It has almost come to the end of the year with all but one of the ferret kits that I and or our volunteers have taken in have been rehomed. Thinking back over the year one or two situations stick in everyone's mind as to how, why and by who some ferrets were lost or abandoned. What sticks in my mind are the kits that were left outside the backdoor of a pet shop in freezing weather, these particular kits were very thin, underweight, filthy, covered in excrement, badly dehydrated due to a very bad case of fleas and a bad cases of ear mites, after some time with one of our volunteers they turned into healthy fit kittens that went to new homes. Once one of our vets had a look at them and she treated them for the fleas and ear mites, with a shot of antibiotics to treat a slight breathing problem of some of them, and some Dyrolite to help with the rehydration of the kits, they went on to make some good pets. The last litter to be taken in this year was a litter left in a garden centre while the owner went next door to buy some cigarettes, these kits were so wild and after being bitten by most of them, the garden centre owner put the kits in a plastic barrel while he could find some one to take then on, he found my number and left a message on my answer phone requesting my help to take on a large number of ferret kits. These kits were so wild that it took me some time to be able to handle them without getting bitten, even so it took quite a long time to find new homes and all but one of these kits found new homes within 30 miles of my home, so it look like he will remain here and be vasectomised with the others that are due to be vasectomised when that come into season. Because my vet charges me very little to vasectomies hob ferrets, I prefer to have this done so that the hobs can live as naturale a life as possible without producing any offspring, also if anyone takes on one of these hobs they can take on whole jills at a later stage. Like a lot of people who rescue animals the funds can be rather sparse at times so rather than just blindly rush in and have all the jills spayed and the hobs castrated having hobs vasectomised means that less funding is required. By having a more naturale life as whole ferrets, our ferrets here in the UK have a more healthier life than ferrets in some other countries like the USA. Reading on the Internet about ferrets in the USA the only impressions that stay with you is that ferrets there are spayed and castrated before they are five weeks old, this to me is mutilation of such a great animal, and they are up for sale in pet shops by the age of six or eight weeks old. I have thought for a long time that ferrets here in the UK were being sold far to young by some breeders and ever since the rabbit fancy put an age limit on the sale of young rabbits at which rabbit breeders can sell young rabbits. I thought that young ferrets should have the same age restriction put on them, so unlike some people who breed or rescue ferrets / rabbits no one gets any of my rabbits or ferrets until I know they are twelve weeks old. http://www.geocities.com/houseferrets13uk/index.html http://www.webspawner.com/users/ferretwelfare/index.html; Website:www.charity-commision.gov.uk The UK Charity Commissioners are appointed under the Charities Act 1993 principally to further the work of charities by giving advice and information also checking for abuses. Aims:To give the public confidence in the integrity of charities. http://www.webspawner.com/users/ferretwelfare/index.html Nothing in life is normal, it is just more usual. http://www.headway.org.uk/ Some great people who have supported me through my illness. http://www.asacp.org/ Adults against child pornography. If you suspect any sites report it. [Posted in FML issue 4366]