New Summer house & old refurb finished
All the new hutches built & finished in both summer houses, Old summer house has 6 x 8' hutches & 3 x 6' with good play area & 5 hospital/ISO houses with play area. New summer house has 6x8' hutches, 6x6' & 2x4' singles & 3 lovely play areas
Stumpy & Stig's story so far
on the 11/02/2015 at around 10.20 pm I received a Face Book message from a friend asking if it was ok to give my phone no to a lady who needed urgent help with a ferret problem, I sent my number. 10.30 pm I received a call from a tearful young lady who had just taken in 2 ferrets offered free on Face Book in danger of being turned loose, She said they were bitey & they were scaring her, & could I please come & collect them. Poor girl had Never looked after ferrets & she told me she had been told to feed them cat food but they wouldn't eat it & that they were in a "sort of Hamster cage" which came with them & she was sure it wasn't big enough for them.
Without further ado, I asked for her address & phone no Rang Maria one of my volunteer ladies to accompany me to collect the ferrets, With a swift stop for petrol we arrived at the young girls home. We went into the kitchen & found 2 frightened albino ferrets were indeed in a large Hamster cage with a bit of newspaper & tiniest scrap of hay in the bottom & no bedding or blankets & a Mouse sized water bottle. Noting they both looked to have quite bad earmite infestations & fleas as well as being rather smelly as both entire Hobs after a brief conversation with the very nice young lady who had saved them & waited up until we got there we put some kibble in the cage which they gulped down as fast as they could get it in their mouths. Put them in the car & brought them back to the refuge Still in the hamster cage as getting them out with cats around could have been quite interesting.
We were both pretty shocked at the callous way prev owner had left them, we put up an emergency hospital cage for the little guys with plenty of blankets & then had to take the cage apart to get them out, as they were very wriggly & trying to nip we placed them in the cage, It was at This point I noticed that 1 of the boys was limping very badly & had only part of a tail, I brought him back out & discovered the poor boy was missing his lower hind leg as well as most of his tail, If it had been earlier & not so tired & shocked would have noticed sooner, The stump looked quite badly inflamed & bruised as well as having the longest nails I have ever seen which was not helping him walk either, on inspection his freind also had super length nails too Well I just Had to name him Stumpy & his Friend Stig (of the dump) As by this time it was around 1 am & the little guys safe with plenty of food & water left them to settle for the night after Maria had taken several pics on her phone, We were both pretty upset at the fearful way the boys were behaving.
Next day both boys got a well needed pedicure & spot on treatment for mites fleas & worms etc & Stumpy went for a vet check & had steroid injection for the leg inflamation, & antibiotics for his eye infection, Both boys are recovering well but are still quite wary & nervous. Stumpy & Stig have a long way to go to be happy healthy ferrets & will be visiting the vet for neuter as soon as they are well enough. Sad to say although loving their blankets they have not worked out quite what the hammock or toys in their cage are for yet but getting more relaxed & seem happier every day.
Pics of Stumpy & Stig's first public appearance at the National Living History Fayre
Update on Stumpy & Stig
Both boys are a lot happier no longer fearful & are a pair of cheeky snuggle bugs They have settled in very well, So much so we took them with us for a PR weekend which they seemed to enjoy immensely once they realized lots of fuss & cuddles were on offer.
After consulting with vets Stumpy has had his poorly leg amputated to make him more comfortable as he was in quite a bit of pain with his stump after play times, He now has another week of antibiotics & some pain medication. Currently in our hospital unit to recover with his friend Stig These very special boys have suffered a lot in their short lives
Stumpy & Stig are out of the hospital area & have now been in their new 8' ground level house in the special needs shed for a week now.
Stumpy is almost completely healed, just 1 more stitch to fall out & fur to grow back on shaved area.
Stumpy is now very cheerful & loves playing in the shed play area with Stig, In a couple of weeks will put the cat tree back in their house once sure he won't hurt himself by falling down.
In the meantime they will have to content themselves with tubes & jingle balls etc, No soft furry type toys for the duo as they try to "kill" & eat them
Little Hope & Spyder Nige
I got a message about 3 ferrets in trouble, after 3 days tracking down owners managed to go & collect 2 of these ferrets, Sadly we were too late to save their brother who died from starvation before we arrived. Also collected 3 others in better condition from the same place who have been re homed & are now very loved pampered fuzzies indeed,
Little hope 3 days after arrival
6 Months old & weighed in at 95g about the same as average 5-6 Week old kit. Pic taken when she had put on 100g in 3 days, All she needed was feeding, This little girl needed syringe feeding rehydration fluids & Royal Canin convalescence support every 2 hours for a few days until she was strong enough to eat & drink for herself. Vet was Very upset & wanted to PTS as thought she wouldn't make it as organs were begining shut down & she was unable to stand & walk, But she beat the odds & is now a lovely playful girl who needs a special diet for life. Her Brother Spyder Nige could eat by himself but was not in much better condition & also needed suplimentary feeding every 3 hours. A few days lack of sleep was well worth the effort, My reward is seeing them happy & playing as young ferrets should
Little Hope & Brother Spyder Nige 3 weeks later
Spyder weighing in at 800g from 350g & Little Hope weighing in at 500g from 95g, Spyder Nige so named for his amazing climbing skills was neutered several weeks ago & enjoying his life with a group of lads his own age
You can see Still a bit on the thin side here but still a massive weight gain in such a short time
Every Ferret who arrives here has a story, whether an Unclaimed Stray handed in by a kind hearted member of public or found on a care home doorstep trying to break into the kitchen for food (Mr Chunk) or eventually caught in one of our live capture traps after running loose starving for weeks (Wylee von Trap), Dropped in my Dustbin then door knocked (Yes That Has Happened) Arrived at the door in a wired over bucket or driven miles to collect before upset owner is evicted from their home or called to collect a tick covered stray from someones out door loo, getting a call to collect & finding starved ferrets who have eaten dead cage mates to survive
These & many more are the Lucky ones, They found safety & refuge here. Sadly we only have space for a Tiny proportion of the little ones needing our help We Don't like to Have to say No space, We cant help But it is a sad fact that Almost Every ferret handed in is Unneutered & will be neutered after Quarantine before going on the Adoption list. Most stay for around 6 months before a suitable forever home is found including Neuter & chipping this stay has a min cost of £95 & adoption fee is considerably less than that. If they are over 6 years old, have been up for adoption for over 2 years or have ongoing medical or health issues then they stay for life, Every ferret Deserves good food Good housing & a place to be happy & loved
Currently there are 230 ferrets in our care from old guys 9 years + to young 7 month old kits.
All donations however small are Gratefully received
