I am in awe of you! Your love of ferrets leads you down paths that few
of us have traveled. You see sick ferrets, dying ferrets and abused
ferrets every day. You have scars on your hands from many bites and
scars on your hearts from many deaths. The rest of us love and care
for one or even several ferrets but you love and care for dozens....
sometimes hundreds! You must make difficult decisions and help a ferret
to the Rainbow Bridge that you have been able to love only for a day or
a month, knowing that your short time with them is the only time that
they have ever been loved after years of abuse. All of the ferrets in
your shelter are your "kids". You cry hundreds of tears in the years
that you care for your "kids". You send your "kids" off to live with
other people hoping that they will enjoy a life of love and not be
rejected. Sometimes you see them return to you and your heart is
broken. Every day you care for "kids" that will never leave you...
the "unadoptables". Because of illness or behavior problems that
were caused by other people, they will stay with you forever. You
are remarkable! If it wasn't for you, hundreds of ferrets would be
euthanized each year.....and hundreds of others would die after being
dumped in a park, or the woods or on a lonely road. You cry for the
ones you never find. While we all have vet bills, yours are enormous,
into the thousands every year. You rely on the generosity of others to
be able to feed, care and medicate the many ferrets that pass through
your shelter. Sometimes you pray. Sometimes you beg. You cry when a
ferret, patiently waiting for surgery, dies before the money is found.
Many of you work outside the home and when you get home tired, you
must clean cages and feed ferrets into the wee hours. You spend time
comforting a newly relinquished ferret that wonders where his people
are and when they are coming back to get him. Sometimes a ferret never
can accept their new shelter life and they die, with you wondering what
more you could have done to ease their broken heart. It breaks your
heart too but then a new day dawns and on that day, a ferret, who you
thought would surely die, starts to eat again, slowly recovers, then
dances for the first time in his life. You live for those moments. You
take care of ferrets that have never slept in a clean hammock and shed
tears of joy when those ferrets give you that first thank you kiss.
You laugh at a ferret that can't stop jumping and dooking after being
released from a cage where he has spent years, locked up, neglected.
You feel renewed and continue being a shelter mom as long as you can.
You are remarkable! I honor you on this Mother's Day! You are very
special Moms...all of you!
Nancy and 15 fuzzies who enjoyed being outside today in their outside
play area on the decking....whoopee...sand to dig in...water to snorkle
in....sunshine to sleep in!
[Posted in FML 6328]
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