Greeting Folks, Stitches is a little silver girl, about one year old. She was found in a field, in full blown heat. Fifteen minutes after Stitches was found, they mowed the field. She was dehydrated, and hungry. Otherwise ok. She went in, was altered, and we had one little feisty little girl. She bit. But she got better. Then she developed a cyst, and it was supposed to be removed, the vet opened her up and drained it. I had posted to the FML asking for suggestions on keeping an Elizabethan Collar on her so she would leave the opening alone. It had to be flushed out twice a day. Well, she seemed to heal up, but then "grew a belly button". Part of her insides were coming out of the opening, and the puss was back in full force. She smelled so bad when you drained it, it made me gag. (And that isn't easy to do). I was hoping to put off opening her up for another two weeks, no funds for the operation, and that is the pay check that I could put other bills off from. The way the shelter is run, if there isn't funds available, we wait until I can pay for it, that way the shelter goes so deep in debt that it ends up bankrupt. Well, we couldn't put it off. Last night, I picked her up and nearly tossed my cookies. Called the Emergency Clinic to see if the vet that I used to go to was on duty. (He now works there and takes emergencies only, since he has done that, his kids are very happy). He was, I explained Stitches problem, and told him gut instinct says she needs taken care of now. Did he feel up to a surgical challenge? He told me to bring her down, and he would take care of her. Well, she was in surgery for 2.5 hours, had the lining that developed around the cyst removed, and the cause for the infections. Her left kidney was dead. She has been living with only one functional kidney. He told me if I had opted to wait, she wouldn't have survived surgery if she had lived another two weeks. I picked her up this morning, and she seems ok, she is going to have to be monitored closely, she runs a very high risk of reinfection. Sigh. She doesn't have to live up to her name. Now to the help part, and I hate doing this. Her surgery was $358.00. We have $53.21 in the shelter account, and I wrote a check to pay for it. If the mortgage payment hadn't cleared, I would have part of that. What could I have done? Have the surgery done, and know financially I couldn't pay it, but know she would have a chance at living, or let her die? I need a little help with covering the emergency surgery. A loan would be wonderful, I could pay it back in two weeks. Anyone wanting to see copies of the bill, is more than welcome to. I can email, or fax copies. I hate asking for help. Normally I ask people to adopt, volunteer, hand out information, be a ferret ambassador, not just for my shelter for all shelters and there are so many others that need it. But right now I am over my head. We have 52 ferrets in the shelter, and they are eating like pigs again. I bought $100 worth of food, it lasted 7 days. Stitches has had $633 in surgery done over the past 5 months. I just bought distemper meds, $100 and that isn't enough to do all the booster shots for the shelter kids. Not to mention our two cardiomyopathy old timers meds and vet visits. Or the three adrenal surgeries we had done since October. All I am asking for is a loan. I know most people do not know me from Adam, and just on the FML. I guess I am asking for a leap of faith. I can and will make it good. But I couldn't just let Stitches die. I am going to get some pics of Stitches taken and put her story on the web site, along with a picture of the dead kidney. (I am sending it in to a lab for testing, along with a culture of the puss substance from her abdomen) As soon as Stitches gets the OK from the vet, she will be available for adoption, along with copies of her medical history. But it will have to be to an experienced owner, willing to watch her medical condition very closely. And I will be asking for references for owning her. She is one that deserves a good loving exceptional home. She has had too rough a life, and she is only about 1 year old. Thanks to everyone who has helped all the shelters in the past, and volunteered to help, clean, cuddle, do laundry, or data entry. Without you shelter folks would be all pulling their hair out allot more. Hug your fur angels, Jean Ferrets Unlimited Ferret Shelter [Posted in FML issue 2939]