Welcome

Welcome to the blog for the Oregon Ferret Shelter! Ideally, this will be a nice venue for friends of the shelter to get information about what is going on with the shelter. Or maybe just to view some funny gifs.

To get to the Oregon Ferret Shelter's main website, please visit OregonFerretShelter.org


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Arnie: A Severe Abuse Case (graphic photos)



At our last meeting, Chris was apologizing for the state of her house.

"I didn't have time to clean today. I had to go to Salem and get this poor guy."

She was holding a little white ferret, wrapped in a towel, in her arms.

Chris told us that Animal Control found him in an apartment. The owners had moved out and left him behind. His cage was filthy, and he was covered in his own feces. He was skin and bones. It was a miracle that he lived long enough for her to go get him.

The worst thing?


"After I gave him a bath, I saw this."

She opened the towel, and there was a golf-ball sized tumor on his abdomen. It was right behind his penis. His skin was red and bleeding, and it looked infected (which wouldn't be surprising, considering his cage conditions).

"He needs a name."

"How about Arnie?" I said.

"Why Arnie?"

"Cause that's a tooomah," I said.

The little white ferret squinted his approval. And so he was named Arnie.

Little Arnie was paraded and passed around the room and given many many cuddles and pets. He loved all the attention. He was very sweet and gentle, in spite of the horrible treatment he had been given and the obviously painful tumor.

"This is where your raffle dollars are going tonight, "Chris told us. "All the money we earn from the raffle goes to his surgery tomorrow."

So we dug deeeeep.

"He's going in tomorrow, whether we have enough money or not," Chris said. "Well, if he makes it through the night."

We spent the whole evening cherishing this one ferret. It was terrible to think that his owners had just left him behind. We wondered if they knew he had a tumor and were just waiting for him to die, or if they had just not cared enough to notice. We wondered a lot of things.

Sadly, Arnie did not make it through the night. He went septic, and they could not save him.

But at least he got to have one night where he was the center of attention, loved on, held, and cherished. At least he didn't have to die alone.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Goodbye, Houdini


We lost one of our shelter favorites last week. His name was Houdini.

Houdini was a mellow and loving pewter guy. He was so mellow and loving that he served as an ambassador ferret for quite some time. His last official gig as an ambassador was at the Northwest Pet Expo last year, and he was such a charmer! He was truly a shining star.

Houdini was a slim and gorgeous guy in spite of his senior status. He was easy to pick out of the crowd. He had a "Y" on his head. (Lin said it was for "Y not adopt me?") He was quite distinguished and handsome, being a sable tuxedo with very sharp headlights -- the clearest and best headlights I had ever seen. (Headlights are white spots on the knee, very desirable markings for ferrets.) He was also known for having a natural "smile", especially when he slept. (See pic)


Houdini had a lot of personality. This guy was a natural love: He was always friendly and loving toward people, and he was never aggressive in any way. He also was very playful and friendly with other ferrets, and he could wardance with the best of them.

Last year, when he was 4, he was retired from his ambassador job, but he still was called to serve on occasion. We were hoping that this very deserving guy would find a home to call his own. But he never did. Instead, he made the lives of the shelter volunteers a little bit brighter.

He was found in his sleepy sack last Wednesday, his customary smile still on his face. We'll miss you, Houdini. Sleep well, Little Man.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

We have stuff on eBay!

We're selling items on eBay!

eBay link here!

Lots of books! GO GET EM!