Hi all!
 
About a month ago I posted on here a story about having to give my boys up
(Thunder, Rascal and Digger... I of course was heart broken.  I didn't know
where to turn.
 
Being a frequent IRC chatter (additcted?  me?  never!!) I made some pretty
good friends.  Actually we are like a close family.  All of my irc friends
made offers about taking my boys in a foster situation.  I politely said..."
ya, i wish you could take them too".  Then David Caudill made the offer.  I
said the same thing.  I received many emails and calls from people wanting
to adopt or foster the boys.  I still had David's offer in the back of my
mind.  Finally, I asked David if he was really serious.  He said yes.  I was
elated!!!  (dook for joy!!!)
 
So, now the ADVENTURE begins.  I made all of the arrangement to fly the boys
from here, Ottawa, to Boise, Idaho...where David is.  I called customs in
every city where they stopped and my vet.  I was told at customs in Toronto,
Denver and Boise that the boys didn't need anything special...I even asked
if they needed Rabies....I was told NO!!!!  Anyway, I got up at 4am on
Thursday May 23rd and took them into the airport.  Everything at this point
was going well.  I was quoted $70 from Ottawa to Denver and about the same
from Denver to Boise.  Ok, fine...$140 isn't that bad...hi end $200 I
thought.  So, I received a phone call later that morning saying that the air
line in which the boys would be switching over to in Denver wanted to charge
me $220!!!!!  The boys were in Toronto and what could I do?  So...the final
bill for the air fare was $300!!  ACK!!!  So, the boys arrive in Denver for
a small stop over and customs clearance.  I then got a FRANTIC phone call
asking about a Health Certificate....WAIT...my vet didn't say anything about
a health certificate when I called and asked what I needed.  So, David and
Kelleen called me and informed me of the problem.
 
It took about three hours of phone calls between David and the Health
Inspector at the Denver Airport and the Compliance Officer for the
Veterinary Medical Board in idaho.  Right away Kelleen did suggest calling a
ferret club in the area to check on the boys (and help prod from their end).
David and Kelleen contacted Stephanie Sheme at FerretsEtc who provided a
GREAT deal of help!  She not only contacted the Denver Inspector, but also
went down to the airport to make sure the ferrets had plenty of food and
water.
 
Of course, they ended up missing their connecting flight and had to be
borded over night......$120!!!!!  yikes... The next day they made the flight
to Boise.  Ok, Kelleen gets to the airport to pick them up.  Along with her
is a vet to check them over since their was no HC.  Then....no rabies, so
Kelleen had to go back to the Vet's office and run them up the Rabies
Vaccine.  (Well, customs said they didn't need rabies...) enter a vet bill
of $130!!!  Now this trip has cost me $550+..... *sigh*
 
I could have sent them over night for a 1/4 of that!?!?!  But I opted for
the "fast" way of a commercial air line.  When in the end it took longer for
them to get there!  We are in the process now I trying to get some money out
of the air line and have so far been successful.  They are "willing" to
reduce the flight from Denver to Boise to $70 and pay for a portion of the
boarding and vet bill.... *sigh*
 
ON THE GOOD SIDE!!  David has my boys and is treating them with all of the
love and respect that every ferret deserves.  I have also learned a valuable
lesson...actually I have learned many of them from this Adventure.
 
I would like to thank David for putting up with all of this and not backing
down and Kelleen for her patience and help with this.  And a big thank you
to FerretsEtc for helping us in our time of panic :-) !  Thanks Guys!!!!
    hugs}}}}
 
I would also like to thank my IRC family for putting up with my complaining
and general crabbiness.  hehehe.  There are too many to mention one by
one... .but you know who you are.
 
Sincerely,
Krista Hamilton
 
[UPDATE FROM DAVID CAUDILL: The three boys are doing fine!  They are SO
CUTE!!!  When they first got here they were *very* skittish and upset (who
can blame them)!  They have since gotten back into regular fuzzie-mode
(fearless and always in trouble!  ;-) They have been well-behaved and
Thunder even lied down and slept with me for 20 minutes the other day!
Also, Rascal (who was/is a face biter) has been getting MUCH better at not
biting!  Perhaps when Krista finally gets them back he will be cured of this
bad habit!  :-) I sure hope so!  I was glad to be able to help Krista with
her problem and I try to give them an extra hug for her each night :-)!]
[Posted in FML issue 1597]