September Meeting Topic

Then we moved onto a discussion of toys for or little ones. Club members demonstrated some of their baby's favorite toys. They ranged from store bought to homemade (which proved to be the most desirable for most of the ferrets). Though we believe our babies deserve anything their little hearts desire, there are some toys that are inappropriate for them. These included:

• Any soft rubbery toys, including rings, balls, foam, and vinyl toys. These toys can result in blockages in a ferret that could possibly result in immediate death for the animal.
• Felt, cotton, and strings are also a bad idea for a little animal that likes to chew on things. While some of the fabrics can be digestible, the majority are not for the ferret's digestive track is high selective. Again, blockages can occur. For string, it can get rapped around organs or the tongue, possibly resulting in death.
• Any squeaky toys with external squeakers are an intestinal blockage waiting to happen.
• Any toys with holes that are big enough for a ferret to get his head through are especially bad. Toilet paper rolls have suffocated a ferret that has gotten them lodged on his head. So any toys that have an opening that is just the right size for a head to be inserted into need to either be thrown away, or the opening enlarged enough that the ferret can easily pass though it.

So you might be asking what can I give my ferret to play with? It seems that most things are dangerous. Although this might seem the case, it is not the truth. Ferrets can still have many toys. Some of the safer ones:

• Dryer tubes! Because the wire is concealed inside the plastic of the hose, it makes a perfect toy. And we all know how they love to crawl into anything that makes noise!
• Teasers are good for ferrets, if you place them out of the ferrets reach after playing with them. They include the feather teasers, bells, and balls.
• An interesting toy was the remote control car that the ferrets chase. Again this is a toy that must be given under supervision. As the rubber tires can be chewed up.
• Surprisingly most baby toys seem to safe for ferrets. Of course the soft rubberized ones are not, but the plastic rattles, keys, and the squeakers are designed to be indestructible. (Of course there will always be the occasional ferret and baby that will prove that is not the case.)

But of course the best toy seems the humans the ferrets proudly own!

Entertaining your ferret is easy if you remember what toys are good and what toys are a potential disaster waiting to happen.

Please help if you can. If you wish to make a donation, become a sponsor, or request an adoption application packet, please contact shelter director Patricia Curtis at metro (817)596-0558. Or at ffrs@flash.net

Ferret Fun

As near as I can tell, ferrets can understand English to some extent by translating it into their native tongue, Ferr-se. Of course, our words often have a different translation. Here are some examples of "What We Say - What They Hear".

Special thanks to Kathy,Bandit & "The Gang" for getting permission to use this in our newsletter.

Ferret Fun

Legalization

Help us help our ferrets become legal in your towns as well as others!

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Club Events

Shelter News & Issues

We read many things about the use of ferrets in research and in medical training. Though I knew this was a fact, I was shocked when I learned it was a reality right under my nose. I learned that three of our local hospitals (all within 10 miles from us) used ferrets in their PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) program. My first reaction was to attack the hospitals. Having the advantage of being in the medical field with many contacts, I immediately began a "secret" investigation about the use of the ferrets. To make a long story short, they were doing everything by the book and USDA approved. So, I decided I would not likely stop them from using the ferrets, so I would do my best to create the very best situation I could for the ferrets. Let me explain what they do with the ferrets. They put them to sleep and practice intubations on them multiple times. This is where you insert a tube down the throat with the intention of hooking it to a ventilator (breathing machine). This purpose is to allow the nurses to learn this skill before doing it on a tiny baby. The ferret is very useful in this training.

Here's a view of the "before Ferret Haven" intervention: The ferrets were flown in at various times of the day which is a big problem here in our area. It's steaming here which caused some of the ferrets to either die in transit or be very ill. Those that made it were taken to a vet's office where they stayed overnight. The next day they were taken to the PALS program, given inappropriate anesthesia, intubated multiple times, then when the class was over, they were euthanized. Keep in mind this is legal...the ferrets felt no pain. They were put to sleep for the procedures.

Here's a view of the "after Ferret Haven" intervention: The ferrets are flown in on early AM flights in which everyone has arrived in perfect health! They are taken to a vet's office where they stay a minimum of three days and are put on prophylactic antibiotics (Amoxicillin twice daily). They are then taken to the PALS program, given the appropriate anesthesia while being monitored the entire time as if they were in surgery (02 sat monitors and everything). They are then intubated by the nurses (but intubations are stopped before damage can be done to the vocal cords or throat). They are recovered and brought back to the vet's office for observation for one day. Then we pick them up and take them to the shelter. We continue antibiotics for another 5 more days. We have not had any deaths since our interventions!!!

While this may not seem like a big deal, we have gone through lots and lots of hard work to get this change made. The hospitals are spending a great deal more money doing it "our way" but they are now in full agreement. I'd also like to let you know that the ferrets were coming in unaltered & with scent glands intact. We now have them altered and descented before they come to us. And the good news is that this is at a partial expense for the hospital! !

So, how is life with research ferrets? At first it's pure hell. They are aggressive biters (who can blame them), are smelly since they were just fixed, and shed an enormous amount of hair. Most are between the ages of 6-10 months of age and are very large since they've been intact that long and bred to be large. These guys have no clue what a litter box is and they dig in their food bowls. So, your ferret room is smelly and dirty with hair food, litter and poop. After an intensive rehab program (one that we've mastered now), they have all been fully rehabbed within three weeks. A few are rehabbed as early as 1-1/2 weeks. When I say rehabbed, I mean that they do not bite at all, are socialized and unafraid, understand the concept of food in the bowl, can identify and use their litter box, and are adoptable. We are also happy to report that in about two weeks they aren't so smelly either! We have been blessed to have all of these guys in our lives. They are so resilient. . . it's amazing how they rehab after living a full life in a cage and going through hell when they finally get out of it. We have found homes for all of them and they are now living very happy and spoiled lives!!! They sure do deserve it.

The reason I wanted to share this story is to get others to look in their community and find out if there are ferrets like this that need your help. I anticipate some of you may get angry at this story, and I understand that. I hate the idea of anything being used in research. But something positive can come from this unfortunate event. I hope that's the part you can see in my story. If you have any questions or need help with something like this in your community, I hope you will write. You can contact me at: Ferret Haven, P.O. Box 442, Pt. Neches, TX 77651 or by email at: ILuvNursin@aol.com

Shelter Notes

This Story is told by the two people involved, as a result they are credited with each part that they have contributed.

(Jimi's Story)Wild Thing (I think I Love you) is already a winner. Wild Thing (WT) (The "I think I Love You" didn't happen for a while.) came to our shelter, For The LOVE of Ferrets, after being found walking down a street next to Beltway 8 in Pasadena, TX. The people who picked her up, took her to Family Pets Pet Store at Baybrook Mall. The pet store works with our shelter. They referred the people here. WT was fine, very sweet. I was not home, so my husband placed her in a cage with food, water, hammock, and a blanket. She was very thin, but showed no signs of aggression. When I came home we opened the cage and reached in to uncover her. Speaking softly to her the whole time. Next thing I know she nailed my hand. From then on, any time we went near her, she went into attack mode. She would attack everyone who tried to handle her. I worried we wouldn't be able to tame her. Then what would we do with her?

Since we had no history on WT, we placed her in isolation. This is our front hall that measure 3 feet 6 inches by 8 feet. We have a 25 inch high plexiglass barrier to keep the area secure. The shelter has an isolation area where a ferret has a running area along with a cage for sleeping. We kept her in the cage, but would let her out to run when we were at home and awake.

It was impossible to handle her without leather gloves. She would bit so hard you could feel her teeth through the gloves. We proceeded to feed and take care of her. WT is the first ferret we had to handle with leather gloves. When she was checked by our Veterinarian, (DR. Dori Hertel, FLC member) we placed signs on her carry case that she was BITER. For six (6) weeks, my husband, Gail worked daily with WT winning her confidence.

After we had Wild Thing about ten days, she quit eating. She only weighed 14 oz when we got her, so getting food in her was critical. Not an easy task to force feed a wild ferret. Gail would hold her with leather gloves while I would feed her liquid food with a syringe (very carefully). After about a week she started eating on her own again. All during this time Gail continued to hold her and pet her, talking to her in soft tones. If she tried to bit, Gail would say NO or OW in a louder voice. She seemed to respond some to the work Gail was doing.

(Gail's story) At about three weeks, I started to handle her a little differently. I would put a gloved hand down in front of her and when she would strike at the glove, I would pick her up with a ungloved hand. I would then switch hands and hold her with the gloved hand and pet her with my bare hand, getting her accustomed to the human touch. After many hours of working with her, she was getting less aggressive.

In about five weeks, I started to handle her with no gloves, but very carefully. I would put one hand down in front of her to distract her and then pick her up with the other. After about a week she was no longer attempting to bit and I was feeling comfortable with her. She has not bitten me since. My wife had to work with her an additional two weeks to get to the point that she would no longer bit her.

(Jimi's Story)Then after she was comfortable with Gail, I started working with her. That didn't take as long. After just two (2) weeks I could hold WT. Within the month I put her on our bed to play with her and fell asleep. WT just continued to play and also fell asleep. When she went back for a follow up visit with her Veterinarian, she was so sweet no one could believe she was the same ferret.

When we 1St got WT she weighted 14 oz. Her tummy has the SPCA spay tattoo. We are firmly convinced she had been abused. Once she had food, water, and a comfortable bed she wasn't going to let anyone take it away from her. She always has used the litter box and is a very neat little girl.

Wild Thing is a little sweetheart. She doesn't like other ferrets, outdoors, or loud noises. We decided not to adopt her to someone else. If she were to become upset and bite someone what would happen to her? Although we have had no problems with her, we are very careful about who handles her. We do worry that something might set her off. Maybe she has forgotten what happened to her in the past. Hopefully our love for her has restored her confidence in people. She stole our hearts and we no longer Think we Love her we Know we Love her.

Just one of our better success stories.

Gail & Jimi Hummel

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