Dear all,
 
A week ago my beautiful DEW Whitey, died of what we believe to have been
DIM, or the 'Mystery Disease'.
 
Before Whitey crossed the bridge, I added a gorgeous male cinnamon kit
to our group of four in the belief it would make my sons loss of Whitey,
(should it have come to that) easier.  Who was I kidding??  It was for
me.  We named him Nibbles.
 
After Whitey died, I went to Petco to pick up some kibble and saw a
teeny, tiny albino kit all alone in the glass enclosure.  Always the one
for the underdog, I brought her home with me.  Better she have a home and
love with me, then be ignored or worse yet, bought by some person who
didn't understand her needs.  We have yet to name her, but have already
rejected the usual Casper, Snow Flake, etc.  I'm leaning towards Little
Bit in honor of the one DIM survivor I know of and her owner who was so
kind to me while I agonized over Whitey.
 
Now the silver lining: I had NEVER known of the plight of the abandoned
and abused ferrets until I began scouring the net for help on Whiteys
condition.  As most stupid humans do, I assumed that the ferrets bought
from Petco and similar stores were loved and cared for, as mine were.  I
learned the awful truth in each rescue page I visited.
 
This prompted me to log into my local dog pound web page and lo and
behold, they had two ferrets that had been turned in to them.  I
immediately visited them to discover that of the two, only one who had a
cough, remained.  Someone had scooped up the 'healthy' ferret and cage
mate of the cougher, leaving him alone and depressed.  He's a Marshall
Farm ferret, (of course) and approximately 3-4 years old.
 
I brought him home today.  He had been on amoxicillan and Baytril for 2
weeks, with no change to his cough.  He sounds bronchial, but has no
other symptoms and the cough is really infrequent.  We've named him
Rocky, he had a rocky beginning, but now he's found a forever home and
forever love.  The miscreant who owned him before moved out of their
apartment here in Cranston, and left him and his long term cage mate
behind, alone!  The landlord, being a decent person, brought them both
to the shelter.
 
Rocky apparently was never out of his cage and never played with.  He
didn't understand the tubes that connect all levels of my ferret condo,
or the numerous toys littering the floor of the ferret room AKA my sons
bedroom!  He's not skittish or shy, but he's very laid back and docile.
My 9 month old fert Sparky has adopted him as his best pal and has been
showing him the ropes all day, even deserting the comfy sleeping cube to
nestle with Rocky in a towel.
 
People, I don't want emails saying 'good job' or anything like that.  I
just wanted everyone to know that because of these mailing lists and
groups, that I've been 'shown the light' as it were.  If not for these
lists and groups, I would have remained forever ignorant.  If not for the
people on these lists and groups, I wouldn't have opened my heart to any
more ferrets after Whitey.  As much as I will always cherish Whiteys
memory, all that love I had for him can be given to others who need it
and I want to thank all of you!
 
Leslie...
and ferts Shelby, Saide, Sparky, Nibbles, The No Name Fert and Rocky.
The wanna be Labs Mickey & Buddy and Smokey (I am so above all of this)
the cat.
[Posted in FML issue 4710]