of a cage for even supervised play time.  He even sent
me a copy of a newspaper article pertaining to the surrounding town's
decision to keep the animal limit to two, though this does not have
anything to do with caged animals, and you could own three hundred birds,
hamsters, rats, etc... ferrets are considered to be in this classification,
at least in the town's eyes.  This also greatly offended me because of the
fact that I do work at the same Humane Society that services the town as
well as the base, and I probably know the animal statutes better that he
ever thought about.  Anyway, to make a long story a little longer, Fidget,
as I had dubbed my little love, has been banned from our home for as long
as I still own my two cats or we remain in base housing.  :o( And, since I
could not get rid of either Buster or Gabby (my beloved feline kids), and
we have bills to pay (caused of course by the military moving us three
times in the last five years.) before we can find civilian housing, that
seems like it is going to be a very, very long time, at least in ferret
years.
 
Friends of the shelter have taken in Fidget.  They are the kind of people
who adopted the dogs from us that are old and will never find a home, and
buy truckloads of twinkies as treats for their horses because that is what
sends the horses into fits of ecstasy.  They knew absolutely nothing about
ferrets before Fidge, but I am teaching them, and available any time they
want to call.  They also said that if I was ever in a position to take him,
they would bring him back.  Possibly because they own a Macaw and a couple
of Cockatoos and were afraid Fidget might try to eat them, but the offer
was a comfort to me. :o)  Still I worry... will we be able get the bills
paid off before the end of Fidget's years?  What happens if he develops
Adrenal disease, or Insulinoma, will they recognize it as a problem and/or
want to treat it?  I love the little fuzz butt so very much, and there is a
huge empty space in my heart that I am unable to fill.
 
I guess for now I will keep working hard at making us credit cardless, as
well as keep myself up to date on ferret matters with the help of FML -
though each issue makes me sad that Fidget cannot be here.  Please keep him
in your thoughts and prayers, as I have done and will continue to do with
each and every little one that has been lost to the wide world or the
Rainbow Bridge.  Also, thanks for listening... just knowing there are
people here who feel the same way about the fuzzies helps.
 
Love and Dooks to All,
Loree (Now to be Fidget's GodMom)
[Posted in FML issue 2599]