Ten years ago, in early May, there were two little ferrets living in a pot house in Wisconsin. They did not have names--They were referred to as "the ferrets". The owners thought it was funny to exhale marijuana into their faces & watch their reactions. They often did this, at the parties they had. The ferrets did not have a litter pan--the piles of poo were six inches high in the corners of their filthy cage. The food dish was often empty--and the water dish wasn`t clean. When one of "the ferrets" went bald, someone told the owners it was cancer---and they had coped with that by throwing her out in the snow to die... Fast forward through the winter, my daughter`s friend attended one of their wild parties in May. Having found out after the fact, about the poor little bald girl who had been thrown out to die, she decided to smuggle the remaining ferret out of there. She knew we had two ferrets, and asked if we would take the ferret in, if she brought it to us. She called the ferret "Clepto" (for "stolen") LOL. The ferret had had a "Pretty Terrible" life-- so we removed the "P" & the "T" (the pretty terrible) and "Clepto`s" new name became "Cleo" She was our first rescue. Cleo was in pretty bad shape, & smelled like pot for a couple weeks, despite repeated bathings. (Oh how little we knew, back then----and we only had TWO FERRETS!!!!) Fortunately, we had a wonderful ferret vet, with whom we developed a close friendship.(He taught me most of what I know about ferrets.) That`s how it started. If anyone had told me, in May of 1998 that my husband & I would share a home with 69 ferrets, I`d have said they were nuts! If anyone had told me my husband would build TWO ROOMS, just for those ferrets, I d never have believed them. If anyone had said I`d be talking & emailing with people from all over the United States about their ferrets, I`d have laughed. Come to think of it--If someone had told me my nickname would become "Zoo" or that I`d be called "The mother of all ferrets" I`d have been in stitches!!! LOL. Anyhow, this week is our 10th anniversary. Pretty neat, huh? Love, Zoo [Posted in FML 5960]