DOOK CITY NEWS
Second quarter 2007 Issue
Members of the
The NNFN, Northern Nevada
Ferret Network is a group of ferret enthusiasts who get together and
talk ferret talk, raise funds for further ferret education and emergency
ferret care, develop and create their ideas, etc.
New volunteers always welcome! The NNFN is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. To contact us email redferret4@yahoo.com Join our Yahoo group at renoferrets@yahoogroups.com or visit www.nnfn.net
We’re
baaaaaaaaaackkkkk!
Well… sort of. All the regular volunteers
you know so well never really went away, we were just busy with our
own lives, but we never gave up on the NNFN. We still hold our
bi-weekly educational events at various pet stores, and we rescue
emergencies and CA confiscates. The newsletter just always seemed
to be on the bottom of the ever so long to do list.
As most everyone
knows, the Biggest Little Ferret Shelter is long closed, but that
does not mean we don’t have any ferrets to rescue. The law in
Unfortunately,
the person who used to coordinate all of the rescues in CA has retired. Hildy, who runs ferretware has had enough. Many years of rescue
can really take a toll on a person, and to be honest, I never really
knew how she did it for so long. One thing is for sure, Hildy
deserves to be applauded for everything she did for the ferrets. It is not everyday that you meet someone who is willing to give up
all for the sake of rescuing an innocent critter. We are very
thankful to have had Hildy helping us rescue the little critters,
but it is time for someone else to step up to the plate. One
person can not do it all. Don’t get me wrong, ferretware
still exists, and no one ever fully quits ferret rescue once they
get so involved. But this just means that we no longer have
that one and only person to depend on.
Which brings me to another
sad announcement: while the Biggest Little Ferret Shelter was busy
closing its doors, so was 24 Carat Ferret Rescue in
http://network.bestfriends.org/nevada/news/1092.html
What
this means to
If
you have considered being a foster parent, this is really the time
to get serious, as spaces for ferrets are in high demand, the actual
places for them to go fall quite short.
If you’re wondering what
it is like to volunteer with our network, read on, there are some
stories in this issue from the volunteers themselves…
Melatonin implants? We need your feedback. If you have been using the melatonin implants, we’d like to know what
you think. Are they working? Cost? Availability? Please email me at redferret4@yahoo.com and let us know your thoughts!
Hello, I am the latest addition to the
I work
as a geriatric nurse in a not so local care place. It’s an hour
commute but worth it to me. The only down side is, on average
I put in a fourteen hour day.
I am married to a great supportive
guy and am desperately in love with my ferrets.
My fuzzy four
legged children listed in order of age: Pogo (Sable) my problem child,
Mystical (Dark eyed white) the Alpha, My big boy Bambam (Albino),
and Scruffy (
I came into ferrets
as proof that there is something good in everything. A couple
years back, I had a boyfriend that did not work out in a big way. He did however, turn me on to ferrets. I got into
rescuing ferrets as a natural progression for the love of the species. With
the exception of Mystical, I have saved my Motley crew of all boys
from not so fun situations. What can I say, “I’m a nurse”!
Initially
it was just me and Mystical my dark eyed white. It was love
at first site. He wanted to be held in the pet store and I haven’t
put him down since. We are still very close. If I don’t
hold him daily “the carpet will pay”. He is the boss of
the pack and dominating in behavior but not a bully. If someone
steps out of line, he puts them in their place. He has
a thing for bathtub plugs. He will spend hours unscrewing and
removing the plug. Need a bath you need to find his ever moving
stash spot first. I mostly shower anyway.
Pogo
my sable, was given/abandoned to a pet store. His life mate
(brother) was separated and sold. He was in a plastic box alone with
nothing for entertainment. He was depressed and barely eating. I figured what the heck, Mystical could use a buddy. Luckily
the plan worked, the two get along very well. They spend a lot
of time together eating and sleeping on each other. Pogo
is a very excitable boy and always in trouble. If it weren’t for Mystical
I believe Pogo would be a bully. To date, Pogo’s vet bills and various
expenses easily add up to over thousand dollars. He is one expensive
little trouble/maker, who I love very much.
The
stashing behavior that is typical in ferrets is exaggerated in Pogo.
I have to put my work shoes up, to prevent a half an hour search in
the morning.
I have no matching pair of thongs; they’re
all stashed up a tube somewhere. He is very determined and very
intelligent.
Bambam my Albino is a boomerang ferret. I am his second and fourth owner. He originally was not my ferret,
remember that boyfriend that didn’t work out… I placed him with someone
who for various reasons returned him. Well that did it, three
owners is enough! No ferret deserves to be bounced from owner
to owner to owner, so he became my third ferret. He is
the largest of the group and could easily dominate, but doesn’t. He’s my mellow fellow who would rather be carried than walk.
He is my only ferret that can perform a trick; he will give kisses
on command. I try not to make him perform too much, but it is
so cute. only ferret that can perform a trick; he will give
kisses on command. I try not to make him perform too much, but
it is so cute.
I call him
the “anti albino”. He does not fit the stereo type at all; he
is very mellow and not aggressive. He is physically stable,
possibly the healthiest of the group. He is definitely not blind or
deaf. Unless you include that ever present trait of ferret selective
hearing. He is the stereo type breaker the “Anti Albino”.
Scruffy
my pearl colored youngest, I am happy to announce, doesn’t look so
scruffy anymore. No joke, he was raised in a FISH TANK by a
pet store.
He had a respiratory infection. To the
pet store’s credit, they put him on antibiotics. At the same time,
they separated and sensory deprived him, nice guys. When
I saw him it was obvious to anyone he was ill. He was so skinny. I was mentally calculating the vet bill when I asked the manager if
I could buy him at a discount. After the manager assured
me Scruffy was healthy and had been seen by a vet. The manager
said it was his policy to not sell an animal to anyone “who made a
negative comment”. I guess that was his way of avoiding a lawsuit.
Frankly I don’t know what he was thinking.
He immediately
scooped him away to the back of the store again, for more solitary
confinement. I was so upset!
I went back to the store periodically
and used their bathroom just to visit with him. The lid was padlocked;
they must have seen me coming. The next time I saw Scruffy
up front, a couple of weeks later, I bought him no questions asked. He’s
a little guy who has gained a lot of weight and is very fluffy. He behaves different than most ferrets I have encountered, which is
to be expected. I was concerned the social deprivation might cause
compatibility issues, it didn’t. He is passive and easily dominated
by other ferrets. Which, I think, had nothing to do with
that entire fish tank living, it’s just his personality. He
is very unique smart little guy - he is always the first to escape
the ferret room. He has a high speed backup that would impress
most race car drivers. When I hold him which is often, he grabs
my fingers with his feet. He and Bambam are best buddies. They will never be separated by choice or by me.
My motley
crew of all male ferrets have their own room. I rarely cage
my ferrets. They have a lot of toys and tubes. There are
five sleeping chambers and always a lot of food with ferretone. I
race home from work to play with the ferrets daily. I go on
vacation, they go with me. I couldn’t be happier. I am very
excited to add an additional chapter to my personal ferret story by
volunteering with the
Bambam & Mystical
Scruffy kissing Pogo
Yep! Another yard sale!
The NNFN tries to hold
a yard sale annually as a way to raise funds for the network.
Currently this is our largest fundraiser.
Our next yard sale will be
held on Saturday, May 26th, 2007, hours 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM.
One day only! At 1385 Tanglewood dr. in
If you have stuff
to donate, we'll gladly take it. Or just come by and see what
we have to offer!
For most people, a job is just that, you go to work,
you contribute your services to your boss for eight hours, and at
the end of the day, you go home, sometimes, you get a little overtime,
other times you get to leave early, but, at the end of the week/month
or whatever, your boss rewards you for showing up to work everyday,
he/she gives you a paycheck.
Well, volunteer work is just that,
except your rewards do not come in the form of a paycheck, or cash,
or even any other financial value. It comes in the form of knowing
in your heart that you made a difference, you made a ferret feel better,
or gave another volunteer a long needed break, or maybe even kisses
from a ferret, or whatever animal of choice you volunteer with.
No,
you can’t take these types of rewards to the grocery store and buy
groceries, nor can you buy any stock with them. They’re actually
quite useless in the monetary sense, it may even at times feel like
you’re doing all of this for nothing, because people don’t listen,
they don’t pay attention, and four months later they come to you with
the very thing you warned them about.
Volunteering is by far
the toughest work I have ever done. And I’ve dabbled quite a
bit in many careers. About the second toughest job I’ve ever
held was waitressing. Nothing like dealing with demanding people
who expect the world and give you nothing in return. Yes, if
I had to compare, volunteering is like being a server in a coffee
shop.
So why do people do it? Why do people keep moving
forward day after day after day? With all the exhaustion, frustration,
and sadness, why do people keep coming back for more?
My personal
story is not a secret. I guess you could say that I believed
I could make a difference. I kept telling myself that every
ferret I save, is a ferret that teaches someone else something. If I rescued a ferret, and then it found a home, it would teach its
new owners the beauty of life, and the magic of nature that created
ferrets.
I also believed that my efforts made a difference, a
huge difference. I really don’t know if any of my efforts ever
did or didn’t make a difference, but I do know that I kept believing,
and that belief, kept me going. I never knew who I
was
going to meet, or who I would have to educate, nor even who I would
have to hold my tongue back from.
But every time I felt discouraged,
I would see a furry four legged little critter run across the room,
and I knew why I kept trying, why I kept going. And I knew I
was making a difference for every ferret that came through my doors.
Unfortunately
for me, I went too far with my volunteering. I opened a ferret
shelter, I took in every ferret imaginable, and I paid for it dearly.
The cost of owing one ferret can be a lot, imagine over 300 ferrets.
There came a time when I had to face reality, no matter how
much I did not want to. I just did not have enough time, space,
or money to keep doing what I was doing. Even with all the help
I was getting, it just was not enough.
So here I am a year later still
recovering from the rescue I ran. My hubby and I are struggling
to keep our house, but I still volunteer for the NNFN. I still
do the website (until someone volunteers to take over) and I still
take in the CA confiscates (though I try to place them in foster homes
as quickly as possible). I still baby-sit ferrets occasionally,
and I still have a few of my own ferrets left. But for the most
part, I’m pretty much done. I’m only hanging on until someone
with more energy can take over from where I left off.
Which is
why I’m so excited with this new issue of
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Pogo
The day that we were adopted by Pogo, our first ferret, was like any other warm May day. Bill, my other half, was watering plants in the back yard when this little critter came up and licked his ankle. He picked the little guy up, showed him to me and asked what we should do with him. We figured he must have gotten away from his home and set about trying to find where he belonged. We checked the newspaper, placed an ad and checked the animal shelter, pet stores and vet’s offices for a missing ferret. There was no reply, so after 10 days we decided to keep him, adding him to our family that consisted of a dog and 3 cats. After all, he was such a cute little thing– how much work could he be?? We found out, but by then we were smitten. That was about 4 years ago.
Pogo has since had 3 surgeries: The first one was for adrenal disease, then one for insulinoma tumors, and finally one for a hernia. We almost lost him after the 2nd surgery and started him on a special soup that he still likes today. We have learned a lot about the care and medical conditions that ferrets are prone to, and realize that while this isn’t something that a lot of people would do, we do this willingly. Pogo has been on medication twice daily for about 2 years. He is such a special boy and loves to cuddle, though he doesn’t play much anymore. Every day that he is with us is a blessing.
Mazee
Well, once people hear you have a ferret, it probably won’t be long until the next one shows up somehow. Our next little fur-face was a fairly young little girl, and she was a biter. She was afraid of the bigger ferrets that lived with her and was left in the cage so that when ever someone reached in to get her, she’d bite – hard. Her owners stopped handling her and she got worse. A friend was visiting their house and saw the situation, rescued the little girl and brought her to us. We took her in and loved her until she felt safe and stopped biting. Today Mazee is the sweetest little thing.
She was a dark sable when we first saw her and now 2 years later she has become almost a silver sable. She can run with the big boys now and is pretty good at holding her own.
Tundra
Next came Tundra. He was another kid that needed a good home and he fit right in with our two ferrets, cats, and dog. He was fairly young too, and just a big lover. He can jump onto tables and has chewed the buttons off of the remote (Bill’s not happy about that!). He’s also a stasher – he has most of the cat toys hidden underneath the bed. Once a month we pull the drawers out and clean everything out and within 15 minutes he has most of the toys back where he thinks they belong!
So how did I come to be part of NNFN? It was another ferret! I bet you couldn’t have guessed that one. We saw an ad on Craig’s list that someone had found a ferret and couldn’t keep it. I wrote back saying that we hadn’t lost one, but if no one claimed it, we would take it. I explained that we were fairly ferret-knowledgeable and could give him a good home. I didn’t hear anything for quite a while. Then when I figured the owner had claimed him, I received an email from someone named Ardith, who asked if I was still willing to take him. I said yes. After another couple of days, she wrote back and said that he had adrenal disease and was hairless, would I still be willing to take him. I said yes again. So she arranged for his surgery and we arranged for a transfer of this hairless ferret. After he healed from his surgery he grew a beautiful coat of fur and is a very handsome boy today. He is very mellow for a ferret and has a lovable, gentle disposition. We are so lucky to have him!
.
So I was introduced into the NNFN and was invited to come to one of their events at the pet store. I went and was very impressed at the dedication of the volunteers and the importance of the education and support that makes up the NNFN.
I have been involved ever since and thoroughly enjoy the people and the ferrets that I’ve met. I know where I’m going to be next Saturday – do you?
Loree
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