For all of you who have been reading shelter reports over the past few months you will remember the post on "Brownie" the 4 year old "stray" who initially was reported as entering the shelter with bite wounds to his hind quarters. This update is to relay to you what has transpired over the past six weeks since he entered Ferret Wise Shelter.Brownie was initially seen by the vet. He had a wound on his lower back near the tail and a mass of scar tissue on the left rear hip & flank area. It was a suspected bite by the shelter Mom upon entry, though the vet did not agree. We watched Brownie and had him on antibiotics and the swelling started to subside. Approximately three weeks ago Brownie started vomiting, spurraticly, he did not lose weight and did not have symptoms of blockage as his stools were fine, but a little extra hairball remover was administered as a precaution. The swelling of the tissue had drastically reduced and only a small hard lump remained on MOnday of this week. He was scheduled for surgery as we could not begin screening for foster placement without everything being A-OK. In the meantime he vomited again without any obvious reason on Monday afternoon. Surgery day - Friday October 18, at 2:15 PM. Brownie was examined by the shelter vet. I requested also the spleen be palpated as to rule out vomiting from oversize. The vet said the spleen was fine. Local anesthesia was administered as I talked to Brownie -- then the vet removed the foreign object which he carried into the shelter on his admission. What she removed from his left side flank was a 22 caliber bullet. It had entered from the rear, miraculously missed his spinal column, also missed his intestinal tract and was imbedded in the dermal wall ( skin of his left side). This was after all the reason he had severe swelling on the hip.So, "Brownie will be remaining at Ferret Wise Shelter a while longer. We have contacted the animal abuse investigator and are getting affidavits and substantiating data together. There are two shelter directors who took a course this past Spring on animal abuse investigation so we can perhaps walk through this process somewhat in order. No one ever responded to the ads placed in the paper reporting Brownie as found. No one ever contacted the Humane Society in the same township where he was recovered. And certainly no one ever called Ferret Wise Shelter to report him missing or inquire if her had been found. This is somewhat suspicious. If you had lost a pet of 3-4 years you would think of calling wouldn't you? What we can surmise today is that : A. Either someone shot Brownie thinking he was a wild animal B. someone shot Brownie knowing he was not a wild animal C. Someone - perhaps his owner shot Brownie -- for what reason? D. Perhaps kids shot at him for sport? Whatever the reason whom ever inflicted the bullet wound on this animal did it with intent to kill. Brownie must have angels up there watching over him. He is the only ferret that has ever cried real tears for attention, perhaps now I know why. Alicia the shelter Mom [Posted in FML issue 1726]