Several people have written me inquiring about Chase, the ferret
mentioned in the Dave Berlowitz/Cherokee Ferret Shelter post. One thing
I forgot to mention was that she was in the Cherokee Ferret Shelter for
over a year without any medical treatment. As you will be able to see
from her pictures, clearly she was adrenal.
Dave was very reluctant to give Chase up, along with her 2 brothers
Casper and Mocha. He stated they were his *personal* ferrets. As a
matter of fact, he claimed to run a shelter, but when it came down to
adopting, he was very reluctant to adopt any of the ferrets in his home,
even the ones that needed medical care. Dave stated that many of the
ferrets in his home were personals.
It took cash up front, and a lot of persuading in order to get Dave to
release Chase and her brothers from the shelter.
As I had said, Dave Berlowitz stated that 2 vets claimed she was not a
surgical candidate, and he had no plans of treating her. However after
speaking to one of the vets, the one that ended up performing the
surgery, she had never seen Chase before.
Here are a few more pictures right after she was rescued from the
Cherokee Shelter
[Moderator's note: None of the photobucket.com URLs work as I'm editing,
though it looks like a problem with the site -- I'd suggest trying again
later if they still don't work. BIG]
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114047.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114041.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114042.jpg
After she was rescued from the shelter, we had to hold off on surgery,
as she was battling a nasty urinary tract infection that needed to be
treated not once, but twice. She had the surgery approx. 3 weeks later
Feb 18th, 2004). Here she is after surgery when she arrived here in NY...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasesf2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasebx.jpg
She did well in surgery, and it was a tricky righty; also a malignancy.
It was really amazing to watch how fast her fur grew back after surgery,
and the change in behavior she had. I have thought about entering her
into the Ferrets edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, for the
fastest amount of time a ferret grows fur back after surgery *grin* She
literally had a brand new coat within 3 weeks!
Here are some pictures of her new fur growth (most recent ones are toward
the bottom). The first one was taken March 16th...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasejb.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase5704.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase9704sm.jpg
Her recovery was amazing.
Chase is a happy little girl, she loves ferretone, and will give kisses
only if she knows she is going to get some tone. She has a large stuffed
banana that is hers and hers only, if anyone tried to take this away from
her she gets a little bent out of shape. :) She is the sweetest little
girl.
She remains with her 2 brothers Casper and Mocha. Fortunately the 2
boys had no medical issues, but they did need to be put on a good diet,
and vaccinated (Dave never vaccinated any of his ferrets, personal or
otherwise). All 3 ferrets were also ADV tested right after being
rescued, and all 3 are negative.
We're posting Chase's story just so that people can get a feel of how
this shelter operated. Chase's story ended up as a happy one, however
there were many that did not have a happy endings.
Our goal now, is to spread the word on the Cherokee Ferret Shelter, in
hopes that in the future Dave Berlowitz will not be able to take any
more innocent animals into his home.
He had court on Friday (17th), for his first charges of neglect, and
failure to appea. He pled not guilty.
Dave's next court date is November 9th (corrected from the Oct 5th date
which is his arraignment) at the Omaha County Courthouse.
Thank you for inquiring about this shelter, and again if anyone has any
more questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
Nancy Propper
Director/Coordinator
Ferrets Across America
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferrets_Across_America/
[Posted in FML issue 4648]
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