First of all I need to apologize to Marguerite about that whole Alaska Whale Watching Trip thing! I had no idea they were using trying to use the raffle money for that! LOL THEY said it was a surprise family vacation. Hummmmm...must be that mind control thing again. Second of all I would like to thank Dandee, Linda, and Sukie for the manner of their posts concerning Marguerite and Little Prints. This is the way it should be, no back biting, personal attacks or spitefulness. Just well thought out comments. They all disagree with certain details of the way Marguerite does things but they didn't verbally attack her personally. Everyone just agrees to disagree on certain points and leaves everyone's dignity and respect intact. It was very refreshing to see that after the feeding debates! And Marguerite, if you want to form a board I'll volunteer to sit on it, provided let you have board members in another states! Third, Marguerite and her family have given up a lot to care for their shelter and they offer a much needed service. I guarantee you that they are not making money off anything at that shelter. It all goes into caring for the ferrets. As Dandee and others have pointed out, it's very easy to run up a bill FAST!! Especially with older/sick ones and rescues that need immediate vet care. I run a small, very small, due to space, rescue/shelter here in Anchorage Alaska. I've been very lucky so far that all my rescues have been relatively healthy, except for Rascal who had IBS but still found a good home with a ferret knowledgeable lady, but I know that won't last, so every spare dollar that comes into our house goes into a separate ferret fund for future use. That fund is separate from even my personal ferret fund for my personal ferrets. Marguerite can't even think about doing a vet fund until her current tab is paid. So the shelter needs help, hence the raffle and e-bay and if you haven't checked out Marguerite's raffle you should, she has some great items. I love the ferrets and all the bedding. Forth, what about the other shelters in the area that are affected by the clinic's policy change. In all the flaming and bashing of Tiny Prints they seem to have disappeared from everyone's mind. They need our help as well. So if you don't want to help Marguerite, than please, help one of the other one that are affected by this change. We need our ferret shelters!! Each and everyone of them. Shelters and people who volunteer at them should not be bashing other shelters. It can reflect badly back on you and/or the shelter you work with. Not worth it. Last but not least, a big thank you to Dandee for the excellent posts on ADV. I contacted Kat Parsons last year about this disease and was directed to several excellent web sites. Thank you so much. Hugs and Dooks, Cindy Michou and the gang at Hiland Ferrets [Posted in FML issue 5219]