I am a new subscriber to FML from the NW of England.  I and my partner run a
small 'rescue' for ferrets just north of Manchester and have kept ferrets
since October 1993.  So far we have 15 ferrets: Fritz a 3 yr old sandy, Inga
a 3 yr old albino, Kurt a 3 yr old polecat (who also works i.e. helps to
control the rabbit population), Bumper a 3 yr old albino, Deanna Troi a 1 yr
old polecat and Kurt's working partner, Dax a 1 yr old polecat, McCoy a
polecat and Dax's litter brother, Daniel polecat litter brother to Dax and
Max a sandy and the final member of the litter.  Treacle a sandy - possibly
2 yr old, Bill a sandy age unknown, Ben an albino age unknown but possibly
about 2 yr old, Lily a cute sandy jill about 10 months old, Blackie an
albino and finally Cameron a red eyed sandy we think he could be about 5 yr
old.  All of them are 'rescues' except for Deanna Troi who was bought from
the breeder for #5, they are all kept indoors and all take it in turns to
have a playtime in the living room.
 
We do country shows etc to raise funds to pay for veterinary fees, food etc.
We did a show in York last week and managed to raise enough to pay for
Cameron to be castrated and have his teeth cleaned.  We invite members of
the public, who seem to have a built in fear of ferrets, to stroke a ferret
for a small donation plus we sell badges, keyrings, pens etc to help raise
more funds.  A great attraction is the ferret racing.  It was the first time
I'd actually tried running it myself - the pipes were the cardboard tubes
that carpets are wrapped around and the ''windows' were welded mesh.
Members of the public are invited to bet on a ferret - 20 pence a ticket and
if their ferret wins they get 40 pence back.  Fortunately on this occasion
the tote won, it can be rather worrying if most people bet on just one
ferret - we're in trouble if that ferret wins, we end up paying out more
that we take, still it's a chance we have to take.  Some our next shows are
at Risley Moss Green Safari Day on 23rd June, Brecon County Show on 3rd
August and Yesteryear Rally at Malpas on 7/8th September if anyone is on
holiday in the UK please come and see us.
 
One date for your diaries is the National Ferret Fair on the 7th July at
the Nottingham Country Show, Ollerton, Notts - the show is organised by
the National Ferret Welfare Society and is the premier event for ferrets
in the UK.
 
Please note that The Complete Book of Ferrets by Porter & Brown is now
published by D & M Publications, P.O.  Box 172, Bedford, MK40 2ZJ, UK. and
not as stated in one of last years' FD's.  This book is regarded as the
ferret owners bible over here and is the one recommended by the NFWS.
 
With running a rescue quite a number of the ferrets that come to us require
veterinary treatment.  Fritz is disabled, he has rather weak back legs
probably due to incorrect feeding when he was being weaned.  He doesn't know
he's disabled though and even manages to win ferret races!
 
Inga had an operation earlier this year for the removal of a melanoma from
an ear tip, she lost part of her ear but hopefully the cancer was caught in
time and hasn't spread.  Treacle was half starved when he arrived here - he
now weighs in at 3.5lbs and his nick name is now Jelly Belly.
 
Bill had a recurring abscess and then what we thought was another abscess on
top of his head turned out to be a bone tumour.  He has made an excellent
recovery from the operation to remove the tumour although he still has the
crew-cut where the vet shaved his head - he looks quite cute!
 
Ben had a cold and we found out later that he was also infested with ticks.
As all the chemists were closed and we didn't have any surgical spirit we
doused the ticks with whisky which resulted in a happy ferret and drunken
ticks!!  anyway the ticks were carefully removed and Ben was treated with
Frontline.  Blackie just required neutering and is now in the process of
being introduced into one of the established groups.  We've had three goes
at introducing him into Inga's Gang (Inga, Lily, Treacle, Bill & Ben), and
we think in a few more days he'll be living with them.
 
Cameron had an extremely nasty abscess on his face when we picked him up -
we took him straight to the vet instead of bringing him home.  Our vet has
an appointment system but he still saw him within half-an-hour.  Cameron is
now looking fantastic and should hopefully be integrated into one of the
groups within the next three of four weeks - he has to live a solitary life
until his hormones adjust to the fact that he's been neutered.
 
I edit the NFWS Newsletter and would like to include some
contributions/articles from the US especially contributions from CA - you
have my support, sympathy and admiration.  I would also like to hear from
anyone in Mass - it must be fantastic to be legal!
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the
National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK
The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS
[Posted in FML issue 1589]