DDDFR's Garage Sale Blowout June 30th was a HUGE SUCCESS!!!
Money is still
coming in, however, the shelter made over $1,100.
Thanks to each and every one of you that made the garage sale possible.
YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!
Allissa, Cheri,
Brandie, Tammy, Linda, Roger, Kristen,
Susan & Tim, Amanda & hubby (and her wonderful face painting), Michael, Marcy, &
Cindy
These wonderful
volunteers made the garage happen. They worked their butts off with no
complaining.
Be sure to thank these wonderful people when you see them.
They are the shelter's foundation.
Thank you special people!!!
We will be having
articles from different volunteers and ferret people.
Bear is Linda & Roger's and this is a "diary" of his time at
their home.
May 3, 2006
Bear’s First Day
Life is good. I have three sisters who I can cuddle with and who like to play with me but not too rough. I have a great cage with lots of hammocks and blankets. I have a really cool tube that I can slide down and climb back up again. I really like the tube. Roger puts tinkle balls in it which I run down and knock all around. I got up this morning to play with Linda before work. She loves me and thinks I am the cutest thing she has ever seen. I love her best of everyone. I was bored all day long today without her so I just tried to sleep until she came home. I know she missed me horribly as well ‘cause she took off from work early to play with me. She got home and came right to the cage and got me out and put on my harness so we could go out for a walk. Then Roger got home and we laid out in the sun until he brought out the girls. The fun began then. Sweetums really hates her leash. Roxie was running all around and rolling in the grass. Both Sweetums and Roxie thought that digging in the dirt was a whole lot of fun. Bandit and I however think our idea was best; we sat on Roger and Linda’s laps and lapped up the love. Maybe next time, we will dig in the dirt also; no…… maybe I will stay up on Linda’s lap and just be adored for a super long time. I really like her a lot. I lie on the hammock and just stare at her in adoration. She just stares back too. I have been practicing my ESP and Linda is really susceptible to it, I just think really hard that I want to be picked up and she just comes right over and takes me out of the cage and holds me. See I really think I have this psychic powers thing down.
The girls are attention hogs. The act cute and jump around a lot to get attention. Not me, I just think really hard about being picked up, and lo and behold, I get picked up. Sweetums is having fun playing with the new toys. She is definitely active now. She is also my cuddle buddy. Bandit and Roxie tend to sleep together, but every so often I crawl into their loft and snuggle them. Bandit thinks the tube is really neat, I think she climbs up it just to annoy me. She carries balls into it, just to make as much noise as possible when I am trying to sleep.
Roger tells Linda that she is obsessed with us, but he is just as obsessed. He comes over to the cage to get us out to play with us a lot. He uses moving the stuff around the cage as an excuse, but I know it is really just to cuddle us. The girls climb all over him and he just loves it to death. I am much more dignified. I will deign to accept the pets, but I hold out for the real cuddles and kisses from Linda. Maybe someday I might, just might give Roger a kiss, but for now, I have laid claim to Linda. Bandit has laid claim to Roger anyway, she loves him bunches and wants to be with him all the time. Roxie and Sweetums love both of them and just love to be cuddled.
I am getting kind of tired now, and Bandit is finally out of the tube so I think I can get some sleep. Linda and Roger have put our home in the family room so we get to be with them all the time. I am so happy that we have come to live here. I miss Denise’s home, but I think I will be happy here forever and ever. I am happy that Denise rescued us and helped us to find our forever home. Thank you Denise. I love you, but I love them as well and I am happy here. Time for bed. Goodnight all.
May 3, 2007
Wow, it has been a year now since my first day at my new home. Time has flown by and I love it here more now than ever. There have been a lot of changes in the last year. Sweetums got a fast growing tumor and went over the Rainbow Bridge. We all miss her a lot. Mom still cries about it when she sees her picture and she thinks about her all the time. Last year I was the only boy with three girls to contend with, now I am one of 10 boys with 3 girls for a neat baker’s dozen. Mom thought 4 was a lot when she first got us, but then ferret math took over. We pretty much have taken over the family room as we have two huge cages and a 19 panel playpen to have free roam in all day long. Dad made sure they still have a walkway to the laundry room, but the rest of the room is ours. Mom and Dad have pretty much turned their lives over to us ferrets. Dad says it is kinda like when you first had your kids, you can’t remember what life was like before them. I think they were pretty bored until we all came along. I still think they work too hard, but then again, somebody has to clean up our cages and playpen. I really don’t like the smell of poop and I hate a dirty litter box. (I find a nice clean corner if my box is too smelly. I know Mom understands because she doesn’t like smelly litter boxes either.) We have 5 litter boxes but with 13 of us they do get messy in a hurry!
I like the new toys we get all the time. Mom makes us stuff all the time, she even gets Grandma to make us jingle toys. Spaz thinks they all belong to her, but Roxie and Noel sneak them away from her all the time. She goes bonkers….. it is fun to watch. Hehehe.
July 3, 2007
What a difference a few months make. Bear has lymphoma and is slowing down. He is too tired to write anymore about his life, so I am going to take a few minutes of your time to tell you the newest things. Bear has a lump in his tummy that was growing and getting hard. His back legs stopped working properly and he has lost most of his energy to do things. He is perfectly content with the new way his home is set up. He has his water and food within reach of his hammock and he can even put his tushy off the other end of the hammock to go potty. If he chose to, he would not need to leave his hammy. He does still get out everyday to play, but only with the gentle group. He spends most of his time hidden away in sleep sacks or the octopus. He still has quality of life, but once that ends, it will become time for the hard decision. I hope that none of you reading this will have to make it, and if you do, please think of quality of life and don’t think of yourself. I love Bear too much to let him linger in pain.
Take good care of your ferts, have them
checked for any irregularities and love them. They will love you with all their
hearts, bodies and souls if you let them. Linda and
Roger Lander (and Bear too)
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Denise's Delightful Dookers Ferret Rescue got a ferret treat from Performance Foods named after the shelter. Be sure to buy these lucious turkey treats...and think of all the ferrets getting good healthy treats. Remember the name-- "Dooker Delights". YEAAAAAAAAAAAA
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DONATIONS
Donated time -- fixing the commode twice
Roger L
Donated Time & $ to fix our truck and car
Tina & Sam
$$, Totally Ferret Original or Baby Totally Ferret, potty pellets
Ilaria (from Italy), Martin, Roger, Rose, Kristen, Jerren, Tammy, Tina (from Florida), Amanda, Cheri, Cindy (thanks for the special check), Marcy, Gail (now from Mississippi), Tammy, Linda,
Items for our Garage Sale
Cindy, Susan and her boss, Tammy, Dr. Walls, Dr. Brazeau, Debbie (Vet tech at Covington Animal Hospital), Gail, Linda & Roger, Amanda, Denise/Michael, Reesia
Consew-Industrial Sewing Machine
Tina (from Washington State)
(If I have forgotten anyone, please accept my apology and let me know..Thanks)
SURRENDERS
2/19/07
Esmerelda
9 mos? (C)
nipper Dumped off at a ladys
house and because she bit and hard, she brought Esme to DDDFR
3/7/07
Hamilton
A (Teri) 5+ yrs
KCAS Left at King County Animal
Services because they were moving--
and Hamilton
was full blown adrenal
3/24/07
Sparky 4 yrs (1
owner);
Corky 4 yrs Sable male
(1 owner). Surrendered because the owners had a baby (They had had them
all of their life and then surrendered them.
3/25/07
Scamp
2-3 yr Found on base and they
couldn't keep him
3/27/07
Rascal 3+ years and
Draven
5+ years
D.E.W. male Couldn't
keep in apartment.
3/27/07
Rufus
3 + yrs (2 owners);
Ricco
2+ yrs Canadian Ferret male (3
owners);
Ike 4 yrs D.E.W. male (2
owners);
Butch Cassidy
4 yrs Albino male (2 owners) Surrendered due to a divorce situation.
4/12/07 Fitz
15 month old Canadian Ferret Male. No reason given.
4/21/07
Forrest 18 mos
(C);
Sugar
(Half Mitt) 2+ yrs;
Cosmo
18 mos
The "Summer Dumps" kicked in and here are the results.
5/12/07
Rex 5
yrs; Pongo 5 yrs;
Rascal 4 yrs; Princess 4 yrs
5/16/07
Jessica
(Smokey)
1
yr ; Jennifer
(Bandit)
1
yr
5/17/07
Prince
Charming (stray) 2-3
yrs (stray)
5/18/07
Astro (Panda) 2 yrs? (stray)
5/22/07
Koda -
3+yrs Nod 6+ yrs
5/24/07
Minky - 2
yrs?
5/28/07
Wolfy
(was Sen)
1 yr
5/30/07
Cyrano - 2-3 yrs
Canadian Fert--sweet
5/31/07
Chewy - 1.5 yrs
Mischief- 1.5 yr,
Bear - 1 yr Canadian Fert,
Starr - 1 yr
Owners had major health issues which kept them from being able to
take care of them.
6/4/07
Willie -
2-3 yr?
Canadian fert
6/06/07
Sebastian - 2yr
Chunk - 1.5 yr Lack of time
6/07/07 Snoopy2
age? Died 2 hrs after arriving at DDDFR -- Had
Insulinoma
6/13/07
Hildee - 1 yr?
King County Animal Services
6/13/07
Rufus2 - 4 yr,
Roxy - 3 yr
6/16/07
Kodi - 5-7 mths
Couldn't keep him in their apartment..too crowded.
6/18/07
Stewie
9 mths Couldn't keep him
6/19/07
Misty,
Miracle
(was Mina),
Gypsy
1.5 yrs Malnourished/"Walking dead"
6/21/07
Krispy Kream 6+ yrs,
Cappacino
2.5-3.5 yrs People surrendered them to King County Animal
Service
6/26/07
Max 10 mths
Military family moving
(32 surrenders in May and June--WE ARE FULL!!)
We got up to 101 with 7 boarders (108). We are now down to 95 (woooohoooo)
with only 2 boarders . :(
Calling all "prospective ferret parents"...... WE NEED YOU!!!!!
RAINBOW BRIDGE
Baby Doll 3 yrs
(d. 1/20/07)
(Adrenal)
Buster 2.5 yrs (d. 5/23/07) (Lymphoma)
Champagne 5 yrs (d.1/28/07) (Insulinoma)
Dory 3 yrs (d. 5/11/07)
(Seizures/adrenal disease?)
Drake 3 yrs (d.
5/08/07) (Adrenal)
Lancelot 2+yrs
(d. 2/17/07) (Hepatic
Lipidosis)
Lily 4+ yrs (d. 5/12/07) (Lymphoma/Insulinoma)
Malibu
4yrs (d. 5/12/07) (Lymphoma)
Mischief 5 yrs (d. 5/18/07) (Insulinoma)
Misty 7 yrs
(d. 5/ 07/07) (Adrenal)
Murphy 3 yrs (d. 3/06/07) (Cancer)
Nod
6+ yrs (d. 6/11/07)
Insulinoma & other Health Issues
Pharoah 9+ (d.
3/10/07) (Kidney/Bladder cancer)
Ray
2-3 yrs
(d. 5/28/07) (Insulinoma)
Sadie2
7 yrs old
(d. 3/21/07)
(Lymphoma)(Had her for 24 hours)
Sammee 7+yrs (d.
5/07/07) (Cancer)
Snickers 5 yrs (d. 3/07)
(Cancer)
Snoopy2 ??? (d. 6/07/07)
(Untreated Insulinoma)
Zion
3 yrs (d.1/15/07) (Urinary
blockage/cancer)
As you can see we lost 10 precious dookers in May. That was a very rough month. They were loved and cared for and now are not hurting anymore.
ADOPTIONS
3/22/07
Bageera, Precious
Allissa
4/03/07
Copper, Shasta
Chris Darby
4/07/07
Boogar Butt
Amanda
4/26/07
Alfalfa
Beverly
5/05/07
Skittles
Yuri
6 & 7/07 Gibbs,
Max,
Ben Teri & Brandon (They also got 2 baby ferrets,
Bear and Hannah from Petco. They are up to 13...boy, the ferret math took
over at their house!!!)
Fosters
Noel
fostered by Linda & Roger (that makes 13....lololol.
They also got a baby ferret, Skunk, from Petco)(Are you and Teri trying to keep
up with eath other?...lolololol)
Corky & Sparky
fostered by Marcy
Shadow & Snoopy fostered by
Sketch and Sara (They have one personal fert and now 4 fosters)
BOARDERS at "Camp Dookers"
April 20 – July 11, 2007
Slim, Bandit,
Sweetie, Zookie
(Gail)
May 17-22, 2007
Guido, Maxine, Gar, Kali (Kaleida) (Diana)
May 25-29, 2007
Konda, Fritz, Stitches
(Sketch & Sara)
July 2-July 7, 2007
Helmet & Bandit
(Shannon)
July 5-July 13, 2007
Autumn, Missy
(Jasmine, Cheryl)
July 7-July?, 2007
Big Boy, Little Dude
(Shawn, Danielle)
Health Issues
Bandit
(personal fert) is starting to put weight
back on. We had to move him to the family room and only Denise can take
care of anything inside the cage. He is a very "sensitive" boy.
Evidently he get scared when others take him out of the cage.....and he eats
just enough to keep himself alive but loses weight. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO we
will pamper the dooker and keep him healthy.
Sparky
& Corky
were going thru shelter shock and had a miserable time. They both were
stressed and developed ulcers...but are doing really well now and are being
fostered and LOVED by Marcy.
Cheri's Gordy had a tumor and passed away in June.
Linda's Bear has lymphoma but is doing ok.
The "Survivors", Miracle, Misty and Gypsy are thriving. They show more and more of their precious personalities each day. They LOVE to be played with and hugged on. Thanks to the volunteers and my husband Michael they are alive. Their feedings of soup started out every hour then went to 2 hours then finally to 3 hours 'round the clock. They finally just licked at the soup...and went to totally eating the kibble. They are eating Baby Totally Ferret mixed in with Totally Ferret Original.
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On July 7, 2007 at 8:32am a man from Puyallup called and said that his cats had
just cornered a ferret. I asked him what color the "ferret" was? Was
it brown with a yellow belly? His answer was yes. I proceeded to
tell him that he had himself a weasel. He went on the website and called
me back and sure enough it was an immature weasel. He lives about 2 blocks
from a green belt in Puyallup and evidently the little weasel left his element
maybe for food or just was confused. Whew....another weasel call--only
this time I asked questions before I just took off to pick up the "ferret".
http://www.sarveywildlife.org/
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A FERRET INVESTMENT
by Michael Cummings
"Look, I've got a lot invested in these ferrets
and I want to get my money back!!"
These are the words we hear over and over again as we deal with people trying to
sell their ferrets. We contact people who advertise their ferrets on line
in the hopes of rescuing the ferrets from another failed home situation.
Bringing ferrets into a shelter with the hope of finding a wonderful forever
home is better than another failure.
Ferrets are among the most amazing animals I have witnessed. They adopt "us". Why, I'll never know. But anyone who has had the privilege to be adopted by a ferret and has recognized it knows what I am saying. Because ferrets are small, people seem to think they are mindless. Nothing could be farther from the truth. As my wife, the "ferretladee" often says, "Ferrets are a combination of a puppy, a kitty and 2-2yr olds." Anyone who has had a two year old around understands. Always looking for the next thing to get into, curious, fun-loving, obnoxious, playful and downright loving, a truly an amazing little friend.
This leads me to believe that it is not us, but the "ferrets" that make a great investment. The ferret gives and gives and gives and requires the same devotion from humans. It is my belief that only a handful of people are ready to make that level of commitment. Many people love the wiggles, and side splitting antics of ferrets, but when a ferret needs medical or emotional attention and care from us they are far too often cast aside and "try to get their investment back."
In our attempt to educate the public about ferrets, we try not only to show the ferret as fun, as some stores do, but rather the "whole ferret". Dollars and cents are not the bottom line and must never be when it comes to kids or ferrets.
Curious word "investment". Ferrets have always invested the most and the best. It's my hope we can, as humans, show the commitment these little furry friends deserve.
Washington Ferret Review
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