From:
"Amanda Striker"
Date: 2008-01-03 21:37:44 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Hey Im A New Member
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello!! I am new to the group though not new to yahoo
groups. I have a rattery (I breed and rescue) in southern New Jersey.
Since I take in rats occasionally I will take in other animals. This
is going to be a long post, but stick with me.
I used to work at a pet store and one day a woman brought
back a ferret she had bought two days before. The woman was crying to
my manager and handed me a carrier with a ferret inside. When I
looked in at her I was horrified. All I could see was the raw meat of
her face from her eyes to what would be the tip of her nose. I rushed
her to the vet (which the store paid because the woman decided she
wanted a refund and to give the ferret back). The woman said that the
ferret had been in the cage all night with her other three ferrets
and that she was scratching at her face. The next morning (the
morning she was brought to the store) she said she awoke to fur in
the cage and the ferret looking like this. Extremely long story a
little shorter; the vet said that it appeared to be a chemical burn
and that she needed some sort of laser surgery to ensure that she
would heal. The store paid for the surgery and the ferret came back
to us. She had three months of creams and medications and I knew that
my fianc=E9 had just lost two of his 8 year old ferrets, but had one
left who was likely to be lonely. So we brought the little lady home
and named her Leela. The vet said he was unsure if she would be able
to see or hear. Well she healed up very well and all that is left is
a scar that bands across the top of her face. Once she healed up
completely she became a bit of a terror, TONS of energy and the last
old man ferret passed away. I was fearful that she was lonely and
figured that a friend would help her exert some of that energy when
we weren't home. Since I rescue rats I know that there are ALWAYS
animals in need so I decided to post an ad on craigslist and see if
anyone had a ferret that needed a home.
The response to Leela's story was over whelming. There were
many ferrets in the area that needed a home so I decided to take in
the one with the most need. There was a woman who fosters dogs who
said that she saved two ferrets from being placed into a shelter. The
man who had them before her said that they ate fruits and veggies.
YIKES! She told me that they were very skinny when she got them and
that one of the ferrets had passed away. I told her I would be happy
to take the other ferret off of her hands. When she brought him to me
he was eating a crappy store brand food and was living in a small cat
carrier. He had a kink in his tail and was unable to walk. Though he
had a fat pot belly he had absolutely no meat on his bones. I could
feel every bone down his back and he would fall over when he took a
few steps. After a few weeks of some home therapy I got him to the
point that he could get himself around pretty well. He had loose
stool and was still falling over though. The vet did about $1,500
worth of tests (goes to show you, no animal is ever "free to a good
home" lol). All they got from all the tests was that he looked like a
completely healthy 3 year old ferret but his blood sugar was a little
on the low side, not low enough to be that major of an issue. Pete
(as we named him) was not improving and took a turn for the worse one
night. His back feet were lifting up over his head and his nose was
on the ground, he was essentially doing summersaults. The vet gave us
prednisone and that is where we are right now. I am hoping that by
joining this group I can learn more about ferret diseases. I have
become extremely well versed in home remedies and vet care of rats
through learning from the very educated people on some rat groups
here at yahoo and I hope that I will find the same thing here. Thanks
if you managed to read my whole story. I look forward to conversing
with you all. Id love it if you could check out my website and see
what I am all about, also on the site you can see pictures of all my
animals including Pete and Leela.
- Amanda
[Moderator's Notes: websites that provide income to people are
removed from posts due to past abuses, but people can write
to Amanda directly to ask her for the URL.]
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