His name is Bandit.  He is a 6.5 year old sable male.  He has the biggest
eyes I have ever seen on a ferret.  They beseech you to hold him, cuddle
him, save him.
 
Bandit came to the Ferret Aid Society as a result of his owner claiming she
could not afford his vet bills anymore.  This was after she had taken
Bandit to three (3) vets for opinions.  What she spent on the other two
vets could have easily been put toward further vet bills.  She also paid
the surrender fee.  She owned and lived with Bandit for 6 years then just
dumped him off like yesterday's news.
 
I had been informed of Bandit's story and after all this time of being
involved with neglected and abandoned ferrets and volenteering at the
shelter, I thought I had learned how to disconnect a bit and fight the
desire to take them all home and nuture them.  Bandit reminded me that my
heart is just mush.
 
I saw Bandit for the first time on Wednesday of last week.  I was with a
friend who was visiting from the states and had never been around ferrets
until she came up here.  We were in the back room letting ferrets out,
scooping litter boxes, playing and feeding.  We were laughing and having a
blast.  Randy came to the gate with Bandit in her arms.  When I looked at
him I gasped!  My friend later told me she had to turn away and go back
into the room because she could not deal with what she saw.  Bandit is a
ferret who was declawed when he was young.  His feet are swollen to
approximately 4 times their normal size and do not even resemble ferret
feet.  They are devoid of all hair and look shiney like burned skin does.
I expected at any moment for the skin to just burst.  Bandit's ears are
also swollen to about 3 times their normal size and are red and shiny as
well.  He has very little fur on his tail or body and looks like a ferret
who obviously has Adrenal disease.  I could not take my eyes off those
feet.  One foot looks like it is almost the size of my wrist.  When I
looked into those big eyes of his I wanted to reach out and hold him.  It
was all I could do not to cry.  Since Bandit is in quarentine and I had
been playing with ECE exposed ferrets I could only look back at him.  His
illness must have been going on for a long time.  Feet do not swell like
that overnight.  Hair loss does not happen overnight.  Thoughts went
through my head that his owner must have been hoping he would just die.
How could she live day in and day out, looking at this ferret getting
sicker and sicker and just ignore it?  I don't know and I will never know
and I choke on these thoughts.  I cannot get this little guy out of my
mind.  I cannot stop seeing those feet and those eyes.
 
Bandit's feet have been biopsied and we are awaiting those results as well
as other test results.  Randy will move heaven and earth and leave no stone
unturned in her effort to save this ferret.  He wants to live, he tries to
walk but he may not be long for this world.  Randy suspects he also has
Lympho.
 
Randy stands there at the gate, Bandit in her arms and before me is a woman
with long hair, big doe eyes, the kindest smile and softest voice.  But she
is a warrier princess in her heart, and will fight tooth and nail for the
ferrets and if love and hugs and cuddles could save Bandit...he would live
forever.  Some call her a fanatic, some call her obsessive and she probably
is all of these things, but I would not want the job she or any other
shelter person has.  It is thankless, it is heartbreaking and it is a hard
life.  I sometimes wonder where her breaking point is and I hope she never
reaches it. Who would save the Bandits then?  I, at least, go home to my
happy, smiling crew everytime I am there.  I can leave the shelter behind
me most times.  Randy gets up everyday and hand feeds the sick ones, deals
with more and more dumped and unwanted ferrets and takes the ones like
Bandit and his poor sick body into her arms and cuddles and holds him.  He
must be so scared.  He lost his home of 6 years.
 
So even though we have all heard it time and time again, please cuddle your
own ferrets a bit tighter today.  Kiss them and be gratefull that you will
probably never have to see that look in their eyes.  All the shelter moms
and dads give yourselves a pat on the back.  Everyone else give yourself
one for the good lives you give your fuzzies.  It is way too short.  Please
think about Bandit today and send good thoughts.  We are pulling for this
little guy but it may already be too late.
 
Cindy
[Posted in FML issue 2488]