An update on the 6 New Orleans ferrets who are at The Ferret Haven. After the initial crisis of dehydration, upper respiratory & bladder infections, fleas & ear mites was over, this group was asking to come out to play. I built out a separate play area for them with short studded walls, vinyl flooring and new toys, not wanting any cross contamination of their illnesses to mine or mine to them. These guys played like they had not been out in years. There was no hesitation, no sniffing around.....it was Woo-Hoo.......lets play!!!!!! Ewwww - round two of mystery illness, most of them came down with brown jello-like poopies. No parasites found and it all cleared up after a few days. I now feel that I have 6 relatively healthy newcomers with Peanut being on Pred for insulinoma, 4 of them receiving melatonin implants, all vaccinated and all the other meds and fluids now completed. There is one exception - one has either a hairball or another soft foreign body in his stomach. Now that he's in pretty good shape, after giving much thought to the fact that I have not heard from their owners yet, I've decided to go ahead and do surgery since this is what I would do with any ferret who was signed over to me as it's in the ferrets best interest. On behalf of Peanut, Mardi, Zoom-Zoom, Jacques, Frenchie and Bob, I would like to thank everyone who sent or organized for others to send toys, bedding, food, needles and other supplies and even a Home Depot card in support of these ferrets. SOS and IFC - thank you for everything - including and especially your e-mails of concern and support. It would have been very difficult without your help and I was overwhelmed with exactly how many people offered assistance. For those of you who I turned away, saying that I had my share and to hold off to share with others in need, I thank you for your offers as well. Our ferret community has truly shown that we are is caring and generous and that we are able to organize together quickly to meet any need. I will send official, individual thank-yous via the mail, along with pictures shortly. JerriCarel The Ferret Haven [Posted in FML issue 5007]