I was a volunteer/foster mom for over a year for the WFRS and have a few
experiences of my own I would like to share.
 
I have had my fair share of foster ferrets and have had many different
issues with them all.  I have a passion for taking care of sick animals,
so all I took in were sick or elderly ferrets.  I am reading the posts
that defend Cathy Johnson-Delaney and writing about how kind hearted she
is.  I would like to respond to some things that a few people wrote about
this.
 
Terri wrote:
>Cathy is contributing to the shelter debt by refusing to treat any of
>the shelter ferrets for adrenal disease except with Lupron costing at
>least $600+ per month.
 
This is true to my knowledge.  Several months ago, the original founder
of the shelter (before she left) told me first hand that not only does
Cathy give Lupron as a first choice when she "suspects" adrenal, but that
WFRS also pays for Lupron for the study ferrets.
 
Terri wrote:
>She also has a "surgery suite" set up at the shelter yet her surgery
>schedule appears to mostly accommodate her study ferrets with a few
>shelter ferret checkups thrown in - time permitting.
 
I also know this to be true.  I remember when another volunteer had left
2 ferrets for Cathy to see because they were ill.  She had to leave for
a couple hours so she left the ferrets in a carrier in the kitchen and
made sure everyone who was there knew they needed to be seen.  When she
returned a few hours later (after the shelter had closed up and everyone
left) she found her babies in the same spot she left them and still had
NOT been seen by Cathy.  I can also think of 6 instances off hand
(probably more if I really thought about it) where I had a critically ill
ferret that needed to be seen.  I brought them in to be seen by Cathy,
upon the volunteers urgent request, and she was so busy with her study
ferrets that another volunteer had to look at them.  Cathy has NEVER seen
any of my fosters.  I had a ferret that needed medical attention and I
waited for over 2 hours and Cathy never saw him.  The Founder/Board
member explained to Cathy the symptoms and then came back and gave me
a bottle of Prednisone.  He died shortly after.  If you want more
information on those ferrets, feel free to email me.  A kind hearted vet?
 
Terri wrote:
>I have also witnessed some horrific verbal abuse.
 
I know of a very medically knowledgeable volunteer who assisted Cathy
with surgeries and other medical issues who will no longer come to the
shelter because of Cathy's verbal abuse.  I too have witnessed some awful
verbal abuse, and I was also a victim.  I came into the shelter with a
ferret who was throwing up maybe 4 times a week with no other symptoms
and a volunteer told me to bring her in to have a glucose test done.
Her glucose level was a 38 which is incredibly low, and Cathy happened to
be standing nearby and started to scream at me to syringe feed her.  I
couldn't get the mixture made fast enough and Cathy continued to scream
and say that I should never have let the ferret get that sick.  I started
to get teary eyed and the founder came to me and hugged me and told me
not to take it personal, and that I am a very good foster mom.  I am the
lady who is on disability that Terri spoke of earlier.
 
Leana wrote:
>I have seen no evidence of biased preference toward Cathy
>Johnson-Delaney....but if there were, what of that?  Shelters have
>preferred vets for a number of reasons!!!  I have never met Cathy,
 
You have been a volunteer for WFRS for 2 months...not long enough, in my
opinion, to have enough evidence to back anything up.  You say you have 2
fosters.  Which of those 2 are seriously ill?  If you had sick ferrets
that needed medical attention, you would see the same things I did.  Yes
shelters have preferred vets.  I have worked with a number of shelters.
But just because they have a preferred vet doesn't mean they won't see
someone else when their vet is unavailable.
 
Charlene wrote:
>Dr. Delaney never said in the beginning that she would provide vet care
>to our shelter ferrets.
 
That's not correct.  Dr. Delaney said she WOULD provide vet care in
return for more study ferrets (from the shelter of course) and a place to
keep her studies.  This was again told to me first hand by the original
Founder of the shelter.
 
Charlene wrote:
>In the past adrenal surgeries here in the Seattle, Washington area were
>costing over $1000.00, how many people have that kind of money for each
>ferret they have.  If the cost were lower I am sure more people would
>choose surgery over lupron.
 
I know that if I had to chose between surgery, which would cure the
problem, or a life long use of an experimental drug, I would definitely
chose the surgery.  Cathy has the knowledge and the know how to perform
adrenal surgery.  She could do the surgery, most likely cure the problem,
for free or low cost.  Low cost would still be cheaper than Lupron.
Wouldn't you rather have the problem cured instead of treated?
[Posted in FML issue 4385]