Ferret Shelter Woes

[HappyFun Ball]

Hobs will launch himself out of is cage and war dance in mid air, he'll hit the ground dancing.

[HappyFun Ball]

A few stories here:

I recieved a phone call from a very distraught young lady, she was crying so hard and it just broke my heart. Seems her husband was laid off 6 months ago and they've exhausted their savings and they can no longer afford to care for their 2 ferrets. I offered to supply them with food and everything until they could afford to care for them again. She burst into tears all over again and said their home was being foreclosed and they had no where to go that would allow pets or if they did allow pets ferrets weren't accepted. Well, I did something that I never thought I'd do, I offered to take in the ferrets and care for them untill they could. I have them with me now and she comes over 3-4 times a week to play with them. I just felt so bad for her, I didn't know what else to do. This young lady is an excellent ferret owner, she had their vet records, their birth certificates, was feeding them the good food, had a nice cage with nice hammocks and all kinds of toys, shampoo all the stuff.

I had a lady surrender 2 ferrets to me a couple of weeks ago, a couple of days later someone knocked on my door, I answered it and had no idea who this girl was:

Me: Can I help you?
Her: Yeah, I'm here to pick up the ferrets
Me: Ummm, did you want to adopt some? You'll have to-
Her: (she cut me off) No, my friend Amanda said she dropped off her ferrets the other day and I'm here to get them.
Me: If you want to adopt them, you'll have to fill out an application and I will do an interveiw with you and check a few things (Namely if they can have ferrets where they live)
Her: No, she said I could come by here and get them.
Me: I'm afraid not, they were surrendered over to me. If I want to keep them, they are mine.
Her: (whining) Buuuttt she saaiid IIII cooouuullldd coomme aannnd ggeet thheem! (She drew out her words)
Me: Well you were misinformed, I am sorry.. If you want to adopt them, you can fill out an app and you'll have to wait 2-3 weeks, I just got them and haven't even had them examined by a vet yet.

She filled out an application and I interveiwed her and determined she was fit for ferrets to own her and I told her to come back in a few days to get them. She shows up and I told her the adoption fee for the pair was 90$, she pitched a fit saying they were supposed to be free. No the Hell they weren't, I explained to her that I never give away ferrets for free. She goes on about how they were her friends ferrets and I should just give them to her and blah blah blah.. I'm wondering why her friend didn't just give her the ferrets in the first place.

Back a few months ago, 5 kits (babies) were surrendered, seems that the lady who surrendered them thought the 2 ferrets she had were fixed.. Which is odd because in the U.S. it's hard to find an unaltered ferret. Mama ferret had 5 boys, I named them Francis, Reese, Malcom, Dewey and Jamie. Those guy shared a really big cage and have bonded, I think I will have to claim them as no one wants to take on 5 ferrets, especially at once. I recently had them all neutered and descented.

The local shelter for dogs and cats called me and asked if I could take a single ferret, I told them I could. I went and he was this gorgeous cinnamon, he'll be easy to adopt, the cinnamon coloring is rare. I named him Fawkes, I've had a few people come and look at the ones I have for adoption.. And of course they all want Fawkes, I just got him and hadn't had him checked by a vet yet. People don't like me telling them no, I get "Well, I can take him to a vet." no, I don't work that way. People begging, offering me 3-4 hundred bucks to let them take him now.. No, I stand my ground.. He stays with me for 2-3 weeks and I list him on a pet finding website. I won't hold him for anybody either, it's first come, first serve if they pass my standards.

Bitch session time!!

Don't ask me to text you a butt load of picks, I have 15 ferrets that can be adopted.. I'm not going to take 3-4 pics of each one.. If you want to see them, come over here and look for yourself.

I feed my guys EVO brand ferret food.. No, you can't find it around here, I buy several of the biggest bags at a time off a ferret supplies site and I get it for cheaper than I can buy it at a store if they carried it ( I asked the local pet store if they could get it and they wanted to charge 7$ more than what I pay to have it shipped to me).. You can buy the food from me and I will not mark it up, what I paid for it, you will pay for it (EVO kitten food can be used in a pinch, it has the same ingredients, it just has a bit less fat and protien than the ferret version of it).

No, your place doesn't not have to be set up like mine.. My home is set up purely for the comfort of my animals.. However, you do have to ferret proof.

No, I didn't know what I was getting into when I first got ferrets. I want to avoid that happening to someone else, not everyone is cut out to be owned by ferrets.