Our shelter takes in rabbits, rodents & ferrets. For those of you interested, we currently have: Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House, a Seattle Shelter (which is only 5 miles down the road from the Washington Ferret Shelter in Bothell) 54 Ferrets 23 Rabbits 10 Guinea Pigs 13 Rats 2 Chinchillas 11 Russian Dwarf Hamsters 6 Golden Hamsters 7 Gerbils 1 Small White Mouse Rabbit Meadows Sanctuary (Redmond, WA) Just over 200 feral rabbits who are now around 6 years old, so the population is dwindling not increasing. Foster Care 2 Guinea Pigs 6 Ferrets 6 Baby Rats 12 Rabbits Tara says: >Sandi,correct me if i'm wrong,i'm sure you will:) as ferrets going into >her facility had to be in good health,she did not take in sick ones. >(that came from your mouth to my ear a few years ago) But the fact Sandi >has that many is really upsetting.... " If Tara says I've spoken to her, I'm sure I must have, but I've no idea who she is (sorry, please re-introduce yourself the next time you're in :-). I've said numerous times that I *wish* we didn't have to take in ill ferrets, but sadly many of the ferrets we take in *are* ill. As with all shelters many of our older rescues experience shelter shock and die shortly after arrival. In addition to the ferrets in Dr. Cathy Johnson's adrenal study, we also have 8 adrenal ferrets receiving monthly lupron shots. We are currently soup feeding 6 others. We took 3 ferrets (and 1 guinea pig) to the vet today for x-rays to check for stones in the urethra. Mr. Orson has a heart murmur. Squeak has emphysema, Sally has insulonoma. There are others with a bunch of miscellaneous problems, some as non-serious as just being old. Our yearly vet bills go into the $10,000 area every year. Last year 78% of that vet expense was for ferret care with the remaining 22% spread among rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas and rats. As many shelters do, we sell supplies in an attempt to support our rescue so that we don't have to beg as much as others do. There are many shelters on the FML who must always ask for donations, our shelter is not one of those. As a matter of fact, the sales to our rabbit customers are what supports our ferret rescue. :-) In a separate ferret area (built by a volunteer who donates time to our shelter AND to the WFR) we have 15 of our less ill and older ferrets - for anyone interested in looking at these ferrets (some almost naked because of advanced adrenal disease) just come in and look. Their play yard is right next to the adoptable ferrets play yard. Nothing is behind closed doors here. Anyone caring to check for themselves instead of listening to fictional stories is welcome. I'm not sure what's upsetting about having 54 ferrets in our shelter. Should we have turned them away? Or is it upsetting because so many people are dumping their ferrets? It would be wonderful if we had someone waiting to adopt each ferret as they arrived, but it just doesn't happen. We have over 20 steady volunteers helping us here in Seattle (including at least 3 who are FML members). One wonderful FML person comes every 2 weeks to clean all 108 ears, and clips an enormous number of nails. Another FML couple comes in twice a week to clean cages. (Our cages are cleaned every day and hammocks changed weekly.) Except for some ill ferrets who just want to be held, all get out daily for as long as they want to play (usually 3-4 hours). When they all go back to sleep we pick them up, put those who are not in their cage back and let the next cage out to play. There are another 9 volunteers who take care of the rabbits at Rabbit Meadows Sanctuary. We always need MORE volunteers, but we're doing ok. Our shelter works VERY closely with the Washington Ferret Rescue and both of us help each other out. If their shelter has adopted out all (or most) of their adoptable ferrets, we will send some of our adoptable ferrets to them and vice versa. We've taken their ferrets and they've taken ours. We have an excellent working relationship. Our primary working agreement is that neither of us will turn away a ferret. If there's not room at our shelter we take the ferret and transfer him to WFR and vice versa. (And at that point, it doesn't matter if the ferret is young or old, healthy or ill.) I don't know why, mentioning that our shelter is in Washington state, because Charleen neglected to, is "causing problems" that's a huge over reaction to my post. According to their volunteer coordinator, Charleen is only an occasional volunteer at WFR, she's not part of their board of directors and has no knowledge of the agreement that our shelter has with WFR. Hopefully enough said about that. I'm always very happy to brag about what we do here, and this has been an opportunity to do so. We are open to the public. We are a 501(c)(3) organization. There's no point in believing what people who may be jealous of our organization say, please come visit our ferrets and check us out for yourselves. :-) Sandi Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House a non-profit animal shelter 14325 Lake City Way NE Seattle, WA 98125 (206)365-9105 Open 6 days/week (closed Tue) or visit our on-line store at: http://www.rabbitrodentferret.org [Posted in FML issue 4182]