Hi all.
 
Well, regarding the little guy who needed a new home here in ABQ - cause
his hoomans were moving to Indiana.  I had them bring "Porkchop" over to
the house - and things went really well.  His owner, James - told me that
he was up to date on his shots, and that he was in good health, etc.  We
talked for a while - and watched to see if the kids all got along.  And
they did.  We decided we would give it a "go" and were prepared to either
foster, til perm home became available or perhaps just keep him.
 
Right before James left - my hubbie noticed that when he was walking that
he walked rather slow, choppy - and kinda "warbled" around - ever so
slightly.  He thought it seemed as if Porkie was in pain, though I didn't
see evidence of that.  He questioned James, and asked if Porkie had ever
been hurt, etc.....and he said that as far as he knew - there had never
been any accidents at all and no health issues either.  So we let it
slide.  Well, after about an hour or so - James packs up and leaves -
and Porkchop stayed.  It was about 10 a.m. the next morning that I
discovered a few oddities.  Sunday is bath day for my kids - (once a
month or longer in between).  so I piled them all in the tub - and began
the wonderful fun of bathing 5 fuzzies.  Now my older kids know - that
if they sit and wait - it will be overwith soon.  Vin Dweezil, Zeus and
Porkchop however, were a different story.  Vinnie was bouncing straight
up and down like a bouncy ball- Zeus was trying to launch himself off of
Vinnies head and Pork chop was going to be the "backpack" of Zeus.  I am
sure ya'll get the picture here.  Now - when I took them all out to dry -
that is when I noticed some not so good lookin things going on.
 
**For the faint of heart - I must warn you that I am going to refer to
the anatomy of a male ferret, squeamish folks, scroll on by**.  I noticed
that PorkChop's "bellybutton" (sorry - I couldn't resist) was swollen and
purple on the tip.  It looked pretty ominous to me.  Worse, when drying
and inspecting further - he appears to be adrenal too.  He was losing
alot of fur towards his tail there, and the tops of his little feetsies
were going bald too.  His fur was "scraggly", like Rickie's is - and to
us, those were some pretty bad signs, of bad health.  Upon "paliptation"
of his tummy - I felt some things there, that shouldn't be there.  We
again, contacted the owners to inquire as to what his vet records said,
what if any accidents he may or may not have been in, and if they knew of
any health issues....he wasn't there, but his wife told me (contradicting
everything HE said to me) that they NEVER had taken him to a vet.  He
never had any vaccinations, visits - nothing.  They had not noticed
anything wrong with his "belly button" at all.  Well, I kinda find that
hard to believe, because the end of his "bellybutton's the size of a
full grown pea (the veggie), and it was a deep purple.  In a way, I was
kinda bummed that the guy lied to me, but I could be wrong - maybe he
really DIDN'T know.  Though you would have to be blind and stupid not to
have seen this "oddity there.  Specially since he said the ferret sits
with them , lays with em - sleeps with em - ALL the time.
 
So here I sit - majorally bummed - knowing I have to request they take
him back.  It would not be fair at all to Pork Chop to not only be
devastatingly sick - but it would be WORSE to be that sick - with
strangers.
 
Long story short - I called them again and told them that I didn't
have the kind of money that would be needed to bring him in for the
testing/treatment/vaccinations, and more than likely chemo and surgery.
I felt horrible doing that - but I had made it clear to James, prior to
him even bringing PC over, that we were only financially able to "short
term foster", *healthy* ferts at this time .  It really hurt having to
call them and ask them to come and take him back - but we just can't do
it - with still trying to catch up to Helena's old med bills, etc.  They
seemed to care - and I am hopeful that they will do the right thing and
get him to a vet pronto.  They promised they would.  We shall see.  I'll
keep you all posted.
 
Feeling Like A Schmuck In AbQ - Kim and Her Army of Idiots
 
Unfortunately we don't have the money to be able to medically assist this
kid, so we requested that they pick him back up.  We called his owners
back and asked them if they had ever seen any oddities down there, and
they said NO.
 
Lord, help me to be grateful for what I have, and not greedy for what I
want.....
[Posted in FML issue 5251]