Ferret Shelter Woes

[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.

[HappyFun Ball]

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

[fireheart]

Go to You Tube and search for Ferret War Dance..

They also cluck or in Ferretese "dook" when excited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9AVvoQozzU

For some reason this one is set to Footloose

[Silvercat]

I ended researching ferrets for a story. I knew they were cute, but they're so interesting! I kind of want a couple, except getting one is not a reasonable option (first of all, I live in California...)

[HappyFun Ball]

Go to You Tube and search for Ferret War Dance..

They also cluck or in Ferretese "dook" when excited.

[MoonCat]

They dance? I didn't know this! I think they're adorable and fascinating. I wish people would take the time to really learn about an animal before they decide to get one. You rock for taking such good care of them and helping them to find good homes!

[Lindsey]

Don't call me up at 4 in the morning to come get a ferret that I let you adopt because it "won't stop banging the water bottle" it's only doing that because the bottle is empty and it's thirsty..

Really?

I would throttle them... They can't be assed to fill a damn water bottle? Even hamsters will make noise on their bottle if they need water and don't have it, and they're the quietest critters I've owned.

[shadowpanda]

People have misconceptions about ferrets, the rodent thing gets my goat the most though. Some people refuse to listen when I talk about my 5 babies (maybe I talk about them a bit too much...) and say they are not rodents. They make comments like 'Ewww, I hate rats, therefore I hate ferrets'!!

It sounds like you have a wonderful environment for your ferrets, both pets and temporary family members. Probably a good thing you live thousands of miles away. I'm still not sure how I ended up with 5 ferrets, but I would never dream of splitting up cage mates.

ETA - the war dance is amazing, and the clucking noise makes my heart melt every time. I even have 2 boys that frequently wag their tails!

[Seshat]

<silly>

hey, can you move your ferret shelter to somewhere near me so I can come and play with the ferrets when I'm feeling well?

<end silly>

[HappyFun Ball]

I will take a ferret Ive adopted out back at anytime.. They just won't get the adoption fee back if they wait more than 3 days, plus I won't black list them if they return a ferret within 3 days, some people are just not ready for pet ferrets as they thought they were.


A lot of people are so excited about experiencing a new pet that while they've read all the books and know a lot of things about the animal that I can tell them about the cons of owning a ferret and it'll fall on deaf ears. I even give them a print out on the personality on the particular ferret(s) they are adopting. But their judgement is so clouded by excitement that they don't listen.

[Seshat]

The few times I've seen ferrets, they've looked like wonderful, playful, adorable creatures. Like land-otters. (I LOVE watching the otters at the zoo.)

But there's no way I'd be a suitable ferret-carer. I need a critter who is happy with someone who can only play for short times, and otherwise wants a companion to lounge with or on. Or fish. I could keep fish.

[Taboo]

I'm just curious as to why you only allow "returns" up to 3 days after adoption? And what do you do if someone who adopts a ferret comes to you a week later and says they no longer want it? Do you not take it back, and let them do what the will to it? I only ask, because some (probably a lot) of people don't know what they're getting into when they adopt an animal, let alone a ferret. Clearly you have guidelines and questions so you try to weed out the truly clueless ones, but what happens if someone gets one and tries to take care of it for a week or three, and decides they just can't handle it? Or the ferret doesn't get along with an existing pet or child?

I think 'returns' meaning paying back the adoption fee within three days, and otherwise you're just giving it back to the shelter as if you're surrendering any other animal? That was how I read it but I might be wrong.

Anyway, it's good of you to do this and to be so picky about who would make a good home. Ferrets are difficult to take care of if you haven't had one before, especially when it comes to ferret-proofing your home.

[MaggieTheCat]

I'm just curious as to why you only allow "returns" up to 3 days after adoption? And what do you do if someone who adopts a ferret comes to you a week later and says they no longer want it? Do you not take it back, and let them do what the will to it? I only ask, because some (probably a lot) of people don't know what they're getting into when they adopt an animal, let alone a ferret. Clearly you have guidelines and questions so you try to weed out the truly clueless ones, but what happens if someone gets one and tries to take care of it for a week or three, and decides they just can't handle it? Or the ferret doesn't get along with an existing pet or child?

[BeenThereDoneThat]

People are just so damn stupid. I'm glad you're taking such good care of the ferrets

[HappyFun Ball]

If you bathe them more often, their scent/oil glands will go into overdrive causing them to stink more.