Several people have written me inquiring about Chase, the ferret mentioned in the Dave Berlowitz/Cherokee Ferret Shelter post. One thing I forgot to mention was that she was in the Cherokee Ferret Shelter for over a year without any medical treatment. As you will be able to see from her pictures, clearly she was adrenal. Dave was very reluctant to give Chase up, along with her 2 brothers Casper and Mocha. He stated they were his *personal* ferrets. As a matter of fact, he claimed to run a shelter, but when it came down to adopting, he was very reluctant to adopt any of the ferrets in his home, even the ones that needed medical care. Dave stated that many of the ferrets in his home were personals. It took cash up front, and a lot of persuading in order to get Dave to release Chase and her brothers from the shelter. As I had said, Dave Berlowitz stated that 2 vets claimed she was not a surgical candidate, and he had no plans of treating her. However after speaking to one of the vets, the one that ended up performing the surgery, she had never seen Chase before. Here are a few more pictures right after she was rescued from the Cherokee Shelter [Moderator's note: None of the photobucket.com URLs work as I'm editing, though it looks like a problem with the site -- I'd suggest trying again later if they still don't work. BIG] http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114047.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114041.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/Chase2114042.jpg After she was rescued from the shelter, we had to hold off on surgery, as she was battling a nasty urinary tract infection that needed to be treated not once, but twice. She had the surgery approx. 3 weeks later Feb 18th, 2004). Here she is after surgery when she arrived here in NY... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasesf2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase5.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase4.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasebx.jpg She did well in surgery, and it was a tricky righty; also a malignancy. It was really amazing to watch how fast her fur grew back after surgery, and the change in behavior she had. I have thought about entering her into the Ferrets edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, for the fastest amount of time a ferret grows fur back after surgery *grin* She literally had a brand new coat within 3 weeks! Here are some pictures of her new fur growth (most recent ones are toward the bottom). The first one was taken March 16th... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chasejb.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase5704.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v253/Rogue298/chase9704sm.jpg Her recovery was amazing. Chase is a happy little girl, she loves ferretone, and will give kisses only if she knows she is going to get some tone. She has a large stuffed banana that is hers and hers only, if anyone tried to take this away from her she gets a little bent out of shape. :) She is the sweetest little girl. She remains with her 2 brothers Casper and Mocha. Fortunately the 2 boys had no medical issues, but they did need to be put on a good diet, and vaccinated (Dave never vaccinated any of his ferrets, personal or otherwise). All 3 ferrets were also ADV tested right after being rescued, and all 3 are negative. We're posting Chase's story just so that people can get a feel of how this shelter operated. Chase's story ended up as a happy one, however there were many that did not have a happy endings. Our goal now, is to spread the word on the Cherokee Ferret Shelter, in hopes that in the future Dave Berlowitz will not be able to take any more innocent animals into his home. He had court on Friday (17th), for his first charges of neglect, and failure to appea. He pled not guilty. Dave's next court date is November 9th (corrected from the Oct 5th date which is his arraignment) at the Omaha County Courthouse. Thank you for inquiring about this shelter, and again if anyone has any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask! Nancy Propper Director/Coordinator Ferrets Across America http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferrets_Across_America/ [Posted in FML issue 4648]