21 of the ferrets are up for adoption Hopefully, Bill Gruber or someone else had a chance to include that somewhere in the FML; it arrived as a Google News Alert for "ferrets" last night. More: <http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_013008_ferrett_adoption.728743c7.html> Yet more with an insider's take: <http://www.wandtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7801257&nav=menu589_1> Sadly, for some people with many animals there is a fine line which delineates when keeping many topples over into hoarding. I am not going to determine which of the 3 or 4 seizure situations I have read about recently are hoarding but a newspaper story on another person made clear that one was not a hoarder. In her case the woman herself called animal control, explained that she had many animals, further explained that she had developed a serious medical condition, and let them know the animals needed a new home for their own safety. She also gave them her vet's information and the vet clarified that these were animals who had received excellent care. For those who want to decide for themselves: remember that conditions may change over time, and remember that people, especially those under stress, may change over time -- though often that is temporary. No one wants to be a burden but there can come a time when an individual has to make arrangements for adored animals with someone else who is better able to provide care. That hurts horribly. I had to do it when I was young. Of course, that did not involve a large number of animals. Dehydration would likely have been determined by trained veterinary technicians or veterinarians, as would starvation rather than illness- created emaciation as can happen with some malignancies. They'd be careful on that score because the law would require it for any possible future court case. Besides the animals' states of health things that will be taken into account will include how often the ferret had veterinary care, how much waste was laying around and where it was, how much unremoved old or really old garbage was present, any other times any of the people may have been in trouble for animal abuse, hoarding, unsanitary conditions, etc. No matter how anyone defines the situation, and not being there or having related personal communications I am not about to do so, just give generalities which are used while I continue to listen, the entire situation is a sad one. Here are some resources. There certainly are others out there. AVMA: http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct02/021015a.asp Tufts site with extensive information: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/ Psychiatric journal article on hoarding: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p000425.html HSUS: <http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/behind_closed_doors_the_horrors_of_animal_hoarding.html> Pet abuse database: http://www.pet-abuse.com/database/ The sheer number in the freezer surprised me if they were being collected for communal cremation because didn't Barb Carlson mention that they had a few, just enough to bring down the cost by doing a joint cremation, but also few enough that each could feel like there was enough of her or his ferret's ashes in the divided ashes later? I wonder if anyone has thought of sharing the departed ferrets with a veterinary school for educational purposes? Frozen animals can be later used for dissection. That could help other ferrets later due to the vets and future vets afterward knowing ferret anatomy better. More personal update: Dad passed away around 3 a.m. on the first. By that point it was a mercy; Dad was 93 with several painful health problems and advancing dementia which had fortunately not yet entered the paranoid stage some other very elderly relatives had encountered. He was lucky enough to go in his sleep of pneumonia, which he always called, "the old man's friend". His memorial is being delayed a little bit while my step-mom continues recovering from her own respiratory infection, until some of her relatives who were already traveling for a wedding will already be in the area, and to give me a bit more time to recover more after my recent surgery before I travel. My surgeon had just okayed me for travel if I took a load of precautions (some specific for travel) but Dad passed the day before we were heading out there. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5872]