Before we introduce
you to our permanent residents, perhaps a bit o' history would be
helpful...
(Click
on any photo for a full size image)
  It
all started for me (Shelter Mom Nanci) back in 1996 when I decided
that I'd find myself a ferret friend. I searched everywhere I
could think of for a shelter but couldn't find one, so off I went to
the pet shop. Yoda chose me, graciously allowing me to take him
home! :) I figured out right quick that I knew very little
about ferrets and got busy researching on the internet. The
first thing I decided was that Yoda needed a buddy, so off we went to
find Clyde.   Clyde took one look at Yoda and fell upon his belly
in adulation and worship, which Yoda thought was just fine,
thanks! The two boys became the absolute best of friends, and
thus began my severe case of ferret math! :)
A
couple of months later, my searching 'round the internet talking with
other ferret folks caused me to receive a phone call about a couple of
ferrets needing a home. Of course I couldn't say no, so along
came Sven and Leia. Both had reportedly been booted out of
breeding because they had cataracts. Sven was my first biter and
did I ever have to learn quickly! He was one terrified fear
biter, but about a month of intensive loving led to Sven becoming the
biggest teddy bear ferret you'll ever meet! Leia took her time
becoming happy as well...took about 9 months before I ever saw her
dance, but eventually she did get happy!
    In
1997 we found our family growing with the additions of Sophie, who
lived with the gang (known as the Fab Five), Rhett & Floyd (bonded
pair that didn't like other ferrets) and Sparticus (single fellow who
REALLY didn't like other ferrets). Eight was certainly enough,
but I still found it hard to say no and took in a few rescues from
time to time. When I was able to I found them new homes myself;
other times I took them to another local shelter. As time went
by I developed a habit of bringing home the hard cases from another
local shelter and by 1998 had quite a few permanent residents who had
one issue or another. 1999 was perhaps the "worst"
year as far as critter overload...at one point I had 14 critters in 8
separate playtimes! I was working full time so I always felt
guilty about not being able to spend enough time with all of my
special critters individually.
  In
early 2000 I decided to open up my own shelter, taking all who were in
need no matter their circumstance. I also developed a foster
program to help special beasties into great homes, since my time was so
limited it was often unfair to all the critters! 2000 was a very
hectic year since I still had so many sick'uns and otherwise challenged
beasties to devote special attention to, but we saw several critters off
to great new homes so I was very happy at year end to reflect at what we
had been able to accomplish.
(Left photo: Nanci and brother Alex for the Frazier family Xmas
photo, plus the original gang o' five. Right: Favorite pic
of Rhett and Floyd.)
2001
continued to be very hectic. We continued to have success finding
super homes for all manner of beastie, which was incredibly nerve
wracking (as you can imagine), but also very rewarding!  Towards
the end of 2001 I welcomed five new friends into my home and - BONUS -
one of them was a hooman bean! Alex and his critters Chewie,
Sophie, Samantha and Pfeiffer joined our little operation in late 2001
when we moved to Oak Park. The shelter continued forth, welcoming
more and more critters everyday. Alex quickly learned all about
caring for the masses, while managing to lavish each critter with some
special lovin'.
  Alex’s
furry journey began in 1996 with Samantha. She
captivated him with her gaze, which I learned the power of later. :) Paige
came along to befriend Sam, then Pfeiffer, Chewie, Sophie and Sassy.
Alex found Pfeiffer in a shelter in Colorado. He
had no plans to come home with a ferret the day he visited…but we
all know how that is! :) The
shelter warned Alex that Pfeiffer had been badly neglected and was a
severe biter. He didn’t let that little tidbit
stop him, of course. Soon he discovered for himself
how NOT to handle Miss Pfeiff-ster. She tore his
lip open on the way home! But of course no ferret
is beyond help (they’re only a couple of pounds, don’t ‘ya
know), so he quickly taught her life was pretty good and she was a
sweetie pie ever after.
 
Alex then returned to the shelter for “one more ferret” – but of
course he came home with 2! Chewie and Sophie are brother and
sister. They were 5 weeks old when he brought them home.
We’re not sure why breeder ferrets were in a shelter at 5 weeks old,
but anyway…Chewie was so young his legs weren’t working right yet,
so he would drag around on the floor making a grunting/whining
noise. But soon enough these two troublemakers became ferrets of
legend. Chewie was one of the highest maintenance ferrets I’ve
ever met. He’s one ahead of my Yoda, who
remains the second highest maintenance ferret I’ve ever met, due to
his athletic ability. :) Sophie was a strange bird, and
together the duo really made an impression over the years on Alex’s
friends and family. Chewie was known in his youth to leap upon
people for a bite even! HA!
From
January of 2000 until March of 2002 we said goodbye to all of our
personals except Chewie and Sophie. Alex never met Yoda, Clyde,
Sven, Leia, my Sophie or Rhett. He met Spart at the very end of
his life and got to know Floyd a bit as well. I never met Sassy or
Paige, but I did have a little time with Pfeiffer and Samantha.
Sam had this habit of gazing at a human until the human decided to
comply with her wishes (SNACKS). Her staring was the strangest
behavior…she would lock her gaze on the target human, then hunker down
for the long haul, then continue to gaze without distraction – or
blinking – for sooo long!
I
think I formally decided not to keep any more "personal"
ferrets sometime in
2001, after running the rescue for a year or so. Once the rescue
was up and running my home was officially a group home where everyone
had to jockey for human attention, I decided it really wasn't fair to
keep critters who could find a great home of their own.
Additionally, there are many critters who will never be adopted for
one reason or another. When it looks like a critter might end up
staying around we always try to give them more of a home/family
setting, and of course our oldsters who will spend their twilight time
with us always get lots of TLC.
    So
Chewie and Sophie
became our only two "personal ferrets" until late
2002. They were "Weezils of Legend" due to their
personalities and daily antics. :) Then one day Ashley
arrived and things truly changed for the better. Ashley was
perhaps 6 months old when she was surrendered. Within a very
short time we noticed that Ashley was becoming everyone's best
friend: from the truly spunky monsters who really want to throw
down, to the fraidy newly arrived critter who doesn't know what's up,
to the geriatric oldster who just wants a friend to sleep with, Ashley
was friend to all. She was especially adept in helping those
critters who's world is turned upside down when they find themselves
at our place. If only people would realize how horrible it can
be for critters to lose their home!!! Then
in December of 2003 we decided to add another ambassador to the
mix Albert was also a rescue and he and Ashley made quite the
Wonder Weezils for all the new critters to meet! Ashley was a big
girl who was rarely physically dominated, so she could take on the
ornery. Albert is a massively fluffy fellow who was also hard to
physically dominate, but his charm was all sweetness and mush to
everyone he met. The pair were our regular Shelter Ambassadors,
going with us to all our public events and welcoming all the new
comers. We'll be eternally grateful for the wonderful work they
did!
   
In December, 2003, Alex and I finally bought our first home. We
couldn’t afford much, so we found a home in Hazel Park that needed
"some" work. But hey, since it's all cosmetic it
shouldn't take long, 'eh? So we thought and were we ever
wrong! HA! So our house continues to show off the lovely
1978 remodel it had while we labor away, learning all about remodeling
as we go. :) Alex and I continue to work incredibly hectic
schedules and with 30-60 critters constantly afoot, we have precious
little "free time." But we're all comfy here with lots
of room and eventually things will get done. :) Our beloved
Chewbacca, Sophie's brother and lifetime pal, left us in February,
2005. Sophie handled the loss like a champ and enjoyed her new
status as "House Ferret" with all sorts of new freedom.
You see, Chewie was never allowed to run the house unsupervised, due to
his remarkable athletic ability. Sophie was much more predictable,
so we could trust her to be by herself hee hee.
  In
December, 2004, we adopted a dog from a local rescue. Jeremy was such a
delight to have around. He was 11 when we adopted him and because his
ears hadn't been kept clean, he had gone deaf. After getting to know him
we realized that he wouldn't have listened to us very well even if he
could have heard us. ;)~ Jeremy never did like the ferrets. I always
thought he just wanted to be the only critter in the world. Jeremy was
definitely a Mama's boy, and he had a serious love affair going on with
snacks. Most of his time was spent trying to obtain one snack or the
other, but he also found time in his day to obtain butt scratches from
all our visitors. :)
2005 brought some
difficult times. In June we suffered an outbreak of coccidia (an
intestinal parasite) in the Shelter. While not usually too much
trouble if infection is noticed and treatment is given quickly, the
outbreak was devastating to our critters. We had 42 ferrets in the
shelter when the outbreak began. We lost 7 to the parasite, with
only 2 who became serious ill surviving the trauma. The casualties
included both of our beloved girls, Sophie and Ashley. So not only
was the entire ordeal devastating for our gang, we were also extra
personally sad to have to say goodbye to our gals. Of course
Albert had tons of other friends so he didn't seem to be too stressed
out after Ashley died...but we just knew that things wouldn't be the
same for him. Ashley was the alpha of their pair and she took on
the truly troubled newcomer, while Albert would hang back and wait until
Ashley made a   breakthrough. :) So
after we decided it was time
for a retirement home for Albert, we sent him home with good
friends.
Late
in 2005 we welcomed a new rescue critter, Zeke. It didn't take
long for us to start thinking that Zeke might be able to pick up
Ashley's old "job" of welcoming new critters. After a
few months we were sure that Zeke had that perfect personality for the
job, so he became our newest Shelter Ambassador! Zeke was then
joined by a new partner in crime in Spring, 2006. Miss Stacey is a
wee little lady but oh, what a personality! Together these two
special friends did a bang up job meeting new friends and we were just delighted that we once again
had helpers of the weezil variety for
all our newly arrived, stressed out critters! They also did a
wonderful job as Ambassadors for all the rescue ferrets in the world at
public events. They were both so easy going - everyone who meets
them was instantly smitten, and of course so were we!
 In
Spring, 2006 we said goodbye to our poochie friend Jeremy. He went
quickly and we were terribly upset over his passing. I had grown
so used to having a canine shadow that I really had a hard time saying
goodbye, and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to have another dog  any time
soon. But then fate stepped into our lives yet again. Our
good friend, who was also Jeremy's groomer, sent an e-mail the morning
we had to take Jeremy in for his final vet visit. She had just
found out that her friend had gone into a nursing home and her pooch
only had 2 weeks to find a new home! So Jake, the 9 year old
Cocker Spaniel, needed a home. Alex and I thought that fate must
be in control of the situation, so we met him a few days later. He
instantly fit right into our lives, so we figured there was no reason in
the world that he couldn't stay with us! And thus we had a new
Cocker in our lives. Visitors were confused for a time...you can see
that Jeremy and Jake look somewhat alike. Now imagine if you'd
only met Jeremy once some time ago...when visitors come over they are
often a bit confused and hesitate to ask "Say, is this the same
pooch?" In the photo at left, he was sporting his
"Before" look. Jake should weigh about 25#. In his
former home he weighed over 50#!!! !!!!! He was already down
to 33# when we met him (33# in the photo at left) and we've continued to
promote further weight loss. He's a happy little monster but boy
is he a Mama's boy. So he gives a LOUD welcome to all visitors -
but we're working on that! ;) Today Jake weighs in at a svelte 22# (right photo). And check
him out in his fly hairdo (Aug 2007)!
  In
September, 2006, we had another new friend make her way to our
place: Motor the Cat! Yes, our "Sucker" brand
sometimes knows no bounds. That's Motor yelling at the camera in the inset photo; she
is certainly a vocal little gal. We named her Motor because her
purr motor is surely among the world's loudest. We enjoy Motor,
although she is a young cat and is therefore lots and lots of
trouble! :)
The photo at right was
taken at Xmas 2007. That's Jake, looking all svelte, plus our
Ambassadors Zeke
and Stacey. As you can see, as Zeke got older all his color fell
off! Motor was too afraid of strangers at the time to join in
the photo. :)
Late in
2007, our Ambassador Zeke started not acting himself. He always
wanted to snuggle and wouldn't play much. After ruling out a health
issue, we decided that since he was soon to turn three, he was obviously
tired of life at the Shelter. So we decided it was time for Zeke
and Stacey to retire. Our Ambassadors always have several home
options at the ready, and when we learned of an opening at Albert's
Retirement Castle (or that's what we call our friend's home, ha ha...the
same home Albert retired to), we decided to take it! So Zeke and
Stacey retired in November, 2007. While we miss them, we see
them often. Eventually, as critters get older, they really just
need a home where they can be the center of attention - which of course
is, sadly, not our home.     2008
brought many changes to our Ambassador lineup! We had several
newly surrendered ferrets enter into our Ambassador training program,
and even a couple who were looking like they would make the grade going
forward, but by the end of the year all had flunked out except our new
Dynamic Duo: Beaker and Teri! But we would be remiss if we
didn't mention Lynette and Arianna, who did an admiral job for much of
2008 as our Ambassadors. :) Beaker is named after Zeke
(get it...Zeke...Beak...aw c'mon!) and Teri has skills that actually
rival Ashley's when it comes to helping critters get over their hangups.
Shelter Dad Alex has nicknamed the pair: Teri is "Taco"
and Beaker is "The Roast." I have no idea where these
names came from...what can I say, Alex is a silly, silly man. Of
course it's not like the critters care. :) Teri just doesn't
take anything personally and Beaker loves everyone, so for now these two
are helping their fellow Shelter ferrets learn to love life a little bit
more and we couldn't be prouder of their efforts! These two will
likely continue in their positions for the next year, but of course
we're always looking for new critters who have that Ashley spirit!
As we
welcomed 2009, we looked back in amazement over the past several
years. The Shelter turned 9 years old in April, 2009. With
more than 700 critters rescued to date,
it's amazing to think back and remember so many critters and the many
friends we've made along the way. Recently we've started thinking
that 1000 rescued ferrets
will certainly be a milestone and we might start seriously considering
whether to continue the shelter after we reach it...but of course we
won't reach that particular marker for a couple of years yet, so we
have plenty of time to keep considering. :)
And that's it from us
for now; just a bit o' history about the folks & critters
of Motor City Ferrets. :) |