Two Rescues Today

We don't operate an animal shelter, but for some reason the fuzzies keep finding us.

Back in June we found two dirty, infested boys that were left in a small wire mesh cage and brought them home. We were not looking for more ferrets, but how could we not take them home. I knew that Ferrets Unlimited was full, so we kept them.

They have turned out to be great boys, even though it has taken quite a while to get them smelling good, and free of mites, and such.

Today our day started when our son told us the dog (we have a golden retriever mix) was playing with a baby chipmunk. It was pretty much covered with dog slobber and terrified, but appeared unharmed. So we spent most of the day trying to find out what to do with a chipmunk.

Then we gave it food, water, and a safe place to sleep. Since we live with ferrets, we had nothing suitable to put a chipmunk in. We tried a small cat carrier at first, and he slipped right out of the air holes.

I sent my son to his friends houses to see if any of them had an extra hamster cage, and he came home telling me a neighbor had a ferret in the garage in a dirty cage with no food, water, litter, or snugglies.

Well before you know it, we are bringing another one home, because these people were desperate to find her a better home. Another case where a child was expected to take care of a ferret, and failed, so they put the stinky, dirty cage outside until they found a home.

So, here we go again. Our new girl is fairly young, skinny, nippy, has no idea what toys are, or ferretone, or ferret food. Her hair is so thin you can see her skin in patches, and the fur feels like steel wool.

She weighs less than a pound, and her nails were so long they curled. She loves her new home. Even her temporary quarantine cage is 100 times bigger than anything she has ever seen. She has food, clean water, clean bedding, and isn't out in a hot, dirty garage anymore.

Fortunately, the chipmunk perked up after a day feasting on pecans, walnuts, and honey spiked water. He looks about 5-6 weeks old, and old enough to be on his own. We found a chipmunk burrow in our wooded backyard and let him go. He peeked out at us a few times while munching on his treats, and eventually took off into the tunnels.