Dear Fellow Ferret Friends and Supporters, Some of you may know Kristine Lunny, the shelter Mom at Friends of Fuzzies in Bend, Oregon. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kristine and FOF, here is a little background. Kristine started FOF about 5 years ago after much conjoling by her husband let him have a fuzzy. Kristine immediately fell in love with this fuzzy and than convinced her husband that she should start a full-time shelter. Five-years later, Kristine continues to contribute a great deal of information to the fuzzy community. Although she is not an active member on the FML, she is the person behind the Secret Santa website for the past two years. I was lucky enough to meet Kristine last November when I adopted two kids from her shelter. Since than she has been an invaluable source of information, from food supplementing in duck soup to ferret diseases, surgery to shelter/home sanitizing. I really admire the ways in which Kristine has continued to support FOF and the care she provides to the shelter kids. She is a full-time shelter mom, open around the clock for visits and/or telephone calls. She has an excellent working relationship with her vet and she also raises 3 girls aging from 5-12, and a husband. For the past two years, Kristine has actively tested all fuzzies that are taken in at FOF for ADV exposure using the Avecon POCT test. Sometimes she has tested kids 2-3 times. She has had 100% negative results using saliva. But just last week she lost her first kid out of adrenal surgery. Timon bled out one day after surgery. With ADV actively on our minds since the Symposium, Kristine immediately worried that ADV could be a possibility and did a blood test using Avecon POCT - the result came back positive. After that she began retesting all the fuzzies, personals included and 27 shelter kids using blood samples. The results came back both positive and negative. She has had conflicting results from both saliva and blood, including redoing blood tests twice only to receive positive and negative results. This has led us us to believe the Avecon POCT test to be unreliable. After spending hundreds of dollars on the Avecon tests, she is now going to send blood samples to United Vaccine to see if the results are the same as with Avecon. We anticipate continuing more tests after the UV results. Needless to say this had caused Friends of Fuzzies a lot of headache, heartache, and now lots of money. Kristine normally raises money on the adoption fees and being able to sell food and supplies to local ferret owners. However, to be safe, she has stopped all adoptions and selling of product until she is more certain of FOF's ADV status. In other words, she has no income at this time. I am very grateful to Kristine for the care she extends to the fuzzies while at her shelter. Although this testing is causing her financial strain, she continues to persevere to find the answer to FOF's ADV status. I feel she is doing us all a service by finding out where the most accurate tests can be obtained for future reference. I know Kristine would never ask this herself, so I would like to ask all of you, if at all possible, to make a donation towards her vet bill or to FOF directly. I, in turn, will send you a genuine homemade sleepsack for your donation. Donations can be sent to: LaPaw Animal Hospital or Friends of Fuzzies FBO: Friends of Fuzzies 2308 NE Ravenwood Drive 1288 SW Simpson Ave., #G, H Bend, OR 97701 Bend, OR 97702 541-383-2281 541-389-3902 or Paypal account: [log in to unmask] Please include a note with your return address that you are making the donation towards the ADV testing and I will send you a sleepsack ASAP. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by email or on the FML. Or you can contact Kristine directly at the number provided. (Although she doesn't know I am posting this to the FML yet). Thanks for your help! And fuzzyhugz to all the kids out there. Friend to FOF, Tanya G. [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 3706]