[Posted in 2 parts, combined into one post... BIG] Well, I decided last night to make a good thing out of the bad thing. If you saw my post yesterday, you'll know that I found a bunch of ferret stuff left next to the garbage dump in my apartment complex. When I got home from work last night (about 7pm), it was all still there. So I parked my fiance's truck in front of the fence by the garden hose they have for car washing. I turned on the lights, highbeams, and driving lights, because it was already dark and there is no street light over there. I cranked up theradio. Then I went to work. I dragged the cage and all of the other stuff out to the hose. I donned my special, yellow, Rubbermaid cleaning gloves and began to sort. I found some pretty interesting (and sad) things. First, the ferret's name was Gitch. And he had insulinoma. The prescription bottle I found was indeed from Dr. Weiss' office, and it was for Pediapred. I trashed everything that was in the carrier (the pediapred, a tube of nutrical, a white bath towel covered in ferret poop and urine, and a handful of Dr. Weiss' business cards). I scrubbed the carrier down and rinsed it. It's in OK shape. One of the spring hinges on the door is broken. I might endup tossing it after all. Next I sorted through the crap that was left on top of the cage. And I became even sadder. I found TWO harnesses and TWO leashes. Now I tried to tell myself that maybe Gitch was just spoiled and had two sets. But I don't think that was the case. I think there were two ferrets. The harnesses were hand-made out of the thin elastic that goes into the cuffs of sweatpants, and one of them had a huge jingle bell on it. I tossed the harnesses and one of the leashes. The leash I kept is a nice, leather one in greatshape. There was a nice, heavy, ceramic food bowl in great shape. I scrubbed it, but I'm going to put it in the dishwasher too. There were two water bottles, a large and a small (carrier-sized), which are also getting dish-washered. Two corner litter boxes that looked like they had never been used, the paper sticker was still covering the inside back of one of them. I'm keeping all of this stuff for now, cleaning it up real good, and then figuring out what to do with it. There was a rubber (RUBBER!) toy that had chew marks along the bottom of it, and a cloth mouse cat-toy that had the tail ripped off. There was a nylon tube-style hammock that had three of the four hangers ripped off (I found one of them still attached to the cage) and the inner liner ripped up. This stuff was all thrownout. Then on to the cage. When I pulled the slider tray out of the bottom, I almost cried. It was full of pine shavings! Now hopefully, the owner had just put it in the bottom to collect spilled water or missed litter box aims. But I doubt it. There is a large, rusted spot on the tray, but otherwise the tray is in good shape. There are a couple of rusted spots on the cage itself, like on the bottom and in some corners. Upon closer inspection today in the daylight, I realized that there is a hole rusted through the bottom of the cage, about the size of the palm of my hand. This completely changes my thinking on what I was going to do with it. It would be really hard to ship, as it doesn't look like it breaks down very easily. Plus with the rust hole, I'm not sure anybody would be interested anyway. But I'd be willing to drive it to a shelter locally (Baltimore, MD). So let me know if you are a shelter in the area and would like a cage that needs work. Or if you're going to be at the Baltimore Ferret Club's show on 10/28, I can bring it there. The latches that hold the doors closed are gone. The bottom door opens from the top and lays down on the ground. The top door is on the top of the cage and it is pretty big. It's got two ramps, a full level in the middle, and a full top level. It's about as tall as my ribs (hmmm...maybe 3 feet?). I removed the PVC tubes and threw them out. They were coated in muck (like old urine and fur) and not worth restoring. As for the other goodies, they are easily shippable. So if any shelters need a couple of corner boxes, water bottles, a leash, or a semi-functional carrier,let me know. I'm feeling much better now that I've done all of this. My fiance thought I was nuts and wasting my time. But it's given me satisfaction. I feel almost like I knew Gitch (and his mysterious cage-mate?) after exploring all of his things. Sandee, if you happen to see a newcomer named Gitch that seems pretty sad, let him know that me and the Herd are thinking about him. If he's lonely, please introduce him to Gizmo and Sandy. Thanks. ===== Aileen & the Herd minus two Herdlings Slinky, Kyle, Noel, & Rootie the beagle Fresh from the pain of losing Sandy. We love you, sweetheart. Still missing Gizmo. We love you, too, baby. Check out the Herd's website at: http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Zoo/7414/index.html [Posted in FML issue 3212]