Ferret News 2000 Edition

Outreach Programs Needed

We are looking for volunteers to participate in our ferret education outreach programs in all areas of Kansas. Please look through our list and let me know if you would like to volunteer. We desperately need your help.

Pet Store Monitoring - visiting local pet stores and checking to see that the ferrets are properly housed and cared for. (We’ve seen far too many babies that cannot eat kibble and the storekeepers do not know to mix warm water, Esbilac and kibble to make a gruel that the little ones can eat. Some babies starve to death, some get sick, and some get a prolapsed rectum.)

Newspaper Ad Monitoring - looking through area newspapers for ferret postings.

Breeder Monitoring - locating and visiting ferret breeders in your area to make sure ferrets are properly cared for and breeders have up-to-date ferret care information.

Animal Shelter Monitoring - visiting area animal shelters to see if they have any found our turned in ferrets, understand how to properly house and feed them, and to distribute up-to-date ferret information.

Exotic Animal Auction/Swap Meet Monitoring - this involves watching local papers and ads for listings of animal auctions and swap meets and alerting us to these invents. We also need people to attend these events that we are unable to. These events are particularly harmful to ferrets as the majority of the ferrets sold are breeding ferrets from people that have no clue that ferrets are such a social loving creature. The conditions they come from, are kept in, and go to are deplorable. Many people that buy the ferrets have no clue how to properly handle them, house them, feed them or what type of medical care they require. Caging at these events has been very inadequate and I’ve seen ferrets and other animals with no food or water for prolonged periods (24+ hours). Some of the ferrets have physical injuries from abusive handlers. Our goal is to inform, educate, and to make the best of the situation for the ferrets as we possibly can which includes specialty homes.

Emergency Situation Assistance - help with any ferret related emergency in your area.

Transportation Assistance - transporting ferrets throughout Kansas. Ferret railroad.

Information Distribution - distributing ferret related information to your local library, animal societies, etc.

Lost/Found/Rehoming

If you’ve found or lost your ferret, if you want to find a new home for your ferret, or if you want to add a ferret to your family, give us a call. We keep a log book on all incoming calls, interview our callers and send out questionnaires. Call: 1-785-456-8337 or email: sprite@ksu.edu

Fund Raising for Ferret Family Services (no longer in service)

http://www.sayit.com/personalize.cgi?card=4386

We’ve entered a create a card contest! Introducing Doc, lounging in his hammock. :-)

In March, each time our card is sent out, we earn 5 cents. If our card is sent out the most times in April, we win $10,000! You can help us by sending our card out too, over and over and over again. You can send to as many recipients as many times as you'd like, but, the card has to be opened to count. You can even send it back to me as many times as you’d like! If the URL doesn’t work, you can search under ferret for our card. All proceeds are applied to Ferret Family Services accounts.

EMAG - (no longer in service)

Troy Lynn Eckart wants you to get $20 in ten minutes!

By visiting http://go.fast.to/myemag (brought to you by studentprofit.com) and subscribing to a FREE eMagazine they’ll pay you $20. It’s that simple!

At myemag.com you tell them about your personal interests and hobbies and they'll customize that into your own personal eMagazine. They'll bring you only the information and articles from writers and publishers in your particular areas of interest. There's no need to wade through info that is not relevant or interesting to you, you only get what you want!

And that’s not all!

myemag.com will pay you $5 for every new subscriber you refer. So tell a friend, family member or anyone else about myemag.com and they'll get a great customized eMagazine and you'll get your $5 referral fee for every new subscriber you refer to our eMagazine.

Visit http://go.fast.to/myemag for more information.

When you first visit the site enter as a 'New User.' Be sure to enter Troy Lynn Eckart’s User ID# t9421 when asked for her 5 digit User ID#. All proceeds will be donated to Ferret Family Services.

Please help us raise funds to support Ferret Family Services! Much of the funding for Ferret Family Services comes out of my own pocket. I’m not rich, far from it in fact, but I am extremely dedicated and devoted to ferrets and will do everything I possibly can to make life better for ferrets everywhere. The more volunteers and funding we have, the more we can do to help ferrets!

Ferrets 2000

Toronto, Ontario will host Canada’s 1st ferret conference and symposium.

September 14-17, 2000

Here is the tentative schedule:

Thursday evening: Meet and Greet at The Ferret and Firkin pubFriday morning: Trip to the Zoo and Black Foot display (spend the afternoon at the Zoo or exploring Toronto)Friday evening: Free to explore TorontoSaturday: Guest speakers Dr. Bruce Williams, Bob Church, and Gary Holowicki (master of Ceremonies Bill Gruber of the Ferret Mailing List)Sunday: Breakfast and speakers from shelters Troy Lynn Eckart, Chris Mathis and Randy Belair.

Symposium Packages

3 day pass $215 Canadian $185 US

(after May 29 $260 Canadian $225 US)

Admission & Transportation to the Zoo( from the conference Hotel) & lecture at the zoo . Admission to the conference & Symposium, Breakfast buffet, snacks & lunch on Saturday. Breakfast buffet & admission to the conference on Sunday. Deposit of $75 required to book.

2 day pass $165 Canadian $135 US

(after May 29 $195 Canadian $160 US)

Admission to the conference & Symposium, Breakfast Buffet, snacks & lunch on Saturday. Breakfast Buffet & admission to the conference on Sunday. Deposit of $75 required to book.

1 Day Pass $100 Canadian $80 US

(after May 29 $140 Canadian $115 US)

Admission to the conference & Symposium on Saturday, breakfast buffet, snacks & lunch. Deposit of $50 required to book.

Dinner Pass (optional) $45 Canadian $35 US

This includes a wonderful 4 course dinner with all our guest speakers and other ferret enthusiasts. This is a great time to mingle and meet our speakers and new friends. Deposit of $25 required to book.

Hotel Stay

Once you've booked your conference package with us, we will send you out a detailed summery of local events in the Toronto area. We will include information on booking your room at the Novotel or any of the other continently located hotels & motels in the area which range in price from $50 US ($69 Canadian) to $125 US ($200 Canadian) a night. A few of the hotels are ferret friendly, so please let them know if you will be bringing your ferrets with you at the time of booking your stay.

For more information email: magick@echo-on.net or go to: http://www.ferretaid.org/

Pet Aromatherapy Email List

This is an email list to discuss the challenges and benefits of using aromatherapy's hydrosols and essential oils for pets, specifically dogs and cats. Basic information and focus on 100% natural products and methods will be featured. To join, go to:

http://www.onelist.com/community/aromatherapyPETS

Visit their all-new website at:

http://www.aromaleigh.com 100% natural canine grooming products, Natural flea and tick control, ear cleaning remedies and more. Human personal care, bath, body and skincare. All natural. No SLS or synthetic chemicals!

Oklahoma Ferret Breeder/Shelter

By Susan Malone

Hello Fellow Ferret Fanatics,

I have graciously been given this opportunity to introduce myself to you.

My name is Susan Malone... known online as Pegasus, and I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I am originally from Florida, but was "transplanted" here after my marriage in late 1994. I am 34, married, and have 2 daughters.. age 4 & 14. Our household includes 4 cats, 2 dogs, a turtle, an opossum and various numbers of ferrets that usually range from 20-50.

About my background. I have worked with animal rescue (domestic, domestic "exotic", and wildlife exotic) for about 15 years or so. I have also worked with several ferret rescues and am involved in several online ferret areas, linked with nationwide networks of breeders and rescuers, volunteer with the Ferrets Across America program and host AcmePets Ferret Info chats on Wednesdays. I have worked with a total of 4 exotic animal/wildlife rescues, and am currently affiliated with Safari Joe's Wildlife Ranch. Due to my medical limitations, I am no longer able to work hands on at the ranch as often as I would like, but still help in other ways. I have worked, studied and trained with many species ranging from as "wild" as tigers, lions, wolves and bears.. to more "normal" as hoof stock, raccoons, opossums and squirrels. I also have done/do volunteer lectures and information seminars for schools, clubs etc.

I currently own/operate Fanciful Ferrets By Pegasus, a breeding ferretry of quality ferrets as well as a rescue shelter and adoptions.

I have worked with, owned, trained, rescued and studied ferrets for 15 years. About a year ago I decided to breed. I sought out quality breeders who have the same ideals, beliefs and honest love for ferrets as I and whose lines were bred for health, temperament, personality, size and colors... in that order. And strive to continue these qualities. I know the bloodlines and health of all my ferrets going back several generations and all had low ratios of health related problems. I am thrilled to learn there are so many ferrets lovers such a short distance from me, and hope I get a chance to meet some of you, you may find me online and feel free to contact me for any reason at:

EMail: fancifulferrets@iname.com
ICQ#: 5379122
AOL IM: PegasusPet
Or call me at 918-437-3553.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your newsletter.

Ferrets and Rabies Regulations

Did you know that ferrets in Kansas are included in the same rabies guidelines as dogs and cats? They are. Exactly the same which means if your ferret bites someone, they should be quarantined for 10 days. It wasn’t long ago ferrets faced the death sentence if they bit someone. That is no longer true. CDC with cooperation from Kansas State University conducted scientific studies to determine if ferrets were a rabies risk. The conclusion was that IF ferrets are secreting the rabies virus at the time of a bite, they WILL show symptoms within the 10 day quarantine. As ferrets are inside companion animals, they are not normally exposed to rabid animals, and are much less exposed than outside dogs and cats. A copy of the Kansas statute regarding rabies can be found on our home page:

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html

Click on Kansas Dept of Health and Environment Rabies Regulations.

Please make sure your veterinarian, local animal control, and Health Dept has a copy of this Kansas regulation. You are welcome to print it off and distribute it to whomever needs or should have a copy. If you do not have internet access, let me know and I’ll send a copy to you by mail.

Change of Address Request

If you are changing addresses or if you no longer would like to receive our newsletter, please let me know. Approximately 100 copies of our last newsletter came back as undeliverable. That is $33 worth of postage washed down the drain. That doesn’t include the copying costs for those 100 newsletters.

Visit Our Web Pages!

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/

Visit These Informational Web Pages

Excellent site to learn more about adrenal and insulinoma -

http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/

In-depth ferret issues informational site -

Detailed ferret information site -

http://www.ferretcentral.org/