Hello All.

I will apologize but this post is going to be a book.

So, yesterday I got a call from Heartland Small Animal Rescue needing
help evaluating these kids. Since I am only two hours from where these
kids are being kept right now, I offered to take the day today and
drive over. In ways I was shocked at what I saw, but in other ways,
I was relieved to find that these kids are not as bad as I expected
them to be.

First off, I learned a little more about how these kids had been
living. We all know the Ferret Nation cage. It has two levels with the
option of adding a third. Well, ALL 16 kids were living in ONE Ferret
Nation two level cage with the optional third level attached by only a
single plastic tube.....OMG! Now that we know the cage that they were
in, add to that the filth that Jerri described in a previous post.

Well, I took the time to look at each ferret, feel them over (looking
for any abnormal things), clipped their nails, got weights and cleaned
ears. I saw remnants of the "maple syrup" Jerri described in their ears
and on their nails. Their ears were just gross. Their nails were super
long, dry and brittle. Quite a few have broken nails that are way too
short and one it seems his nail was ripped out completely.

Teeth are a whole other story. I didn't even try to brush teeth today.
Personally I felt what we did was enough stress for one day, but I did
look at their teeth. It looks like none of them have ever had their
teeth cared for. Quite a few of them have teeth that are more than
likely going to need to be pulled. What shocked me was how many of
them were missing the little front teeth.

Now, I know not much has been mentioned about Zoo taking some of these
kids, but I wanted to bring her up because she will be receiving four
of these kids that need quite a bit of medical attention. The first
little boy she is getting we named Panda. I think he is supposed to be
a dark brown ferret....but no clue what his pattern might be. Panda has
4 hairs on the tip of his tail, a bit of hair on the tops of his feet
and a little bit of hair on his head. Other that that, he is totally
bald. I took chicken soup with me today and offered him some, and he
couldn't get enough. He also couldn't get enough ferretone. It didn't
matter if the ferretone was on his belly or someone else's, it was all
his. Panda is full of life and only stopped to give us some kisses,
then he was off again.

The second boy that Zoo is getting is an albino boy. I forget what we
named him (coming up with 16 names, it's hard to remember them all in
just a few hours). This little boy has a naked tail and the rest of
his coat is quite thin. He is also covered head to toe in scratches.
Now, in the time I was there, I never saw this little boy itching or
any other ferret showing signs they might have caused these scratches.
This little boy was also full of life and played like he was a kit.

The third boy is a light brown sable, again, can't remember what we
named him. This little boy has a really gross cauliflower ear. I did
everything I could to get that ear clean and I swear the more I cleaned
it, the more ick showed up.

The last fur kid that is going to Zoo is a little girl. She is missing
about half her fur and has a slightly swollen vulva. There also seems
to be a tumor that is quite large on her underside near her rib cage.
This little girl is a beautiful silver.

Now the kids that Jerri is receiving I really can't post something
about all of them or this post would really turn into a book, but here
is a bit of what she will be expecting and a little about one guy that
just touched my heart.

Almost all of the kids have naked tails. Most of them I think this is
due to stress, but I am guessing there are at least three or four that
are adrenal kids. Quite a few are going to need to have teeth pulled
and all need to have their teeth cleaned. There were at least two that
were really under weight. None of these kids (the ones going to Zoo or
Jerri) are up to date on shots.

Now the one going to Jerri that just stood out and immediately touched
my heart was Arnold. Arnold is a light brown sable that has a HUGE
(size of a small rubber bouncy ball) tumor on the top of his head. This
tumor doesn't seem to bother him much as he let me play with it, nor
did he let it slow him down. Arnold was the ornery one. He spent his
time out of the cage causing chaos. He had to climb everything and
everyone. He also was very persistent on finding that mystery ferret
treasure up everyone's pant legs. He was not the least bit happy about
being put back in his cage and made sure that we all knew that. Jerri
better have some really good escape proof cages, because if there is a
way out, I am sure this little boy is going to find it.

There is one little girl out of this group that will not be going to
either Jerri or Zoo. She has found a forever home already. This little
girl seems to be the youngest in the group and over the past few days
has shown no signs of being bonded with any of the others. She will be
going to a gentleman who was looking for a companion ferret for his
little boy. Now just in case there is a bonding issue with this little
girl that was not seen, she will be staying with me till Saturday. But
if everything is still good by Saturday, she will be moving on to her
new home.

To end my book....I wanted to post this update not only because I had
the opportunity to see these kids first hand, but also to let the
ferret community know what Jerri and Zoo have offered to do. They are
taking on quite a bit here. Lots of vet bills are in their future with
these kids. I know that there is a raffle started that is ear marked
for Jerri, so let me use this post to push everyone to go and buy even
just one ticket. I have not heard of anything organized to help Zoo
out, so for those of you that have even a little extra resources,
please send her your offer of help. These two ladies have stepped up
to the plate on this one when they didn't have to and also when they
already have quite a full plate. Many thanks go to both of you.

Erin
Ruggie's Ferret Rescue

[Posted in FML 6118]