Those of you who have been on the FML a long time may remember my posting
about a year ago about a friend with two male ferrets in Shady Cove, OR that
were not getting the human interaction (or proper care) all ferrets are
entitled to (Ferret Burnout).  Well, a year has passed and I feel ashamed to
say I did nothing to intervene.  I just happened to be visiting from down
south for the first time in a year and noticed one of his fuzzies had a hard
time breathing.  Turns out he has a bad bacterial lymphatic/resperatory
infection from being in a cold damp garage.  Since his front nails had never
been trimmed, he tried to sctatch out his swollen tonscils and left them
looking like raw hamburger and was aspirating on his own blood.  It was only
my action that made him take the poor animal to the vet, instead of going
fishing.  The prognosis is poor.
 
The moral: all fuzzies deserve love and attention every day.  They don't go
back to a "wild" state, they just become anit-social towards humans (the
"killer ferret") arguement against legalization in CA and they get depressed.
If I leave Reno alone for over a day, he gets profoundly depressed (he is an
only ferret).  The same is true for these two up here.  If you see ferret
abuse or neglect, intervene and educate the owner.  A loved ferret will be
loving in return.  If that does not work report the abuse to the local humane
society.  I only wish I had done more sooner for Boomerang.
 
Not all ferrets are as lucky as Reno, but no ferret deserves the neglect that
Boomerang has suffered.  Give your fuzzies a hug each day and check them over
to make sure they are healthy.  They will love you for it.
[Posted in FML issue 1106]