Dear Susan I feel your pain, I know what its like, I have been there too, Its not only for the Christmas ferrets, Its just human nature to be nasty to people who do their best for the ferrets without asking anything in return. I spent 11years 24/7 being there to help ferrets and their owners, then from one day to the next I was was told by someone I though was a very good friend, that I was consider to be to old, that I should leave it to the youngsters, that I was not trustworthy and needed to let go. I was never given a reason for the back stabbing. Then at the beginning of this year I lost my husband and my last two ferrets to cancer, of all these so called friends I had accumulated over the 11 years, only a very few were there for me and kept in touch, took the time to ask how I was handling thing, and all of a sudden, I realised that I should stop worrying about the ones who are not there and concentrate on the ones who were there for me. You have some good friends, keep them in your heart and forget the rest, letting them upset you is not going to change the nature of the nasty ones, you are just giving them more to laugh about and they are not worth it. Just concentrate on the ferrets, they love you and need a happy shelter mum, they will always be there for you, they will never be nasty without reason, I think that this is the reason we love them so much, and they don't know about the nasty people, so make Christmas a happy time for them by being happy yourself. I know its hard, but sometimes we just have to make do with what life has in store for us and that includes nasty ungratefully people. Please don't close your doors, because then you will be punishing the ferrets not the people who deserve to be punished and in the end, what comes around goes around. Stephenie [Posted in FML 7983]