With another year drawing to a close I thought I would take a moment to
fill everyone in on what the Alberta Ferret Society has been up to in
the last year. I'm not able to post to the FML on a regular basis as I
have so little free time but here are a few of the Shelters highlights
for 2006.

We took in just shy of 90 ferrets in 2006. This month (December) has
been a busy month for surrenders so we may even go over that. We
received a surprising number of young ferrets (under 1 year) this year.
In past years we rarely saw a ferret under the age of two but this year
lots of youngsters were being surrendered.

Right now we have 73 ferrets in foster care and about 12 of those
are pending adoption. The AFS does not finalize adoptions over the
Christmas Season so these little ones will be enjoying Christmas with
their foster families before packing their bags to head off to their
new homes.

Of the 73 ferrets we have in foster care - 12 are age 5 or over, 33 are
between 2 & 4 years of age and 28 are under the age of 2. We've shed
many tears of happiness and of sorrow this year. Each ferret that comes
in is precious in its own way and every one come with a story. Here a
just a few:

The Barn Boys (Nemo & Hogan) - when you live in Alberta and its winter
and person on the other end of the phone is asking you "how cold is too
cold for a ferret" you tend to panic. Temperatures here can easily dip
down to 20 below zero or colder and it can last for days or weeks.
Once we determined that the caller wanted to surrender the ferrets we
immediately headed out. During the 2 hour trip our imaginations run
wild. "What are we going to find"? The visions are not good! When we
actually arrive we are handed two super fluffy young ferrets who
despite being kept in a cage in the barn along side piles of hay and
a multitude of kittens, are just as happy and healthy as can be. They
have adapted well to living indoors and as ferrets tend to do they wove
their magic and stole the heart of their foster mom who will soon be
adopted them.

Jack was dumped off at the Humane Society at the age of nine. When they
called us to come and get him we were told that he was very thin and
they did not think he would survive. After a trip to the vet we were
shocked to find out that Jack's teeth were so rotten and so infected
that many of them were only hanging on by a thread. The vet said he
must be in terrible pain and he was obviously unable to eat properly.
Today although Jack has various other health issues that we are dealing
with he is doing just great. After surgery to remove the bad teeth and
clean out the infection he may not have many teeth left but he has no
problem eating his AD and softened Innova EVO ferret food. His foster
family pampers and spoils him and he's loving every minute.

Murphy's story does not have a happy ending I'm afraid. Murphy was
found wandering on a hiking trail outside the city. We suspect he'd
been out there for some time and he was not in great shape when he
arrived. He was extremely thin, had sores on his feet and what little
hair he had left was bright orange. Estimated at about 5-6 years of age
an enlarged heart and advanced adrenal disease were only two of the
multitude of things that Murphy was diagnosed with. He was started on a
number of drugs including Lupron and Melatonin and for three months he
did just awesome. His hair grew back, the orange colour started to fade
and he thrived in his foster home. But just when we were starting to
contemplate surgery his prostrate completely blocked up. After several
days of emergency care at the vets we were advised to let him go.
Murphy took a very large piece of his foster mom and dads hearts with
him to the Rainbow Bridge.

Maggie & Weazy were two more of the heartbreaking losses we had this
year. Maggie got into a bit of trouble at her foster moms and somehow
managed to puncture one of her eyes (we suspect it was in a tangle with
the resident cat). The vets said the eye would have to be removed and
surgery was scheduled. Although it went well Maggie went into cardiac
arrest during recovery and could not be revived. Her loss was such a
huge shock to all of us. She was only three years old and this was not
supposed to happen. When Weasy arrived it was apparent that something
was very wrong with her. She was scheduled for exploratory surgery
after a large mass was palpitated in her abdomen. During the
exploratory the vet called to say that Weasy was full of tumors and
advised that we not wake her up. It was with deep sadness that we
said goodbye to her.

Those are just a few of the fur kids that touched our hearts this year
but every one of them is special to us. We felt honoured to have been
given the chance to help make a difference in their lives

In addition to accepting surrenders and helping to place them into
foster care AFS volunteers responded to more than 1000 calls on the
Hotline and hundreds of emails sent via our web site in 2006. They
filled out pre-screens, did in-homes for people wanting to adopt and
participated in weekly info tables at pet stores. Their dedication also
made it possible for the AFS to participate in two Pet Expo's, two full
weekends at Spruce Meadows (a world renowned Show Jumping facility) and
to plan and put on Alberta's first ever Ferret Veterinary Conference.
Fundraising was another area where our volunteers excelled this year.
Chocolate sales, raffle sales, Fun Runs, 50/50 ticket sales, donations
and most recently four full weekends spent doing Santa Photo's at
Petsmart.

Volunteers are the heart and soul of the AFS and they are worth their
weight in gold! To each and every one of them I thank you from the
bottom of my heart and I wish for you all to have a Christmas filled
with the same Joy and Love that you gave so freely throughout the year.

To our extended FML family I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and
I thank you for the love and support that you have shown to the many
shelters and ferret owners on the list.

Barb
Alberta Ferret Society
http://www.albertaferretsociety.com

[Posted in FML 5463]