Dear FML,
I no longer subscribe so I just wanted to send this on.  I guess if you
want to write mean things to me you will.  Those who remember me, know me,
know that I love/d my ferrets very much, and that I'm just trying to do my
best one day at a time.
 
I just wanted to catch you up on what's going on, or not going on here.
I had to give away my seven ferrets last summer.  You may remember my
predicament.  I was planning a career change (from apartment management-at
home with ferrets to law enforcement, gone a lot) and moving to a place
where ferrets would not be allowed by the homeowners association.  You and
several other people from the FML were helping me try to find good homes
for the ferrets.
 
Of the seven ferrets I had two were pet store purchases (Thelma and
Laweasel), one was purchased from a local breeder (Attica), one was a
rescue (Beetle), one was a shelter adoptee (Samurai), and two were foster
ferrets (Ziggy and Totiana).  Attica was suffering from chronic diarreah.
I'd tried pepto bismol and it helped for awhile, but he was losing weight.
Laura, the shelter operator offered to place him with a vetrinarian who'd
recently moved here from Illinois, and was not yet licensed to practice in
this state.  I could not afford to take Attica to the vet, so with this
vet, he'd presumably get care.
 
When I brought Attica to Laura to get him to the person who'd offered to
take care of him Laura and I got into a bit of a disagreement.  I said that
with my lack of resources it might be more humane to just have my sick
ferrets euthanized.  Laura was very angry with me about this, and she
insisted that I was wrong about that.  I guess euthanization was a subject
that she and I did not agree on.  I appreciate all that she does for
ferrets, but that is all she does.  She manages to scrape up money for
surgeries, and devotes all her time to nursing the sick shelter ferrets,
even if it is extreme measures, and some of the ferrets that she nurses are
terminal.  That is her choice, and I do not say it is wrong for her, it
just isn't practical for me.  That is the reason I brought Attica to her.
I could not afford veterinary care, whatever he had probably was not
terminal, and could be treated.
 
Samurai started out as a foster ferret.  Laura asked me to give him a
foster home.  I already had four ferrets at that time.  I took Samurai in
because he was a lone ferret, he didn't like other ferrets, and needed a
separate run time.  Laura said he wasn't getting enough run time at the
shelter.  I had him a few months, and was so sad when Laura took him back
to the shelter because someone wanted to adopt a single ferret.  I missed
him, but knew it was best if he found a permanent home.  Laura called me a
couple weeks later and said Samurai had not been chosen, and now he was
depressed, he missed me.  So, I adopted him.
 
For a little over a year he was my constant companion.  Then he got sick.
Samurai had been suffering from blood sugar problems, presumably related to
pancreas tumors.  He had all the symptoms (mild seizures, low blood sugar)
so the vet prescribed prednisone, which I was giving to him.  I couldn't
afford more expensive care, and the pred did not seem to be working as well
as it had.
 
Eventually Laura asked me to take more foster ferrets.  A ferret couple
Ziggy and Totiana.  Ziggy was a sweet old guy around seven years old, and
his little girlfriend Totiana was young, only three.  Laura asked me to
take them on long term foster care because Ziggy was so old, and Totiana
should make friends with other ferrets.  She considered them un-adoptable
because of the age-gap.  Shortly after they came here Ziggy lost his coat,
presumably adrenal.  We began treating him with lysodren.  His coat grew
back, and he remained on lysodren.  He was so big and healthy and happy.
 
Last summer I became overwhelmed by the number of ferrets I was caring for.
I knew that I would be making a career change in the near future, and was
planning to move in with my boyfriend who'd just bought a town home in a
place where the association would not allow ferrets.  I posted to the FML
about this matter, and that's when you and I began trying to find good
homes for the ferrets.  Laura offered to place Attica with the vet and I
brought him to her shelter.  That is the last I heard of Attica.  She does
not return my calls, my e-mail.  I have no idea what happened to him.  I
finally wrote a very mean e-mail to her and used some rather foul language.
Just because she and I do not see eye to eye about the euthanization issue,
does not mean I do not deserve to know what happened to Attica.
 
My boyfriend dumped me, and the job that I thought I was going to be
getting never materialized.  I wrote to the people who picked up the
ferrets and asked if I could have Thelma, Laweasel and Beetle back.  They
did not reply to my e-mail either.  I finally wrote them a mean e-mail too.
They wrote back that there had been a very tragic accident involving one of
their family and they were very busy.  That, they told me was the reason
they had not written back.  How was I to know?  All I knew was that neither
they, nor Laura would respond to me.  All I know now is that I feel as if
ferret people have judged me, I feel as if these self-proclaimed ferret
protective services have deemed me unworthy.  This, after I took in three
shelter ferrets for years, donated my own food, litter, and often paid for
medications for the shelter ferret (Ziggy) out of my own pocket.  I made
two trips to Arkansas to move ferrets from the shelter here, to a shelter
there (last winter) and did all that I could to help out in addition to
those things.
 
I have no idea how Ziggy and Totiana are doing, I have no idea what became
of Samurai, or Attica.  Laura (the shelter operator, and Jeff and Jeanie
who picked up all the ferrets will not return my calls, or reply to my
e-mail).  Once in a while Jeff and Jeanie let me know that Thelma, Laweasel
and Beetle are doing fine.  Ziggy, Attica and Samurai were all in need of
expensive vet care.  I could not afford the surgeries, medications etc.
that they needed.  I would have paid for their care if I could.  Since I
did not have that kind of money it is good that they went to places where
(I am told) they would get care.  If the shelter had not been able to help
with them I would have had no choice but to do the humane thing and have
them euthanized when their illnesses got to the point where extending their
lives was inhumane.
 
Laweasel, Thelma, and Beetle were my original ferrets.  If I had never
tangled with the shelter I never would have ended up with the other four
ferrets.  I loved all the ferrets, but seven was too many.  I was planning
a career change, and there was no way I could have taken care of all those
ferrets, and my kids etc.  Even now, I may be starting a new career, and
could not take care of that many ferrets.  I would like to have Thelma,
Laweasel and Beetle back.  Since my boyfriend dumped me I will not be
moving in with him
 
After my post to the FML the people who picked up the ferrets (I knew them
from the F.R.O.L.I.C. ferret club) called me, and within a half hour they
came over and picked up all the ferrets.  At the time I felt that their
insistance to come "right away" seemed a little odd.  But I knew them, knew
they love ferrets, and would be good to my ferrets.  They are the people
who would not reply when I tried to write to see if Thelma, Laweasl, and
Beetle could come home, because there was a tragic accident and they'd been
busy.  They have told me more than once that they are trying to find a home
for these three, and I wonder why then, they will not let me have them
back.
 
Thanks for reading this long e-mail.
 
Dawn
[Posted in FML issue 2869]