Hi Ferret folks I am in the process of rescuing a little girl who was surrendered to our local pet store. This little girl needs your prayers and good thoughts, Here is her story. I got a call on Monday from our local pet store staff. His name is Mike and he asked if he could buy some of my duck soup. He said they had a little ferret surrendered by a Grandmother, whose grandchildren were ignoring the pet ferret. I have no idea how old the children are! The ferrets I was told is 3 years old, didn't know if it was male or female and it was really thin. They thought it was being fed cheap cat food. In fact they were told that it wouldn't eat ferret food and that the food that they bought was the only food it would eat. The pet store staff (Mike and Phil) thought it wasn't offered anything else. Anyway I took some duck soup over and took a quick look at it. What I saw almost reduced me to tears. "It" is a very tiny female, and very thin. She looked alert enough, but her stools looked rather dark and a bit on the loose side. She is adorable, friendly and so very kissy. The minute I picked her up she was liking my face. It was almost as if she knew that I was the right person to butter up.<G> I was late for a meeting so I left very quickly, vowing to return on Tues. to check on her went back and she was taking the duck soup but not well. The guys had put some ferret food in with her cat food, but she obviously preferred the cat food. While I was there she had the most horrible dark green watery poop. I was quick to tell Jason (store owner) that she needed to see a vet and soon. Jason really hesitates to put money out on anything without getting returns for his investment and was certain a vet visit would cost at least $75. He was asking $150 for her and the cage that came with her. I went home that night and couldn't get the little girl out of my mind. I called my vet's emergency pager and left a message saying that it wasn't an emergency but I would like to speak to her about a pet store ferret. She called me right back and I described the little girl. Of course it is difficult to diagnose over the phone, so we decided that Dr. Cathy should see her on Wed. I had pretty much decided that I would take the little one to my vet even if I had to pay the bill myself. No I'm not rich, but I knew the sweet little thing needed help. The next big hurdle was to convince Jason that she should go. I assured Jason that I would pay the bill and if I decided to "buy" her we could work out a deal of some kind. If I decided not to take her home, I would still pay the bill because I felt very strongly about her need for medical attention. Dr. Cathy did a fecal exam, an ear swab and a physical exam. She weighed in at 1.2 lbs., which was a surprise to me. By the way she looked I thought she would b under a lb. From the looks of her teeth, Dr. Cathy confirms her age to be about 3 years. She has ear mite eggs. a helicobacter infection and probably stomach ulcers from the stress of being ill. She is also badly nourished from not eating. Her little nose is very pale which is a pretty good indication that she is anemic. She is now on 2 antibiotics for 14 days and pepto bismal. She definitely needs to be isolated from other ferrets until her poops are normal. My SO and I are breaking up and he is moving out tomorrow, I will have a private room for her. I hated to leave her at the pet store overnight, but I could not justify putting my own at risk. First thing tomorrow I will go and get her. Mike and Phil think Jason will probably turn her over to me for nothing, because she will end up costing him too much in the long run. He knows he can't sell a sick ferret and it seems it will be awhile before she is well. I told the guys to suggest to Jason...if he takes ferrets in, he should insist that the person surrendering the ferret should provide a recent medical certificate proving the good health of the ferret. Especially if he didn't want to incur costs out of his own pocket. The ferret was already extremely ill when the people gave her up, or should I say "dumped her". The guys told me that when the lady "dropped the ferret off' Jason didn't even look at her. She was in a nesting box, inside the cage. You would think he would have sense enough to check her out before he agreed to take her. I bet he will from now on. When the vet's office was getting the info on her, they asked me her name and I had to say I don't know, and jokingly said she was Jane Doe. I was amused to see that on her medicine bottles they put her down as Miss Doe St. Germain. Now I need to think of a good name for her. A name that tells how very fragile she is, or has some meaning as to the way she came to me. Daisy...fragile and pretty as a flower. OR should I pick up on the "doe" side of it and call her Bambi. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be a permanent fixture in my home and the thanks to Wayne she will have a private room for awhile. Please pray for her complete and speedy recovery. Your Pal Sal [Posted in FML issue 3316]