Hi all, A few days ago, I posted about the 8 ferrets that Scott and I transported to a caretaker in Florida for their owner. This posting will serve as an update to the first. First of all, Thank you to all of those of you who responded to me personally. I appreciated each and every one of your messages and made every attempt to respond to each. If I missed anyone, I apologize and it was an oversight on my part and not intentional. Now, for the update. Scott and I went over to visit with the family and to see the ferrets last nite. The ferrets were all asleep in their cages and rarely stirred the entire time that we were there. As I held each one of them and stroked each and talked to each, it didn't take me very long to realize that even though they had had good food, fresh water, and plenty of rest for 4 days, they were grossly underweight. As I held Sneezy, I knew that had he remained in Florida for any length of time, he would have been the next to go. His ribcage was very pronounced and he had very little body mass. As I watched them sleeping, I began to remember them as they were when at my house before the transport. If Scott or I were in the room (our living room), most if, not all, were awake and ready for action. These were not the "same" ferrets that I turned over to the new caretaker. Those ferrets were fun-loving, full of life, full of spirit, bright eyed and being typical ferrets. These ferrets are exhausted, tired, struggling to overcome whatever it was they had to endure and attempting to bounce back from a bad situation. They will overcome it, of this I feel certain. It was reported to the owners that the reason for their decline was due to exposure to ECE or Gardia. However, as my ferrets have not been exposed to either and before I agreed to bring the new ones into my home, I asked the owner about exposure to ECE and was informed that hers had not been exposed, this point is invalid. The owner related to the vet the symptoms and how each ferret was behaving and he advised her that the symptoms described were inconsistent with those of ECE or Gardia and it appeared to be a case of simple starvation. It is felt that the caretaker was attempting to place the fault on someone other than herself. I would like to believe that this is a simple case of lack of knowledge or experience on the caregiver's part, but in lieu of all the information gained and details involved, it reeks of neglect. The sad part is that there are other animals at this location. Let us all keep them in our thoughts/prayers. I still find it hard to believe that someone who calls themselves a caregiver, could-would allow this to happen. I feel that we should all learn from this and that we should each take the time to get to know whoever we entrust our little one's lives to. It is so sad and unforgivable that Rascal had to be the victim and had to pay the ulitmate price, but maybe his passing will serve as the instrument that will ensure that another one of his brothers or sisters does not become the next victim due to improper or lack of care. Take care For the ferrets, always Margaret Scott and the 16 who are mourning the passing of their brother and friend plus 3 new rescues Exclusively Ferrets please see our tribute site at http://www.exclusivelyferrets.com/tribute [Posted in FML issue 2226]