There are many reasons other shelters may not be able to take in another ferret. In my own case I am a single mom with a child, 14 ferrets in the shelter and 14 of my own. I owe my vet $200.00 with 4 ferrets waiting for surgery, 3 on meds and 2 on Lupron. In the last 3 weeks I was told my mom is in the end stages of lung disease and have an aunt with terminal cancer. Life is pretty overwhelming at this point as you can see. Maybe if you would have called any of us in the state and explained what was going on and the seriousness of Alex's condition, we could have made special arrangements to help. Too many times people make erraneous judgements about shelters without knowing the situation the shelter people are in. I can certainly sympathize with you but I have found that when the situation is that dire, people always come to help. One suggestion is to contact the vets in your city and see if they will give you a discount or allow you to work off the shelter bill. Sometimes they will let you even clean or wash cages (I have done) to work off part of the bill. My vet now has me make "Duck Soup" for all his post surgical ferrets in exchange for part of my bill. My heart breaks for all those with ill ferrets as a little bit of you dies with each and every passing. Love to all, Paula and the Fuzzy Mafia [Posted in FML issue 3178]