For those ferret-lovers who have ferret math hitting - hard - but whose pocketbooks just can't sustain the costs of bringing another fuzzy into their home, yet they have more love to give... Have you considered fostering? Many shelters, rescues, and ferret groups offer fostering as an option. What's Fostering? Fostering is opening up your home to a homeless ferret in need of a place to go until their permanent home is found. Sometimes fostering is just on a temporary basis, because a shelter can't take any more, but a ferret is in need of a home. There are also longer-term and even permanent fostering options, for ferrets who are older and unlikely to be adopted, or who have medical conditions requiring more love and extra care. Some ferrets have behavior issues: problems with litter-training, aggression, biting issues, or are just meeting other ferrets for the first time and need a chance to get used to them in a home situation. Why Foster? Fostering is a chance to give more ferrets the love and care they deserve without taking on the full financial responsibility of the ferrets. In most fostering cases, the shelter, rescue, or group continues to pay for the ferret's medical care. The foster family provides the shelter, food, and love. Don't even have a cage? Most shelters and rescues have cages that can be borrowed with fosters, or purchased for very cheap. What if I Don't Want to Give Them Up? When an adoptive family comes along, a foster family usually has the right to opt to adopt the ferret themselves if they would like to keep it. If a foster family is interested in only long-term ferrets, they can choose to foster the ferrets that will be "permanent fosters". If you think you'd like to be a foster family for some needy homeless ferrets, please contact your local shelter or rescue! There are many ferrets waiting to live in homes with families and other ferrets and get the kind of attention they can't always get when they are one of many shelter ferrets. It's also a way to ease the numbers in the shelters, and when you foster a ferret, it opens up a placement in the shelter so that when a very sick, malnourished, or injured ferret comes along, there is room in the shelter for them to be rescued and nursed back to health! If you're in New England, NEFFER has a Foster Network of loving homes for abandoned ferrets! See us at www.neferrets.org, or drop us an e-mail at [log in to unmask] Foster a ferret today! Sincerely, Heather Wojtowicz Permenently fostered by Dante, Nikki, Dusty, Beanie, Boomer, and Rocky [Posted in FML issue 3706]