Hello, I am Chompers.  I am a female Sable ferret from Pennsylvania.  My
story begins on 1/16/98 and being as I wasn't present for some of the story,
I will tell you what my Mommy told me.
 
On 1/16/98 a friend visited my mommy and daddy and was asking bout the 3
ferrets that owned them at the time.  This person then told mommy bout a
card he saw at the local vets office, for a free ferret to a good home.
Mommy called the vet to get the phone number.  Mommy called the number and
the woman told her that she had taken the ferret to the SPCA.  Well Mommy
called the SPCA and they said that they hadn't gotten a ferret in quite
awhile, Mommy then decided to call the Humane Society, she was cited because
they had gotten a ferret in.  This is where I come in, cause Mommy came to
see me.
 
I was sleeping and was rudely awaken so this person (mommy) could check me
out.  Well, I bit my mommy ... got her good too, she almost had me off her
finger and wasn't quick nough, so then i bit down harder.  I had to make
sure she wasn't going to get away.  (back to mommy's version) The people
there took her and doctored her up, and told her to get to the doctor and
get a tetanus shot (whatever that is).  Mommy says that all she could think
of was that they were going to do with me what they did to Kodo.  She had to
make sure I wasn't going to be killed before she left.  They told her that
they would quarantine me for 10 days and then have a vet look at me to make
sure I was ok.  They also told her that I would probably be put to sleep
because I was a biter.  Mommy wasn't happy about that and went home and
spoke to daddy about adopting me.  Daddy knows Mommy is a block head and had
to agree to adopt me.  So, Mommy called the Humane Society to make sure I
would still be adoptable.  They told her that I would be and to call back on
1/26/98 and check to see if I had seen the vet.
 
Well that brings us to 1/26/98.  Mommy got a phone call from the Humane
Society saying they called the vet's office for me and that the vet would
not give me a check up.  He told the Humane Society that I was supposed to
be treated like a rodent.  Well Mommy wasn't too pleased and told Lindee
(the woman from the Humane Society) that as of November of 97 we ferrets
were to be treated like dogs and cats, because she had seen it on the net.
Fortunately Lindee was very nice and told mommy she would keep me and asked
mommy if she could get the information for the Humane Society to take to the
vet.  Mommy was very thankful .... but knew she had a task on her hands
cause she couldn't remember what site she had seen the information on.
 
Mommy tried checking The All Things Ferrety Web Ring ... but only got more
frustrated cause she wasn't getting anywhere.  Well then she grabbed the
phone book and found an 800 number in the blue pages (the government & other
public services) for Commonwealth Information Center.  She asked them who
she was supposed to call to get information on animal rabies.  They directed
her to the PA Dept. of Health and gave her the phone number.
 
She called the PA Dept. of Health, and spoke to a gentleman and explained
the situation.  He thought I was already her ferret and asked her to have
the vet call them.  Then Mommy had to explain that I was a Humane Society
ferret and that she didn't know who the vet was.  He instructed her to give
the Humane Society the Dept. of Health's phone number and he would update
them.
 
Mommy called the Humane Society, but Lindee the lady she was to talk to was
out on a call.  Mommy left a message with the woman that answered the phone
and left the Dept. of Health's phone number.  This brings us to 1/27/98.
Mommy got a phone call from Lindee (lady from the Humane Society) saying
that Mommy could come and adopt me.  And that's what she did!!!
 
Mommy says that is really important that we all need to educate our local
health departments and shelters you can help to educate them by printing out
the Compendium from Http://www.avma.org/pughlth/rabcontb.html
and sending a copy to your local health departments, shelters, Emergency
rooms, and any vets not in the AVMA.
 
Mommy would like to add a special thanks to Sukie Crandall, Alicia a shelter
Mom, & Gina Hart/Sage Ferrets.  They were all a great help to her and
deserve a special thanks.  Oh and we can't forget Lindee, for being so
helpful.
 
Well that's about it!!
Chompers and Robin Bell
[Posted in FML issue 2206]