Of the 58 ferrets at our shelter, we just placed 10 in temporary foster care to help with overflow while we wait for our numbers to go down. In addition to the 58, we have another 24 in permanent foster care age 6 and older who have insulinoma, lymphoma and/or other chronic illness for which we are financially responsible. One of them needs immediate surgery to remove a lump under his penis before it causes a blockage (has anyone encountered this before?). Seven more of our shelter residents are old and sick and need foster homes. 2 are awaiting adrenal surgery. The greatest hardship this year was losing our hospice shelter who took in our special needs/terminally ill. They are moving out of state. We have only been in existence since May of 2004, barely over a year and growing much faster than our funds. When we opened our doors last year, we had one room dedicated to keep rescue ferrets which quickly grew to encompass the entire house. Within 3 months we had 30 ferrets, which doubled by this summer and I shudder to even think about next year. We desperately need more volunteers, foster homes and supplies to keep up with our growing needs along with donations to our 2 vets. We pay at time of service therefore, without funds, some treatments and surgeries must be postponed. Our vets are listed on SOS and the YOU CAN HELP page of our website. We also have many young beautiful ferrets (some even under a year) of all colors and great temperaments needing forever homes. We haven't had time to update pictures on our website or on Petfinder and had to stop our Adoption/Education Events at Petsmart and Petco because we are way over limit and need more help. If there is anyone in the Seattle Washington area who has time, room or money, we need you. Little Dudes Ferret Ranch www.littledudesferretranch.com [Posted in FML issue 4981]