Petfinder listing: www.petfinder.org/shelters/OH667.html
We are a shelter; we adopt as many ferrets out that come to us. If they are in need of medical attention, they always receive it before being put up for adoption. If we receive a ferret in that is in poor health or very old and adoption is not in its best interest, we will either transport it to another shelter who is better equipped to deal with the medical needs or it will stay with us for the remainder of its life. Cagemates are never split up and are always adopted out together.
Ferrets entered my life when I met my fiancée. He had one ferret when I met him, Ruggie. Ruggie was a sweet albino boy and was the beginning of my journey of ferrets. The shelter is named after him. After becoming seriously involved with my fiancée, we started getting more ferrets and then decided we wanted to help those ferrets that needed it the most. I did not start working with ferrets too long ago. It will be four years in September that I have been introduced to ferrets and it has only been a year since we started in the shelter work. We started sheltering after we adopted two ferrets, and then two more, and two more and so on. I started working with another shelter. There were a few times where I would get the call or find out about a ferret needing to be surrendered. In the beginning, I would just transport them to the shelter I was working with and quickly learned that the area that I lived in was in need of a shelter for these sweet critters. So, I did my research and started to learn from the shelter that I was working with. I learned what it meant to run a shelter and what it would take. I am still learning and we still have a lot to do, but as time has been passing, we have been able to overcome a lot of the hurdles and have been working on ways to overcome the future hurdles.
Ash and Spike were the first shelter kids we took in. Both are boys around 4-5 years old. Ash’s name is perfect in describing his color. Spike is a black and white blaze. They came from a home that severely neglected them. They were filthy, malnourished, had fleas and a few medical needs. Both boys needed to learn what it meant to be a ferret. After bringing them home, these boys needed a lot of care. Ash had a deformed hind end and Spike had some really bad teeth. They both would try to hoard their food…..even their chicken soup, which was quite funny. They quickly learned that hoarding chicken soup didn’t work. We got them to the vet and found that TLC was the only thing these boys really needed. Within weeks, these boys were up to a healthy weight and were really starting to fit in. Ash’s hind end grew stronger, but he still walked with a waddle. Spike turned into one of the most beautiful boys. They both loved to play with the younger ferrets and also us. The shelter has had many calls on this pair but no one ever really showed interest in them past the first call. Sadly, Ash recently passed away from unknown problems, but Spike is still with us. Spike is still adjusting to life without Ash and only time will tell how he does.
I think the biggest challenge for me when it comes to sheltering is dealing with the families who are surrendering a ferret that has obviously been neglected. Keeping my cool and a professional standing is the hardest when all I really want to do is scream my head off at these people for how they have treated these sweet creatures. It’s even worse when they try to make it sound like they have given the ferrets the best care and that the ferret’s condition is unexplainable.
I think that the best parts of sheltering is when I go back to check up on an adopted ferret and see how good a home they have and how happy they are. Also another really good part of sheltering is seeing the differences that I make in their lives. Most of the ferrets that I have received haven’t had such a great life before coming to me. Seeing how much they appreciate a warm bed, good food, a place to play in and lots of love and attention is one of the best rewards.
Running a shelter can be very stressful and I won’t even get into the financial part of it. So many of the fur-kids that we have received have needed some sort of special attention. Quite a few have needed medical care and some have been so sick that the only thing we could do for them is make them comfortable. Being that a shelter sees so many sick and old, it really does get hard when you have so many of them passing. Sometimes it seems that you don’t even have time to grieve for one before you loose another. Some days I pray that my next surrendered ferret is a young, healthy one, just so that I can have the lively, happy spirit in my home for just a bit to kind of balance out all of the sadness of the older and sick ferrets that I care for.