Were I to be left alone with the piece of troglidite and cod liver paste that decided to keep these poor defenceless fuzzies I would wring his sorry little neck and kill'im. *breathe in* *breathe out* slightly better now, thank you ok, so heres the thing... My boyfriend was being wonderful and getting the one thing for me that I truely wanted but couldnt get for myself eventhough I have the cash for their everyday needs/wants and even and vet/emergency fund socked away, but my Mother had forbidden me from getting any critters for myself becasue it would be "unwise" and my folks still pay my tuition, etc. However if they magically appeared then she would be horrified if I turned them away, makes sence right? Anywho so he had discovered that a coworker of his had a couple two year oldish sableish Marshall ferts to give away becasue he didnt have the time/money anymore. Ok, fine. Good deal, he has them I want them. Well, ya damn right he didnt have time for them. When I got there today to get them I was greeted by a horrendous stench and a cage where the softest thing was their own poop in the urine soaked bottom of the cage where the dung was an inch thick all the way across it (2x3 cage footprint) Ahh! Must. Fight. Killing. Impulse. Bathtime was first up, because there was nothing fluffy or fuzzy about these poor loves. two inches of warm water was drawn in the tub to help soften the poop encrusted into their feet and tails. Three rounds of shampoo and marinading them in the shampoo/warm water to soften dirt and get them clean, we wont even go into the urine burned paws but they are icky too. My roommate helped, I love her, I walked in with them in the carrier they had for them (rusted and poo encrusted) and all she said was "eww... thats nasty... I'll go get my carrier and the bath stuff, hold on" They loved the water and the full body rub downs, didnt try to climb out really at all and seemed to fully enjoy the spa treatment... after the towel drying and being let go in a clean, large carrier with three lovely fluffy towels they snuffled for all of a minute and fell asleep. I hated to wake them for the next round of clean up, but it had to be done. Their nails were so long the toes crossed and in a couple cases turned on their sides to accomadate the length of the nail (I clipped a full inch off most of the female's front toes, not measuring around the curve, straight out with a hard ruler, and I left them a mm+ from the quick) Again I could have shot the guy, what the hell compelled you to leave this so freaking long? Arg! Nail trims went well, and they were thrilled with the jingle toys and warm towels in the cage. Bearing in mind I hadnt preped anything much for this because I was under the impression that they were coming outfitted with all this. *sigh* Now for the sad part... I pulled out the food bag and they went ballistic, absolutely ape shit... they were coming up my leg to get to the bag. I figured "fine, let them chow down for a sec" wow... G-d has come down to earth my friends the two kids packed down three (measuring size) cups of food. What the deuce? 16oz of water and 3 cups of food is a lot for two fuzzies to pack away in under 2 hours, but they did it. My good buddy the friendly vet tech/major came over (she has had ferts since she was about 5 and is specializing in exotics because of them, etc) took one look at the two and confirmed my suspicions, you shouldnt be able to pick out the hip/shoulder bones and each vertebre and rib through the now dry and fluffy fur... how I hate this guy right now... I really do. They are sleeping and happy, soft old shirts and towels with full bellies and a warm room will do that for a fuzzy... They see the vet on Monday morning bright and early, weighins and intakes for everyone, rabies and distemper if theyre well enough. If not it shall wait until theyre more porky. But there will be no ferret playdates at the boyfriend's until they are found healthy and are shotted and whatnot. I am happy to have them and photos will come along shortly, but how I want to wring that little twit's sorry neck rght now... Spoik PS anyone who read my whole rant gets a gold star [Posted in FML issue 5107]