With another year drawing to a close I thought I would take a moment to fill everyone in on what the Alberta Ferret Society has been up to in the last year. I'm not able to post to the FML on a regular basis as I have so little free time but here are a few of the Shelters highlights for 2006. We took in just shy of 90 ferrets in 2006. This month (December) has been a busy month for surrenders so we may even go over that. We received a surprising number of young ferrets (under 1 year) this year. In past years we rarely saw a ferret under the age of two but this year lots of youngsters were being surrendered. Right now we have 73 ferrets in foster care and about 12 of those are pending adoption. The AFS does not finalize adoptions over the Christmas Season so these little ones will be enjoying Christmas with their foster families before packing their bags to head off to their new homes. Of the 73 ferrets we have in foster care - 12 are age 5 or over, 33 are between 2 & 4 years of age and 28 are under the age of 2. We've shed many tears of happiness and of sorrow this year. Each ferret that comes in is precious in its own way and every one come with a story. Here a just a few: The Barn Boys (Nemo & Hogan) - when you live in Alberta and its winter and person on the other end of the phone is asking you "how cold is too cold for a ferret" you tend to panic. Temperatures here can easily dip down to 20 below zero or colder and it can last for days or weeks. Once we determined that the caller wanted to surrender the ferrets we immediately headed out. During the 2 hour trip our imaginations run wild. "What are we going to find"? The visions are not good! When we actually arrive we are handed two super fluffy young ferrets who despite being kept in a cage in the barn along side piles of hay and a multitude of kittens, are just as happy and healthy as can be. They have adapted well to living indoors and as ferrets tend to do they wove their magic and stole the heart of their foster mom who will soon be adopted them. Jack was dumped off at the Humane Society at the age of nine. When they called us to come and get him we were told that he was very thin and they did not think he would survive. After a trip to the vet we were shocked to find out that Jack's teeth were so rotten and so infected that many of them were only hanging on by a thread. The vet said he must be in terrible pain and he was obviously unable to eat properly. Today although Jack has various other health issues that we are dealing with he is doing just great. After surgery to remove the bad teeth and clean out the infection he may not have many teeth left but he has no problem eating his AD and softened Innova EVO ferret food. His foster family pampers and spoils him and he's loving every minute. Murphy's story does not have a happy ending I'm afraid. Murphy was found wandering on a hiking trail outside the city. We suspect he'd been out there for some time and he was not in great shape when he arrived. He was extremely thin, had sores on his feet and what little hair he had left was bright orange. Estimated at about 5-6 years of age an enlarged heart and advanced adrenal disease were only two of the multitude of things that Murphy was diagnosed with. He was started on a number of drugs including Lupron and Melatonin and for three months he did just awesome. His hair grew back, the orange colour started to fade and he thrived in his foster home. But just when we were starting to contemplate surgery his prostrate completely blocked up. After several days of emergency care at the vets we were advised to let him go. Murphy took a very large piece of his foster mom and dads hearts with him to the Rainbow Bridge. Maggie & Weazy were two more of the heartbreaking losses we had this year. Maggie got into a bit of trouble at her foster moms and somehow managed to puncture one of her eyes (we suspect it was in a tangle with the resident cat). The vets said the eye would have to be removed and surgery was scheduled. Although it went well Maggie went into cardiac arrest during recovery and could not be revived. Her loss was such a huge shock to all of us. She was only three years old and this was not supposed to happen. When Weasy arrived it was apparent that something was very wrong with her. She was scheduled for exploratory surgery after a large mass was palpitated in her abdomen. During the exploratory the vet called to say that Weasy was full of tumors and advised that we not wake her up. It was with deep sadness that we said goodbye to her. Those are just a few of the fur kids that touched our hearts this year but every one of them is special to us. We felt honoured to have been given the chance to help make a difference in their lives In addition to accepting surrenders and helping to place them into foster care AFS volunteers responded to more than 1000 calls on the Hotline and hundreds of emails sent via our web site in 2006. They filled out pre-screens, did in-homes for people wanting to adopt and participated in weekly info tables at pet stores. Their dedication also made it possible for the AFS to participate in two Pet Expo's, two full weekends at Spruce Meadows (a world renowned Show Jumping facility) and to plan and put on Alberta's first ever Ferret Veterinary Conference. Fundraising was another area where our volunteers excelled this year. Chocolate sales, raffle sales, Fun Runs, 50/50 ticket sales, donations and most recently four full weekends spent doing Santa Photo's at Petsmart. Volunteers are the heart and soul of the AFS and they are worth their weight in gold! To each and every one of them I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I wish for you all to have a Christmas filled with the same Joy and Love that you gave so freely throughout the year. To our extended FML family I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and I thank you for the love and support that you have shown to the many shelters and ferret owners on the list. Barb Alberta Ferret Society http://www.albertaferretsociety.com [Posted in FML 5463]