Well, we ran our first ad in the local paper for the Richmond Ferret Rescue League last week- The good news is that we had 22 calls from people wanting to adopt ferrets. The sad news was that over half of these calls were from people wanting a ferret at a "cheaper" price than they'd pay at the pet store- or that they wanted a specific color and/or age- We received several calls for Siamese ferrets. Or "baby" ferrets. Sigh. We took in three ferrets- two of them were adopted immediately by a really nice couple who had contacted me over a month ago- (Thank you, Pam Troutman, for the referral;-) The other ferret was the most pitiful litlle boy you've ever seen- "Odie" is approximately 3-4 years old- his teeth are stained and chipped- And he has NO muscle tone in his tiny, emaciated rear-end. My husband called me at work to tell me that the people who were to bring Odie at 6pm had dumped him out at 2pm- No cage- He was just lying in the back seat of their car on a towel. They asked my husband if "it" was a boy or a girl- when he told them it was a boy, they said 'Oh, good, we were right." They had owned Odie for 2 years. He has a mostly bald tail, but the hair is missing from the very tip end (about the last 1 1/2")- he has hair on the base of the tail, and hair everywhere else, just not on the end. And he is absolutely the most grateful, sweet ferret I've met. He arrived last Thursday, and he's getting several small meals of Marshall's mixed with warm water, and a dab of ferretvite, plus Iams Kitten- we're going to start mixing Iams with Totally Ferret. Odie could barely move himself on Thursday, but I'm happy to say he can now manage a tippy-toe run, and he climbed up on the couch last night! He crawled up on the couch twice yesterday, curled up under my fleece blanket with me and fell asleep while I read. What a doll! He seems to be okay, otherwise-no lumps or bumps, or knots under his little arms. His eyes are bright and clear. He has a young ferret's face on an old ferret's body. Hopefully he'll keep improving. I did want to ask, I sent the nice couple home with a pair of young males, one 5 month old and one 8 months old. Both had normal poopies, were eating well, nice mannered- current on their shots- This couple already have 2 ferrets (both about 1 1/2 years old)- They picked up the "new guys" late Thursday night- On Friday one of their "original" ferrets had a greenish stool- they took him to the vet who diagnosed it as a mild bacterial infection- he prescribed Flagyl. On Sunday their other "original" ferret had green stool, also. The "new" adoptees still have normal, good, solid poopies- Not the greenish ones. I called them Sunday to check on the new guys- They are concerned that the 2 new adoptees "gave" their ferrets this bowel problem. The new guys were never in contact with my other residents. But has anyone ever heard of a 12-hour incubation period? I can't imagine something bacterial showing up in their ferrets after less than 12 hours. Could it be stress that is causing their problems? Could their "original" ferrets be "stressed" about the new boys? Unfortunately, they introduced the new ferrets to their guys, even after I did a lecture on "quarrantine!!!" BTW, none of my residents has green poopie. They're just boring, old, plain brown. Well, some of them did try some artwork. And Bear definitly is working on pooping the entire alphabet. He's got the S's and the T's down pat. Q's, too. I personally like the giant S's that he leaves up on the heat vents;-0 You know you're owned by ferrets when your teenage son comes to you with his leg in a cast and he sticks his casted foot in your face and says "Mom, do I have any ferret shit on the bottom of my cast?" Nope, just the letter "P". For Poopie! Marlene B.(who smells like a ferret!) [Posted in FML issue 2588]