I am in awe of you! Your love of ferrets leads you down paths that few of us have traveled. You see sick ferrets, dying ferrets and abused ferrets every day. You have scars on your hands from many bites and scars on your hearts from many deaths. The rest of us love and care for one or even several ferrets but you love and care for dozens.... sometimes hundreds! You must make difficult decisions and help a ferret to the Rainbow Bridge that you have been able to love only for a day or a month, knowing that your short time with them is the only time that they have ever been loved after years of abuse. All of the ferrets in your shelter are your "kids". You cry hundreds of tears in the years that you care for your "kids". You send your "kids" off to live with other people hoping that they will enjoy a life of love and not be rejected. Sometimes you see them return to you and your heart is broken. Every day you care for "kids" that will never leave you... the "unadoptables". Because of illness or behavior problems that were caused by other people, they will stay with you forever. You are remarkable! If it wasn't for you, hundreds of ferrets would be euthanized each year.....and hundreds of others would die after being dumped in a park, or the woods or on a lonely road. You cry for the ones you never find. While we all have vet bills, yours are enormous, into the thousands every year. You rely on the generosity of others to be able to feed, care and medicate the many ferrets that pass through your shelter. Sometimes you pray. Sometimes you beg. You cry when a ferret, patiently waiting for surgery, dies before the money is found. Many of you work outside the home and when you get home tired, you must clean cages and feed ferrets into the wee hours. You spend time comforting a newly relinquished ferret that wonders where his people are and when they are coming back to get him. Sometimes a ferret never can accept their new shelter life and they die, with you wondering what more you could have done to ease their broken heart. It breaks your heart too but then a new day dawns and on that day, a ferret, who you thought would surely die, starts to eat again, slowly recovers, then dances for the first time in his life. You live for those moments. You take care of ferrets that have never slept in a clean hammock and shed tears of joy when those ferrets give you that first thank you kiss. You laugh at a ferret that can't stop jumping and dooking after being released from a cage where he has spent years, locked up, neglected. You feel renewed and continue being a shelter mom as long as you can. You are remarkable! I honor you on this Mother's Day! You are very special Moms...all of you! Nancy and 15 fuzzies who enjoyed being outside today in their outside play area on the decking....whoopee...sand to dig in...water to snorkle in....sunshine to sleep in! [Posted in FML 6328]