I just spent yesterday driving all over Kansas adopting fuzzies (My
get-well presents!), and I have so say, I am impressed. I have dealt with
wildlife rehab centers, but, and now I'm embarrassed to admit this, never
ferret shelters (although I have always supported them).
 
From Ferret Hotline in KC and Bobbi, I adopted a small family of three
fuzzies, including 8-year-old Foster, 6-year-old Buddy, and 3-year-old
Razz (It was Spaz, but the SO said I was the only spaz in this family so
we changed it). Foster and Buddy are neutered males, and Razz is a
Marshall Farms descented and neutered female that was later declawed.
 
Then it was a quick sprint to Wamego KS to visit Ferret Family Services
and Troy Lynn (she really is a sprite!).  This is a place you never want
to take your shoes off (Naw, its not what you think...TLE has this thing
about cutting toenails...). At FFS I adopted Apollo, a dark Marshall Farms
sable missing his upper canines. Our fuzzies got to run with lots of new
friends, and it was great adventure rounding them all up. I was so
impressed, I wanted to move in. I settled on a promise to adopt a family of
four fuzzies.
 
Apollo (thanks largely to TLE's work) has already been assemilated into the
older group of five, and his favorite activity is wrestling Tori, our
5-month-old albino.  Of the KC3, as we have started calling them, they will
take a little longer....So far they have been kept separate from the others
due to disagreements obout dominance heirarchy.  However, they love their
new home if the type of "signposts" they are planting is any indication ;-).
Grandpa, as my son has nicknamed Foster, dooks like a kit, races down 12
feet of dryer tubing, then jumps my foot.  All three run through the house
like excited mink looking for mice.  I'm in love.
 
What impressed me the most was the extreme dedication exhibited towards
the little beasties at both shelters, which, and I'm going out on a limb
here, is probably typical of all "shelter humans."  These people are very
dedicated, and all deserve our support.  (Scraping sounds as soapbox is
deployed. Run for your lives!)
 
We ALL love the little beasties, or we wouldn't be reading this thang. We
can all help out in one way or another, with adoption or time or money or
goodies.  Maybe you can't adopt, but you CAN contribute money or supplies
to the local shelter.  Maybe you can offer ferret-sitting time, so the
people can go out to dinner or watch a movie (What a concept!). If all you
have are old t-shirts or towels, they can help! Perhaps you can offer some
help cleaning cages, or building ferret furniture, or triming toenails (no
need to offer toenail trimming to TLE!) All it takes is a phone call and a
little time and money on our part. I challenge all of you to make this
season a bright one for the fuzzies by sending a little something to the
shelters.  Better yet, personally take your goodies to the beasties, and
spend some time with them (and the human slaves).  BUT DO SOMETHING!
(Soapbox is now gone...)
 
RE: Mink drowning.  Mink are semi-aquatic, inhabiting wetland areas of all
kinds, such as swamps, ditches, rivers, streams.  etc.  They instinctively
will take to water, and are fantastic swimmers (as are ferrets, BTW).  The
problem was probably one of muscle tone; small cages do not make strong
muscles.  If the mink were additionally weakened from lack of food, the
combination of low energy reserves and poor muscle tone would be deadly.
This made me think about my own poopinators; they will start an *exercise
program* as soon as I can figure one out.  Any suggestions?
 
The list of nicknames is getting longer. I will make a master list soon,
so post or e-mail them to me pronto.  BTW, the SPECIAL CERTIFICATE is
even more special than I thought, thanks to photoshop and some extra time
on my hands recovering from surgery. Time is wasting; send them in...
 
Bob
Moose, Stella, Daye, Tori, Bear, Apollo, Foster, Buddy, and Razz.
Bob says, "More...I need more...now if I can get one directly into a vein..."
[Posted in FML issue 1384]