The Ferret & Dove Sanctuary , Inc., of Pensacola

Welcome to The Ferret and Dove Sanctuary, Inc. We respect the rights of all creatures to their lives in comfort.

Great links to ferret care-related sites...and Ferret Friends

Our Raffle page! check it out!
Join our discussion group! Here's where we can all talk about all our critters!
All About care and more links for DOVES! Eurasian collared doves are also listed in the species section....
beautiful works in glass by a super classy lady!
The American Ferret Association. much great stuff!
Go here and click on ferret health for the Best on the web
health-building juice, Almost half as good as Pomegranate Juice, not as tasty as pomegranate, though(click)here's all about it (Immune system builder, also some of their profits will be helping this Sanctuary!

Support the Sanctuary's raffle! (help us completely pay our veterinarian's bills) Please check out our raffle at our new Raffle page, here (copy and paste in your browser!) http://ferretanddoveraffle.angelfire.com
You can make a donation to the Sanctuary through PayPal, here....

Or you can find us on GoodSearch.com and/or download their toolbar for searching, so that if you put us on it as your charity, every time you click that toolbar they will donate a small amount to this charity! GoodSearch: You Search...We Give! ....Every cent goes to the care, including veterinary medical care, & supplies for all the animals & birds. ...................................................

NOTICE!: This shelter is also our home (as well as the home and Sanctuary for the animals and birds)
No "Walk-in's; This Is NOT A STORE!
You must call (850) 475-0780
or e-mail one of the following for an appointment;
Mrs_Catseye@hotmail.com
winnersm@bellsouth.net
We're busy with care for these animals and birds most of our days and nights and if you might rather be treated as guests in our home than rude bargers-in, show some consideration for the retired folks already doing all the work.

Also; we can accept NO further intakes (of animals)from the general public. The only exceptions we can make are for active duty military or the animal police which can each show us legitimate I.D. for their genuine emergency animal rescues or turned-in animals.

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This Sanctuary is offering three different kinds of books for sale, the first is a cookbook entitled "Ferretly Fine & Doverly Home Cooking" $15.95, payable to The Ferret & Dove Sanctuary either to our address (see address for donations near top of page) or via the paypal "make a donation" buttons here for credit cards.-~*~*~*~ the second is a nice children's book written by our Sanctuary's Pres., Wes Hurley, and illustrated by director Susie Lee entitled "How the Winter Frog came to was...or How to get a Surprise on Thanksgiving", $19.95 each, same ordering info as the first book, all pre-orders will be signed by the author and the illustrator...*..*..*... and the third book is "Winners' Mindset on Lotteries" written by Wes Hurley, available either as an e-book for $8.00 from us or as a printed out book for $15.95, includes shipping and handling. All proceeds go to the Sanctuary. Click on the yahoo icon (below)to see the cover of the lottery book and all about it, then return here and click on the "make a donation" button to buy your book; please specify which book and how many you are buying and whom you want the signed copies addressed to....
Click here to join WinnersMindsetOnLotteries
Click to join WinnersMindsetOnLotteries
Click here to join FerretAndDoveSanctuary
Click to join FerretAndDoveSanctuary
Our opening picture features a glasswork by The GlassLady of our logo, the dove & ferret. We prefer to adopt to those within no more than an hours' drive from Pensacola, Florida so we can perform home inspections for the safety of the animals & birds. Our adoption fee is $75.00 for each healthy ferret.*.*.*.*.*. These're two of the Eurasian Collared doves: first is Sir Percival, a normally-colored collared dove, And the second is Gemaliel Dove, a white-feathered version of the same species of collared dove, more commonly known as a domestic dove in most of the world.~*~.~*~.~*~. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Here we are from November, 2007. The number of ferrets we care for varies with adoptions, intakes, etc. Our adoption fee is $75.00 for each healthy ferret The final decisions for uniting ferrets with potential adoptors rests with us, Wes Hurley and Susie Lee-Hurley, who are the Directors and cheif caretakers with the animals' and birds' welfare at heart. .~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. *********!!!ADOPTABLES!!!~.~****HERE**ARE**THE**ADOPTABLES****~.~~*~.~*~.~*~.(click on the phrase "click to see our pets" to see all the ferrets and doves available from us through the web-help of Petfinder.com) ....

Click to see our pets!

~*~.~*~*.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. ~*~.~*~.~*.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~ These two fine ferrety fellows are Lawrence BeauLove and Murphy Sweeting Lawrence is the larger one with the tiny mask, and he's an incorrigible cat-teaser. Murphy just likes to play, and plays "nice"-er. introduced as best buddies, we'd say hi, this is Lawrences' Murphy and, ah, Murphy's LAWrence. :)~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~~*~.~*~.~*~. .*~*.*~*.*~*.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.This little dynamo is Jade Spritely, a blacksable female who is shy of other ferrets and will either run from them or screech at them, so we let her have her own time with the house to herself. She's good around the cats and likes to be pampered with her own bowlful of home-made "duck" soup as you can see here.~*~.~*~. ~*~.~*~ .*.~.*.~.ferrety, slinky...it's Slinky SuperFert! and small blacksable little ferret-lady She is very shy and acts afraid of the other ferrets, so she shall need her own home as the "only"-ferret. She doesn't bother the cats at all and really needs a pair of kindly warm humans' hands of her very own to cuddle into. . ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. ~*~.*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~*.*~*.*~*.*~ These four recently came to us thanks to the kindness of Wings Of Hope bird rescue in New Jersey One of the youngsters has already been adopted of these lovely champagne doves. ~*~.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. ~*~.~*~. Already adopted and waiting to be brought to their new home, these young doves, named for characters in Piers Anthony's "Xanth" novels, , They are Karia Centaur Dove, Neysa Unicorn Dove And Stanley S. Dragon Dove, also given a mention on this terrific author's newsletter at www.hipiers.com . And here are adult doves who are four years old and sent from a wonderful bird rescue named "Wings Of Hope" from Jackson, New Jersey. This is Snow Bunting Dove on her new nest which she and her mate, Bullet McQueen Dove have built into the sleeping-donut donated by their friends, the ferrets. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.***THIS ***ENDS***THE***LIST***OF***ADOPTABLES*****~ ...........Here is a link to free Animal training videos from Animal Planet... ................................................. Also a link to an article written by the regional Florida manager of the Best Friends of Animals network
Special ferrets for a special Zoo!
(Nancy & Casper's story)
Here's a nice little story of special adoptions from our Sanctuary to the Hattiesburg Zoo of Mississippi. Recently we accepted the care of two ferrets from a military family being transferred overseas who wanted their pets taken care of in a NO-kill situation. The names of the ferrets were changed (to protect the ID of the military family) to Nancy SilverRose and Casper DEW Breezy. Nancy is a female silver mitt (all four paws are white) and Casper is a male Dark Eyed White ferret. Both these youngsters are gentle and like the company of people; we hoped for them to be able to have their own family of folks as soon as could be! We think their wishes came true! The Ferret & Dove Sanctuary was contacted by the education curator at the Hattiesburg Zoo of Mississippi hoping we had a pair of ferrets for adoption whom they would put to a kind of "work" for the welfare of all ferrets as teaching-critters. Meanwhile the Zoo's keepers and curators would become the ferrets' new daily-contact family. This sounded like a fine idea to us, and it would give Nancy and Casper the greater human contact that they seemed to so much enjoy.
(pic is Kris hugging Thor Mighty Chocolate ferret)
So the education curator, Krissy Harrison, came to visit, tour our little Sanctuary,
Here is Curator Kris checking a young dove...
and gain a new pair of ferrety teaching-aids whom, we are quite certain, the public will love as much as they love the public!
(here is Curator Kris with Nancy and Casper)
And here are Nancy and Casper in one of the Zoo's own carriers, ready to begin their new lives as educational ferrets!
*** Big Christmas for the ferrets for 2007! ***
A Ferret Nation cage donated by A. Hermes and shipped to the Sanctuary straight from the manufacturer! Here are Wes and volunteer "Laz" putting the new cage together... and then here's Wes beginning to put in some of the new-Xmas bedding for the older ferrets all about to get a big new home! Now here's the ferrets it was donated in the names of...first ones in! Samson Soup-Lover and Ninja The Widget...Yes, the very same little Ninja, now an older ferret, who gave her love to her Make-A-Wish-kid, the beautiful Caitlyn... Here they are, again,(Samson and Ninja) with part of one of their two old friends, Clyde DEW Nicely, shown scooting along the "upstairs" and, finally, here is their other friend, Chloe DEW Lovey...four old friends all comfy together in a huge new living-space! Sincere, lifelong thanks from all of us for this wonderful donation! ................................................... This is PURPLE BABY HUEY, a found (found outside a tire repair store) wild pigeon fledgeling who grew up to be a fantastic pigeon Pigeons are descendants of rock doves. This just goes to show we durned serious rescuers because we sure do take in the ugly dove-lings along with the "purty" ones. :) Here's how Purple Huey looks, now; we cannot adopt him away nor give him away, because he flies right back to his original roost, under our wide outdoor patio. He sure has made this HIS Sanctuary! *~.~*~.~*~.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Here's a little feather-mite who was just passing through... Roc kin' Robin Thrush was found 'gasping' in the middle of a nearby street late one last summer. Taken in and given elecrolyte fluids and some "baby bird food" that one of our other directors had donated, Rockin' Robin recovered it's strength over two days and was released to continue its journey of migration with all the other robins. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. A special holiday Thank You to Ingvill Andersen who sent a lovely box filled with handmade feret bedding and toys for all the fur-kids all the way from her beautiful, beautiful country of Norway!*** Also to everyone at Massachusetts Ferret Friends and Three Rivers Ferret Council of OHIO! THANK YOU So Very Much!~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ :)
...... WISHES*ARE*MADE*TO*COME*TRUE!****
Here is a heartwarming true "Adoption Tale"!
Miss Sandi(shown in the first photo, holding a ferret and being surprised at how soft and gently sweet most ferrets are) , of the Nemours Children's Clinic of Pensacola was the liason for the "Make a Wish Foundation" to help make a fine young lady's dearest wish come true, which was to own a domestic American ferret as her beloved companion. Her Wish Came True as soon as silvery Rikki Tikki Tavi was poured into her arms, he began licking Caitlyn all over her arms in loving welcome and then, to make a pleasant occasion even more pleasant, Rikki's little lady-buddy named Ninja The Widget climbed over him and gave Caitlyn a welcoming lick on the nose, too! So this formerly not so happy young lady was a very happy and proud Ferret-"mom" of TWO superbly fine and already devoted companions! Is that great or What?!!(the third picture shows Ninja The Widget saying goodbye, gotta go Home with my New MOM!).~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~ We're unutterably saddened to report that lovely Caitlyn has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and soon after she did, she was followed by a grieving Rikki-Tikki-Tavi who simply pined away after losing his Wish-Lady. Ninja The Widget was turned back to the shelter by Caitlyn's family and has recovered somewhat after being paired with another oldster-ferret , Samson Soup-Lover, but after also having lost Caitlyn, little older Ninja the Widget has lost all the original springiness in her tiny step.
~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.This youngster Has BEEN adopted! , as soon as his broken arm had healed! This is Chance,Dook-dook of Earl, a big, friendly fellow who was turned in to a cat-and-dog shelter with his arm broken in two places. The shelter-vet and then our vet each checked him out and x-rayed the little arm to be sure the bones were re-set and he was checked by the vet at the every-two-week checkup while he had to wear it. He had a "happy ending", getting adopted by a really terrific family! ~.~.*.~.~.*.~.~.*. Ferrets that need sponsoring or donations. If you would like to sponsor any of these dear fur or feathered personalities, May I suggest a check or money order to be made out to : The Ferret And Dove Sanctuary, Inc.,3815 Tom Lane Drive, Pensacola, FL, 32504 , OR! You can use PayPal and donate through one of our "Make a Donation" Buttons...(here's another one! Doggone, they're springing up like mushroomies!)
*************************************************** ***********What a Melatonin Implant can do: help an adrenal-cancer bald ferret get her Fuzz back!...example>>> Coco Chanel Ferret and friend Millie Vanillie ferret, shown here, together of course, since they've become inseparable friends... Coco Chanel came to us old, thin and totally bald. With treatment of a melatonin implant and regular feedings of extra homemade "duck soup", she has regained her hair and a lot of needed weight. Millie Vanillie was one of Shelley A's original ferrets and is a friend in need to ferrets like Coco and others. WOW, Look at Coco Chanel AFTER her melatonin implant, about three weeks after it was inserted at the vet's, she began to grow fur on her neck. Then a week later, more new fur sprouted on the rest of her...and it's still growing! Doesn't she look terrific?! ( and you can see her best buddy Millie Vanillie is her main cheering section :) .~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.FOR THOSE NO LONGER WITH US, WAITING AT THE RAINBOW BRIDGE~*~*~
Rest your soul in gentle peace:~*~.
All your pain and troubles ceased:~*~.
Someday, soon, we’ll meet again:~*~.
At the Rainbow Bridges’ end:~*~.
Now all the angels softly make:~*~.
A bough of fleecy clouds and take:~*~.~*~ Your loving spirit , with shining wings,:~*~.
A lullaby for you they’ll sing.

.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~..Here, in front of a local ABC news station camera person, is Wes fixing a little plate of "duck soup" (a home-made chicken and turkey-based gravy) and here is one of our little elderly (over 7 years of age) and cancer-afflicted ferrets who not just loves this but needs the extra nutrition ...this little ferretlady's name is Onyx Olinda and this is one of the main reasons we work at what we do all day long...to bring comfort to little helpless dears like this. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~***** Here is another of our elderlies, Furbucket, who is a blue-cream persian, whose pedigree name is Lady Victoria Blue Rose. Furbucket (Lady Victoria Blue Rose) will be 21 years old for 2007, and currently the eldest fur-person in our home and sanctuary.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. My name is Susie Lee, and I am an animal rescuer.(here I am with Cleopatra Pearl, getting "kissies"; there's a better photo of her, below) For the present, my husband and I house 7 cats, 1 dog ,an assortment of domestic Eurasian Collared doves in two outdoor aviaries on our property, and between 45 and 65 domestic ferrets who have two rooms of our 4-bedroom home entirely devoted to them. .~*~.~*~.~*~. The next photo is of Sandy LeQuick, first, before her life-saving treatment for Adrenal cancer..., and the very next photo is exactly 8 weeks later, after her treatment. It doesn't work on all ferrets the same who have adrenal cancer tumors, but it sure did work for little Sandy LeQuick! Here is Sandy LeQuick for 2004 with her new friend Bandit Waggy-Tail Sandy is showing her latest symptom-recovery from her third long-term shot of Lupron to treat her cancer and Bandit-Waggy had a benign chordoma on the end of his tail which the vet removed and has also recovered spectacularly!.~*~.~*~.~*~. ..~*~.~*~.~*~. Here is a view of some of the doves from inside their walk-in outdoor aviary in the summer. These are all Eurasian Collared doves, many of them in nearly-albino white, although we do have one named Sir Percival, who is a normally-colored bird of his species. The next photo shows Sir Percival, a normally-colored Eurasian Collared dove who is a rescued domestic dove, seated on a branch in another corner of the larger aviary while Amaliel and Gavliel are seated in the hanging-basket nest during our winter-covering time in the aviary, when the "building" of the aviary is covered with layers of cottony materials against the wind-chill. Recently we recieved an intake of six newly rescued Eurasian Collared doves, one of them white whom I have named Timothiel Dove, for his great shyness, and the others all normally-colored Eurasian Collared Doves, shown here sitting on the "big branch" inside the aviary whose new names are Mystrielle Dove, Sir Gawain Dove, Sir Brian Dove, and Julianne Dove.These are their "official" "before" photos, because they've just come in from being somewhat too close to one another before and have just relaxed and ceased to peck at one another, now that everyone has wing-room enough to at least fly around.Here, in this big photo, is a one-month later example of just how beautifully the newly rescued doves have re-grown their feathers and joined our elder doves and to save space, I had a bunch more photos like this but I'm sure you get the general idea from this one :)~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.The next photo is of the Sanctuary's dog, Mulan SharPei, who defends and protects the doves Mulan Mulan SharPei was rescued right at the doorway of our local county animal shelter, where we intercepted her tearful elderly former owner who was checking herself into an assisted living facility. The county shelter folks said that if they checked in the shar pei, they would have to destroy her because her breed is similar/close to that of the Chow and they had a policy of destroying certain breeds which included pit bull terriers, and chows. So we took the care of Mulan Shar Pei who became best-friends with our rabbit, at the time, which(the rabbit) has since died of a happy old age, and now Mulan makes friends with any "new" rescued rabbits that we take in for adoption from one of the animals shelter in a nearby county to where we are. ~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. these best-friends are Cassidy Rabbit (almost white) and Linus Rabbit (brown lop-ear) These two lovable-bunnies have been adopted. . ~*~*~*~*~*~*~.~*~.~*~. All the ferrets' medical care is carefully monitored by Ferry Pass Animal Hospital, and sometimes by East Hill Animal Hospital of 12th Ave., Pensacola. There also are 2 24-hour emergency veterinarian facilities nearby to this Rescue's location for any sudden illnesses or off-hours traumas, etc. We look after our fur-babies 24-hours, 7 days a week, and feed the ill and weak every four hours right around the clock. .~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~. *********************************************************~*~*~ Here is a good picture of Simone So-Lovely, a saintly soul leading a prayer from all of us for those ferrets who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge: Rest in gentlest Peace and happiness: Snuggles LuWeasey, Indigo Iridescent, Molly Blue-Angel,Shadow Superguy, Smokey Joe Oldster, Baby Darkeyes, BabyDoll Babushka,Poindexter White,Evander Brown Ferret,Caira The Winsome,Cecelia Cinnamon, Felicia Ferrette, Zipper-Goes-Faster,Mesquite Smokey, Phyllis The Fair, Gusselwaite The Good, Sandy LeQuick, Spanky LeBeau, and Harley Davidson Ferret. To which we add, May the Great and Merciful Goddess of all Goodness watch over Simone So-Lovely, too. ~*~*~*~*~*~*********************************************************~*~*~ (Susie's soapbox) Animal Rescuers of every sort are, in their ways, a counter-balance to the uncaring and abusive elements of humanity. Rescuers of cats, dogs, birds, horses, elephants (there's a rescue/shelter just for retired performing elephants in the United States), hedgehogs, ferrets, rabbits, et cetera, et cetera...all of us who do what we do is done purely for love of our fellow creatures, with whom we share planetary space, and MANY of us, in our actions, attempts to educate the rest of the human community, and push for more protective and defensive laws for animal rights and against all forms of abuse...many of us are deliberately setting our actions in counter-balance to all the neglect and abuse already done and still going on... there's a word for this kind of karma-in-action which more, and more persons are taking up, I'm just one of (really!) very many!, and I cannot think of it, but it's the kind of person Mohandas Ghandhi determined to become, effecting change for the good by BEING (at least part of) the change for the good. Okay, sometimes I get somewhat passionate about getting yet more folks to DO something, but why not? Humans were the cause of the all domesticated animals' and birds' plights in the first place, therefore, in the views of all the rescuers, humans at least SOME humans!, ought to be their succourers and rescuers, making at least some attempts to begin to rectify the wrongs;, comfort the lonely;, heal the wounded ;, and bring ease to the elderly animals and birds. (okay, I'm off the soapbox! :) .~*~.~*~.~*~************** ************************************~*~*~ And now for a TRUE STORY (oh, boy, our favorite kind! :) *****~*~*~The True Story of Falcor LuckDragon & Katie O'Cato, by Susie Lee~*~*~***************************** Once upon a time, in the State of Missisippi, in a cat-and-dog shelter along the Gulf Coast area, there, an albino ferret named Falcor was turned in to the county animal shelter along with four other companion-ferrets, one of whom was named Cato (as Cato was a girl-ferret, she was re-named Katie O’Cato so that from then-on everyone would please definitely understand that Katie IS a girl). Falcor, as everyone knows, is the name of the Luck Dragon from Neverending Story, so that this is, quite naturally, “Falcor LuckDragon”’s Whole Name! Very soon after Falcor and his four cage-mates were turned in to the Mississippi animal shelter, a man named Wes Hurley was driving through the area, and a “little voice” told him to stop there, so he did. Now Wes was, at this time, already running a small-animal Rescue and Sanctuary, with his little hobbit-like wife, Susie Lee-Hurley, back in Pensacola, and they had care of some 22 other ferrets at that time(1999-2000), so that they understood ferret care, and were concerned about these five who had been “dumped” in the Mississippi shelter. Wes wanted to take the care of the five ferrets straight away, but the folks running it said, "no", that they were required to keep any new animals for five days, so Wes left his information and did return five days later. What should he find, on return, but that three of Falcor and Katie’s cage-mates had already been put to death at that shelter, and that Falcor would be “next” for reportedly having bitten a girl who was allowed to squeeze him might too tightly. Wes put his foot down, then, and paid for the release of the two remaining, lonesome ferrets. When they came to the Pensacola Ferret and Dove Animal Rescue(that's what we were named at that time), they were each matted and dirty, and thin. So both ferrets were treated to fun bubble-baths (Falcor liked the warm water, and tried to play in it!, Katie stayed ver-ry still, just soaking in the gentle warmth) , and food that’s not mostly corn, such as most store-shelf cat foods are, with which the ferrets had been fed. Now they got chicken-and-rice kibble, with extra ferret-vitamins, and some ferretone to replace the lost oils in their skin and coats. Soon they were both sleek and fluffy and happily bouncing ferrets. And then, one day, after they were well-recovered, a nice couple came in to see about adopting two ferrets. The husband had built a spacious home-made cage, and the wife loved both Falcor Luckdragon and Katie O’Cato very dearly, and insisted she could easily look after both of them as well as her two young children. So, for about two months, they were adopted-out to their new family and played happily…until ONE day, Katie was missed, and in looking for her, their new adoptive parents realized that she must have gotten outside when their three-year-old tot opened the door. Searching outside, they found Katie under the house, with their rottweiler blocking her way…she could not come out. Getting a squeak-toy from inside, Katie was coaxed out, and then, like lightning, their pet dog clamped his teeth down over little Katie, who screamed.
Everyone screamed.
Even Falcor.
Katie was rushed to the emergency animal hospital in Pensacola barely breatheing, but still alive. Then to her original veterinarian’s, with the Pensacola Ferret Rescue, Ferry Pass Animal Hospital, where Dr. Chew saved her life and had to put nearly fifteen stitches and five staples with a “drain” (for pus exudates) to hold little Katie together like a ferrety “humpty-dumpty”.
The next day, Katie was brought back to the Pensacola Ferret Rescue along with good ol’ Falcor. Just as soon as they touched noses, again, little Katie’s eyes brightened, and from that point, Falcor stayed very close to keep his last cage-mate warm and give her the emotional support she desperately needed to grow well, again.
Falcor never left Katie’s side, and we feel his stoic faithfulness was very much a part of little Katie’s recovery. She could not “arch” her back any more, like other ferrets, but she had healed in every other wise and has made a recovery back to health with dear Falcor LuckDragon’s steadfast help and support. When they were out for their playtime, Falcor LuckDragon ran “interference”, checking out the area ahead of Katie and seeing to it that all was Safe. This is why Falcor regularly chased “out” and nips at the heels of each cat (we had eight) to keep them all away from Katie, every single day. They were estimated around six years old, each, when Katie O'Cato was fully healed as best as she could be. and they stayed on and lived out their lives to comfy old ages through 2004 when first Katie, and then her staunch friend, look-out and supporter Falcor LuckDragon each died very quietly in their sleep surrounded by every possible comfort we could concieve of for them. True and steadfast friends who teach us new lessons in loyalty what true friendship is, Every Day. ~*~*~*****************************************************************~*~*~This is the story of Molly Blue-Angel. The tiny ferret who Wouldn't Die.~*~*~************ In January of the year 1999, a small, elderly silver lady-ferret was brought to Wes Hurley and Susie Lee-Hurley's house by a member of the Navy's Blue Angels team who was being transferred to California, and glad to find someone like us who could look after his then 7 years old companion-ferret. He'd had her checked by the bases' vet, who didn't give her more than two weeks to live, at that time. Her former Blue Angel friend said she wouldn't eat any other food but raisins and sometimes a lick of ferretone. So Molly Blue-Angel came into our permanent care, and she was somewhat desperate: almost purely skin-and-bones, blind and very weak, we had her to our vet's to see what could be done to help or at least comfort her. Turned out that she had severe intestinal ulcers, and had lost several teeth, possibly from calcium loss plus the grinding that ulcer-pain brings on. But she wouldn't die. Quickly we had her on antibiotics and carafate and tiny drops of pepto-bismol and chicken babyfood with ferretvite softened into a drinkable soup and given with a tiny doll's bottle, a little every hour in between or with whatever meds were on her schedule by our somewhat more ferret-knowing vet. Then, after the first desperate two days, I fed her every hour-and-a-half, then the fourth day, every two hours, and a bit more at a time. By the end of the week, Molly Blue-Angel was beginning to fill back out from her former skeletal appearance and behave more like an active and spritely ferret. On a final visit before shipping out, her former owner was much comforted at his little friend's recovery and apparent happiness with us. Molly never seemed to recover all her mental faculties, though, for she would only very occasionally eat any kibble along with her other two new cage-mate friends, (Coco LeCreme, who was just one year younger, 6 years old in 1999, and Zipper-Goes-Faster, another year- younger than Coco LeCreme). However she always still liked to nose out and munch a good juicy raisin. And so began a habit I'm finding it very hard to break, feeding Molly Blue-Angel every four hours a cooked, softened rice-and-chicken kibble with medicinal herbs added which are first cleared and approved by our vet, and a few drops of colloidal silver to safely kill any gram-negative bacteria so that I can blend in to this mixture several whole raw eggs. Four years. Every four hours for the last four years, it's been "time to feed Molly Blue-Angel", and, also others who have come under our wing of caring, and feeding. She's made every moment well worth it. The last two weeks, she'd become extra-frail, and had been having more difficulty swallowing, I would go verrry slowly with her feeding while she'd wrap both tiny front hands around one of my fingers and cling tightly as a tiny, tiny baby. This morning, at the very ripe age of ten years and two months old, she gently breathed her last breath. But she still isn't really dead, for her bright little spirit is already hovering like a tiny star, glinting around the house. A Blue little star, flashing and zipping in the newfound freedom of it's indomitable little spirit.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~ It's Molly Blue-Angel. ~*~*~***************************************************************~*~*~ This is a drawing I made of our Snuggles LuWeasey, who "posed" for the part of Miss Mischief in the following charming story.......................... The Fiddly Ferret, by Susie Lee ~*~*~*********************~*~*~ Once upon a time, a really nice family who had a good cat and a friendly dog decided they would like to include a ferret into their family's circle because they saw how much fun their nieghbors had with their two adopted ferrets who played and teased with the neighbors' cat and dog and children, helping to put smiles and laughter into everyone who watched them. So they went to a pet store and bought a lonesome, last-one-of-his litter ferret...the only one left in the pet store, since all his litter-mates had been sold off. This ferret was spoiled and mischievous because of all the extra handling he'd gotten, being by himself for several weeks at the pet store. When he was taken in by his new family, instead of playing with their cat and dog, he hissed and bared his teeth, then ran off to create near-havoc, turning over all the pots and pans, finding and hiding every single shoe of everyone's in the house, claiming all the toys for himself, even though he couldn't possibly play with most of them, and generally being mischeivous, and so the Name he made for himself was Mischief. By the next day, everyone, family, dog, cat, everyone left Mischief quite alone. Now ferrets are sociable-natured critters and Mischeif didn't like being lonesome at-all-whatsoever. But after his reprehensible behavior, no one would have anything to do with him. He sprawled out his little self on the living-room floor and heaved a great, lonesome sigh. Several lonesome sighs. Noticing nobody was paying attention to all his lonesome sighs, he sat up and cry-YIII-yied, just as loud and lonesomely as his little self could cry. Around the corner of the sofa came the old motherly cat, named Sphynx, to enquire what was the matter, for the little ferret looked and sounded so much like a kitten to her that she couldn't not try to help. Mischief broke down completely and "for real", then, at Sphynx's genuine concern after how rudely he'd behaved. He wished everyone would come out and be company to him. He didn't like the name he'd made for himself at-all, whatsoever! Sphynx suggested maybe he could find some way to make a NEW name for himself...what about finding a more cheery and engaging way to behave that the People might like, such as purring and rubbing against People-legs? Mischeif tried to purr, but ferrets can't purr. What could he do? he could bounce. He could run sideways and backwards at the same time. But ALL ferrets can do those things. Then, on the television, he saw a human with an instrument in his hands, making cheery noises with it while other humans joyfully approved. Now THERE was what he'd like to do! So Sphynx managed to make the humans understand what was needed, a very small violin. (don't ask ME how she did that, sphynxes always keep their secrets and I never did find that one out! :) By the Next day, the little ferret was already playing his new fiddle in a fitly ferrety way all his own. The merry little tunes drifted through the house and lured everyone back to enjoying the fine company of their new Fiddly Ferret. The Mom and Dad and bro and Sis were all dancing and laughing again. Dog was laughing, too, bounding between the dancers, and Sphynx just tapped her dainty paw in time to the music with a little motherly cat-grin. And so the little ferret made a wonderful New name for himself by changeing his attitude, and then changeing his behavior. Now everyone loved and kept company with a much happier Fiddly Ferret. *********** The End.(this is the real-life Sphynx Mysteria ) (she's now almost 11 years old, and has always been too smart for my own good :)Also, this is one of Sphynx's grown children, Red Blazin' Star, a second son from her second litter, born in 1996 he has many of his mother's mannerisms, but one of his own is to stick his little tongue out just a teeny bit while he's purring. ~*~*~*~*********************************~*~*~ ~*~.~*~.~*~(this is Flower Black Orchid, known mostly as just plain "Flower", around our house. who was rescued by Wes as a kitten from a boy who had accidentally broken one of her legs, which has since healed.~*~*~*~*~*~*~. The next photo is of Elrond Buttontail... Elrond Buttontail is an almost-manx and flame-point siamese whose mother was killed by an automobile when he was a tiny fluff of a kitten, and so we took him in. He's grown to be a big, soft-furred and handsome neutered male cat, but he's afraid to allow anyone else but us to touch him, so we're unable to adopt him out. ****************************************************~*~*~(calming down all the excitement with ferrets by gazing on our tetra fish tank) Here we are with our favorite volunteers...this picture you might call "the Four Ferret-teers!" :) ( and this second one was before I cracked a joke:) ******************************************* Something that helps horses! Veterinarians saw the results that humans got from drinking, (a healthy drink called), Tahitian Noni® juice; so they tried it on Thoroughbred Race Horses & it worked, very well! So the Vets designed blends, now we have patented Equine & Canine Essentials products!! They are on the innovative edge of developing new animal products. So stay informed! Famous Trainer and Racehorse We welcome a famed Australian, Frank Maynard to the T.N.I.s list of amazing spokespeople! He is a world-renowned trainer, & Black Tom is one of Australia’s top racehorses. “We at Frank Maynard Racing Stables are using Tahitian Noni® Equine Essentials® & have been for months," Frank says. Black Tom “enjoys the taste of Equine Essentials, which he receives twice daily.” Frank also believes that noni has improved Black Tom’s nature, a quality that is critical in a long distance racehorse. Frank’s entire family drinks TAHITIAN NONI® Juice and he uses Equine Essentials as a critical part of his racing strategy.    ******************************************* Here is a picture of three of my hand-crocheted Rainbow Bridge Blue Angels These take me 5 to 7 days each to make and no two are alike because each is "made up" with no pattern of any sort. I will send the donators of any amounts over 10 dollars a Rainbow Bridge Blue Angel who might like one. Write to me at the e-mail below if you would rather donate with a check or money order. If you would like a Rainbow Bridge Blue Angel, just say so and i will send you one as soon as the cash is in the ferrets' and doves' account, please make sure i have your mailing address to send you your angel for being one! Here is the PayPal button for anyone who didn't find the first one so that you can make a donation to the Sanctuary.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This & 15 more chinchillas were dumped on us late in 2004,(just as we were overloaded with Hurricane Ivan turned-in ferrets and rabbits) but help came for them by a Chinchilla Rescue of the Great State of Georgia, to see their story go to http://www.trendata.net/chins...also, their story was in the Feb-March 2005 issue of "Chinchillas" Magazine. As a Happy Ever After,as of June, 2005, all the Florida Rescued chinchillas were adopted out by the Chinchilla Rescue & Sanctuary of Georgia! Another nice note, Ferrets Magazine has published an article about ferret-specific shelters quoting us&(just)2 other shelter-operators in the USA. Look in Ferret Magazine's March-April, 2006 issue! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *************
(211 ferrets adopted!!!!) Whoopeee!and congrats to all the furrys and their new families******************************
(here is our 40-second commercial asking for help, featuring some volunteers from a local middle-school who came to assist us during the late spring of 2007 with their teachers (not shown, but they were there :) which you might have seen on some of your local American television stations....) ............................................ Now join us and the ASPCA in the ongoing fight against animal cruelty...
ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Resource Center

Email: Mrs_Catseye@hotmail.com