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


Sunday, November 27, 2011

ThinkGeek is great for Xmas gifts!


ThinkGeek is a great site hosted by great people. If you have a smart and curious loved one to buy for, you should look here first. And yes, ferrets love the stuff that these guys sell. Seriously, I have a bunch of their stuff under my bed because of Tekkie, the technology-loving ferret. When I get stuff in, she takes it the first chance she gets unless we put it on top of the bookshelf. And even then, it's risky because the ThinkGeek goodies are JUST THAT AWESOME!

As you can see in the screen capture above, some of the people who shop at ThinkGeek also own ferrets. (Surprisingly, the Zombie-based pic above is not mine. We mostly buy Star Trek and Star Wars stuff, with a sprinkle of Doctor Who and random geek items in the mix.) The screen capture is an action shot of the Dismember-me Plush Zombie. If you want to get a Dismember-me Zombie of your own, you can find the zombie at http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/ac4a/?srp=1. The above ferret-filled page can be seen at: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/ac4a/action/215aa9f/

Why do we love ThinkGeek so much? And why are we mentioning it on an Oregon Ferret Shelter blog? What do they have to do with us?

Well, a few years ago, a very nice representative of ThinkGeek, Shane Peterman, donated five shirts to our Weasels Dancing in the Park fundraiser. We haven't forgotten his kindness.



In appreciation for his donation, every chance we get, we recommend ThinkGeek to everyone we know. We hope to return his kindness a thousandfold.

One of ThinkGeek's donations was the Princess Bride shirt pictured here, with the name tag, "Hello my name is Inigo Montoya..."

You can still buy this shirt at ThinkGeek. It is awesome -- I still wear mine all the time. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/popculture/9f70/?srp=1

And I know this article is messy with all the links. But I thought that people would probably like to know where they were being redirected to (ya can't be too careful!).

So, happy shopping!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Artist Deva Kolb and the Gigantic Xmas Bag!


Deva Kolb, ferret-centric artist and fellow shelter supporter, has alerted everyone on the Ferret Mailing List to the presence of a particularly attractive gift bag, available on eBay.
Take a look at the collection of winsome weasel wonders!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230702314915
Yep, it's got everything you need to explore your ferret side, including a 13-inch musical dancing ferret that sings Jingle Bell Rock until your ears bleed. But the best part? She also filled this bag with all sorts of her original artwork: a laminated poster of the Ferret Celtic Tree of Life, a Three Ferret Teapots poster with accompanying poem (also laminated), and best of all -- a 2012 Ferret clip art CD with over 250 high resolution drawings made by Deva herself! Anyone who has tried to find ferret artwork knows what an incredible hassle it is to find anything suitable. This is truly a gem!
Go forth and bid now! The profits from this bag go to benefit a ferret shelter. And if you give the contents of the bag to another ferret shelter, then you've helped a MULTITUDE of carpet sharks! Think of the karma!
(Santa Hat ferret is from last year's clip art CD. Thanks go to Deva for the use of her artwork!)

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Shelters Fill Up Fast When "Animal People" Meet "Non-Animal People"

I remember going over to my friend's new house. She had just moved in with her new boyfriend and her 16-year-old cat, who was left over from her previous relationship that had ended in divorce. My friend, L___, and her cat, Miranda, had lived through a lot together over the years, and Miranda was a great source of comfort to L___ as she endured her heartbreaking situation.

I was excited to see L___ with her new boyfriend, J___. I had been told he "wasn't much of a cat person", but as long as she was happy, I was thrilled for her.

When I arrived, Miranda was at the door. Of course I let her in with me. I was surprised that she was outside at all. They were in a new neighborhood, and you don't put a 16-year-old cat outside in an unfamiliar place. At their age and fitness level, they just don't have the knowledge or skill to find shelter or safety from hazards like dogs or cars. I know L___ knew that -- when she moved to her apartment after the divorce, she called to ask me about the "butter on the feet" trick of introducing a cat to a new place. I figured Miranda must have somehow sneaked out when nobody was looking, like she always tried to do when I cat-sat for her.

Miranda galloped over to the couch and waited for me to sit. She swiftly jumped up on my lap, and I petted her soft silky fur as I had done a million times before. She was so affectionate, sweet, and smart, really a one-in-a-million kind of cat.

Suddenly, I heard J___'s voice: "Is that damn cat inside again?"

I looked at Miranda, and I saw the fear and sadness in her eyes. With some surprise, I said, "Yes. She's just on the couch with me, saying hello."

"Oh! I didn't know you were here already." J___ came out from the kitchen, along with my friend.

"We don't allow her inside during dinner anymore," said L___. "J___ doesn't like her on the counter. He says it's not sanitary." I looked around and realized that there was no food in sight. Dinner was at least an hour away. It was a very creepy moment.

"Oh," I said. "Well, I'll put her out in a little bit, when we're ready to eat, OK?" I could see very well that J___ did NOT think that was OK, but he felt like he couldn't deny me, a guest in his home -- at least not in front of L___.

"That's fine." Back into the kitchen he went, with L___a following soon thereafter.

I looked over at Miranda, and I remember this very piercing moment when I realized that my friend was more than willing to sacrifice her companion of 16 years to placate this new man in her life. I looked into Miranda's eyes, and I said, "It looks like there's no room for you here anymore. I wonder when they are going to run out of room for me too."

Less than a month later, Miranda had been hit and killed by a car. I remember my friend crying hysterically on the phone. I asked her if I could come over, that I knew how horrible it is to lose a pet, and that I wanted to help her. And she answered, "No, J___ has everything taken care of. I'm fine."

Indeed, J___ did have everything taken care of. Just the way he wanted it.

At the shelter, we hear stories about J___s everywhere. How people happily have their ferrets, then they suddenly meet someone who "just isn't a ferret person." Then the ferrets show up at the OFS. Sometimes they are starved. Sometimes they are crippled. Usually they have major trust and abandonment issues. Sometimes one or more of them have met with "unfortunate accidents" and the loving owner is just trying to save the rest. Maybe they think the worst is over when the “animal problem” is gone. Unfortunately for the people in these relationships, usually the abuse has just begun.

People like J___ may or may not stop their abusive and controlling ways after the animals are gone. Sometimes the L___s of the world have to experience their spouse's anger firsthand to know what a terrible danger they live with.

I'm not saying that everyone who doesn't like animals is abusive or a bad person. But if you have animals, and your boyfriend or girlfriend treats them poorly, you should let that be a warning to you not to get more involved with them or, at the very least, never to become dependent upon them.

By the way, my friendship with L___ has come to an end. They married this year, and even though she makes pleasant noises at me in emails, I know that J___ will always be in the background -- disapproving of my animal-rescuing ways, ready to turn L___ against yet another part of her support system. And that's OK. The first thing you learn in the animal rescue field is that, heartbreaking as it is, you can't save everyone.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I joined Fab.com and found the pEi Pod



So I joined Fab.com. They have lots of gorgeous modern furniture and stuff that has crazy funky designs. I read it because I never know what will inspire me to do good art for the ferrets.

So what do I see today? The PRECIOUS PRECIOUS egg pet bed! They are adorable! They come in various colors and animals seem to love them.

What's the catch? The price. They retail for $129. Fab.com has them on sale for $79. But even at that significantly discounted price, I still can't justify buying one. I just think of all the homeless furry faces and how that $129 can buy more than a week's worth of food for the almost 200 ferrets at the Oregon Ferret Shelter.

So, no pEi Pod (the cool name for the egg-shaped bed) for my furkids. But I hope whoever gets one is happy with their purchase. Here is the link for their products http://www.peipod.com. Enjoy!

Oh, and here is the link for our donations (in case I guilted you just enough to give a few bucks): http://www.oregonferretshelter.org/donations.htm

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Halloween Costume Contest Fun!


Aperture Science: We do what we must because we can

And what we can do is make a Companion Cube costume for our ferret!

Our little girl, Millie, may have cataracts and be blind, and she also may have no tail (it had a chordoma and had to be removed), but she makes an excellent companion. And how better to showcase her companion-y talents than to make her a Companion Cube to cuddle in.

Millie thoroughly enjoyed her turn at the Oregon Ferret Shelter's annual Costume Contest. Even though she didn't win or place, she still had a wonderful time in her custom-made snuggler.

While every other ferret fought to get out of their costume (no matter how adorable they looked!), Millie curled right up in hers and fell asleep. In fact, she had to be woken up a total of four times for the judging. Apparently, I made it TOO comfortable.

More pictures of the event, including pictures of the ferrets who actually won the event, will be up on our website soon after I resolve some technical difficulties. I found out that Slide.com will be closing down, and I have to find another place for our photo slideshows to be hosted. It's always somethin', eh?

In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Triple F Farms and PETA -- someone has to help

I watched this video earlier today. PETA went undercover to expose the conditions at Triple F Farms, a well-known ferret breeder. I am still reeling from watching their video.

http://www.peta.org/features/investigation-exposes-cruelty-at-ferret-mill.aspx

Be warned -- the video contains graphic horrible pictures.

I was talking with my husband. I was very upset. Seeing these things reached deep into my heart. I felt very angry and helpless.

And I asked him, "People, the bastards, are going to do these gruesome terrible things. They do them even when it doesn't gain them anything to do so. They even lose money when they perpetuate these cruelties, and they STILL do them. What can one person do to stop them?"

He said that I could post it to my blog, that maybe someone would read it and write the CDC (like the link on PETA's page asks them to do). Or maybe someone would put some words in the right ear and bring the whole operation under inspection. Who knows -- maybe someone with power will help.

So if you are that person, or you know someone who could be that person, go to it! Or tell me who to talk to. Because someone has to help.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Oregon Ferret Shelter celebrates 26 years of service


On Saturday, May 14th, the Oregon Ferret Shelter celebrated its 26th year as a shelter for homeless and abandoned ferrets. Many volunteers and fans of ferrets showed up to show their appreciation for this Oregon City, OR, community resource.

To commemorate their years of service, a lovely cake was presented to Dave and Chris Mathis, the owners and operators of the shelter. Stephanie Whiteside and her family donated the cake as a token of their gratitude. Stephanie's ferret, Dookie, was also happy to put his paw of approval to the donation.

About 50 pounds of food was donated as "birthday presents" for the shelter inhabitants. This is about half of what the shelter needs for a full week of feeding the resident animals; typically, the shelter uses 90 pounds of food per week. Several types of ferret food were donated, including the shelter favorites of Totally Ferret and Zupreem.

Stephanie Whiteside and her family also brought a great present for all attending ferrets: tiny party hats! Each ferret was given a paper cone hat with a little piece of elastic to wear. Although few ferrets wanted to keep theirs on for pictures, there were some fuzzy kids who managed to get their photos taken. Many thanks go to the Whitesides for their wonderful sense of humor and their generosity. (A small note here: Never let your ferret play unsupervised with elastic or anything that is easily swallowed and not easily digested.)

Chris Mathis was deeply moved by the donations and seemed overwhelmed with gratitude. She would like to thank each and every person who came out to help the shelter celebrate their years of community service. She also extends an invitation to all people who love ferrets to come to the shelter's meetings, which are open to the public and are held on the second Saturday of each month. To see when the next meeting is scheduled, please go to the Oregon Ferret Shelter's website at:

http://www.oregonferretshelter.org/news.htm

Chris would also like to mention that this upcoming weekend, the Oregon Ferret Shelter will be at the Beaverton Farmer's Market for their Animal Welfare Day. The booth will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. For further information, please go to the following link for the Beaverton Farmer's Market.

http://www.beavertonfarmersmarket.com/newsletters/BFMmay2/newsletter.html

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Post with your name or at least a nickname

If you want to post, use a name or a nickname. I hate all of you pissy whiny jerks who post nasty anti-ferret notes anonymously. You can all die in a gigantic bonfire. If you don't have the guts to back up your comments, then go slink off into your pile of offal and stink up some other place.

Seriously, why do I even have to tell people that they have to be nice on this board? Do people really have nothing better to do than anonymously post on a pro-ferret board? Really. If I ever find out who did that, there will be some hell to pay.

Oh, and if you have a problem with this and call it "censorship", I would like to remind you to FUCK OFF. Yes, this isn't a public forum. You don't have "the right to be anti-ferret" or whatever stupid rhetoric the animal abusers are using as an excuse nowadays. This is a place for people who love ferrets to talk about their pets. So go somewhere else.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Elvis: My New Ferret Friend


When you are fostering a new ferret, you get to meet someone entirely new, someone who looks at your house in an entirely new way. And so it is with Elvis, our newest foster guy.

Elvis has been here recuperating from his tumor removal surgery for a little more than a week.

Today, I let him out by himself. He tootled around the house a bit, looking at all the places where the other ferrets store their toys and treats. Then he came over to me.

He very carefully crawled up on the couch next to me. Then he sniffed around my ear, and started licking it! Then he eagerly started licking my face!

I was so shocked and pleased that I started giggling. And, of course, when you get the Giggles, it's hard to stop. But Elvis seemed to like that.

Next, he surfed down the blanket onto the floor, where he turned on his back and looked up at me. It seemed to be a cue for something. I tried tickling his belly -- no, that wasn't it. I thought, "He remembers that he used to do something with his human, and he expects me to do it too. I wish I knew what it was."

That is some of the saddest part of adopting older ferrets (Elvis is 4): seeing the pieces of their previous life that they bring to you. I wish that when people dropped off their ferrets, they would give a list of what their favorite things are, their tricks, their moods, and their favorite toys. That way, we wouldn't have to guess what the ferret wants when he looks up so eagerly at us. We would know.