Hello All. I will apologize but this post is going to be a book. So, yesterday I got a call from Heartland Small Animal Rescue needing help evaluating these kids. Since I am only two hours from where these kids are being kept right now, I offered to take the day today and drive over. In ways I was shocked at what I saw, but in other ways, I was relieved to find that these kids are not as bad as I expected them to be. First off, I learned a little more about how these kids had been living. We all know the Ferret Nation cage. It has two levels with the option of adding a third. Well, ALL 16 kids were living in ONE Ferret Nation two level cage with the optional third level attached by only a single plastic tube.....OMG! Now that we know the cage that they were in, add to that the filth that Jerri described in a previous post. Well, I took the time to look at each ferret, feel them over (looking for any abnormal things), clipped their nails, got weights and cleaned ears. I saw remnants of the "maple syrup" Jerri described in their ears and on their nails. Their ears were just gross. Their nails were super long, dry and brittle. Quite a few have broken nails that are way too short and one it seems his nail was ripped out completely. Teeth are a whole other story. I didn't even try to brush teeth today. Personally I felt what we did was enough stress for one day, but I did look at their teeth. It looks like none of them have ever had their teeth cared for. Quite a few of them have teeth that are more than likely going to need to be pulled. What shocked me was how many of them were missing the little front teeth. Now, I know not much has been mentioned about Zoo taking some of these kids, but I wanted to bring her up because she will be receiving four of these kids that need quite a bit of medical attention. The first little boy she is getting we named Panda. I think he is supposed to be a dark brown ferret....but no clue what his pattern might be. Panda has 4 hairs on the tip of his tail, a bit of hair on the tops of his feet and a little bit of hair on his head. Other that that, he is totally bald. I took chicken soup with me today and offered him some, and he couldn't get enough. He also couldn't get enough ferretone. It didn't matter if the ferretone was on his belly or someone else's, it was all his. Panda is full of life and only stopped to give us some kisses, then he was off again. The second boy that Zoo is getting is an albino boy. I forget what we named him (coming up with 16 names, it's hard to remember them all in just a few hours). This little boy has a naked tail and the rest of his coat is quite thin. He is also covered head to toe in scratches. Now, in the time I was there, I never saw this little boy itching or any other ferret showing signs they might have caused these scratches. This little boy was also full of life and played like he was a kit. The third boy is a light brown sable, again, can't remember what we named him. This little boy has a really gross cauliflower ear. I did everything I could to get that ear clean and I swear the more I cleaned it, the more ick showed up. The last fur kid that is going to Zoo is a little girl. She is missing about half her fur and has a slightly swollen vulva. There also seems to be a tumor that is quite large on her underside near her rib cage. This little girl is a beautiful silver. Now the kids that Jerri is receiving I really can't post something about all of them or this post would really turn into a book, but here is a bit of what she will be expecting and a little about one guy that just touched my heart. Almost all of the kids have naked tails. Most of them I think this is due to stress, but I am guessing there are at least three or four that are adrenal kids. Quite a few are going to need to have teeth pulled and all need to have their teeth cleaned. There were at least two that were really under weight. None of these kids (the ones going to Zoo or Jerri) are up to date on shots. Now the one going to Jerri that just stood out and immediately touched my heart was Arnold. Arnold is a light brown sable that has a HUGE (size of a small rubber bouncy ball) tumor on the top of his head. This tumor doesn't seem to bother him much as he let me play with it, nor did he let it slow him down. Arnold was the ornery one. He spent his time out of the cage causing chaos. He had to climb everything and everyone. He also was very persistent on finding that mystery ferret treasure up everyone's pant legs. He was not the least bit happy about being put back in his cage and made sure that we all knew that. Jerri better have some really good escape proof cages, because if there is a way out, I am sure this little boy is going to find it. There is one little girl out of this group that will not be going to either Jerri or Zoo. She has found a forever home already. This little girl seems to be the youngest in the group and over the past few days has shown no signs of being bonded with any of the others. She will be going to a gentleman who was looking for a companion ferret for his little boy. Now just in case there is a bonding issue with this little girl that was not seen, she will be staying with me till Saturday. But if everything is still good by Saturday, she will be moving on to her new home. To end my book....I wanted to post this update not only because I had the opportunity to see these kids first hand, but also to let the ferret community know what Jerri and Zoo have offered to do. They are taking on quite a bit here. Lots of vet bills are in their future with these kids. I know that there is a raffle started that is ear marked for Jerri, so let me use this post to push everyone to go and buy even just one ticket. I have not heard of anything organized to help Zoo out, so for those of you that have even a little extra resources, please send her your offer of help. These two ladies have stepped up to the plate on this one when they didn't have to and also when they already have quite a full plate. Many thanks go to both of you. Erin Ruggie's Ferret Rescue [Posted in FML 6118]