Mira update - 9/24/97 - Mira continues to heal, and, we just recently noticed, has begun to grow some hair around the edges of her burns! How much hair she will regrow is uncertain, but it appears that Mother Nature may be very forgiving with Mira. Her back is fresh with scarred but healing white skin. Some red, mosit skin remains under her front legs, which has been slower to heal. We have carefully observed how she manages to climb, considering her shoulder damage is roughly equal to having her arms glued into their sockets (you can get a rough idea of how Mira moves by keeping your shoulders stiff and imagining the arm cannot move in the socket. She can move her elbows, but her walk is suggestive of a wind-up toy moving side to side). When she wants to get up into a basket or up onto the top of a toy, she rears her entire body up similar to a rearing horse! It is truly amazing to watch how persistence and perseverance, not to mention determination, serves the physically challenged. I have learned to respect the body's capacity to heal! Each day we bring her into a larger room without any other ferrets to bother her so she can walk around and exercise her muscles. It is encouraging to see how active she is! And I can say I do not believe she is in any pain. We are, of course, cautious when handling her so as not to aggravate her shoulder injury. We wish to thank the readers of the FML and those visitors to our website who have sent donations on her behalf. FACT is holding all donations in a special "Mira Fund" for her eventual reconstruction surgery. At this point we do not have a veterinarian who has volunteered to do the surgery. We'll cross that bridge after her skin has thoroughly healed. In the meantime, Mira comes out to "play" daily and loves to settle in a warm lap after she tires herself out - which can take a while. She is still a ferret and all nooks and crannies must be explored, even if she is a bit slow! We will continue to post periodically of her progress and hope to update her photo on our website in the next few weeks. Thanks, again, to all, for their words of encouragement and concern over little Mira. Ann Gruden FACT, Inc. http://www.ferret-fact.org/ [Posted in FML issue 2079]