Of the 58 ferrets at our shelter, we just placed 10 in temporary foster
care to help with overflow while we wait for our numbers to go down.  In
addition to the 58, we have another 24 in permanent foster care age 6
and older who have insulinoma, lymphoma and/or other chronic illness
for which we are financially responsible.  One of them needs immediate
surgery to remove a lump under his penis before it causes a blockage (has
anyone encountered this before?).
 
Seven more of our shelter residents are old and sick and need foster
homes.  2 are awaiting adrenal surgery.  The greatest hardship this year
was losing our hospice shelter who took in our special needs/terminally
ill.  They are moving out of state.  We have only been in existence since
May of 2004, barely over a year and growing much faster than our funds.
When we opened our doors last year, we had one room dedicated to keep
rescue ferrets which quickly grew to encompass the entire house.  Within
3 months we had 30 ferrets, which doubled by this summer and I shudder to
even think about next year.  We desperately need more volunteers, foster
homes and supplies to keep up with our growing needs along with donations
to our 2 vets.  We pay at time of service therefore, without funds,
some treatments and surgeries must be postponed.  Our vets are listed on
SOS and the YOU CAN HELP page of our website.  We also have many young
beautiful ferrets (some even under a year) of all colors and great
temperaments needing forever homes.  We haven't had time to update
pictures on our website or on Petfinder and had to stop our
Adoption/Education Events at Petsmart and Petco because we are way over
limit and need more help.
 
If there is anyone in the Seattle Washington area who has time, room or
money, we need you.
 
Little Dudes Ferret Ranch
www.littledudesferretranch.com
[Posted in FML issue 4981]