Hide-E-Hole Ferret

Rescue

Located in Pittsburgh, PA

Hi, my name is Barbara Carlson, and I run the Hide-E-Hole Ferret Rescue in Pittsburgh, PA. We usually have 25-40 ferrets in the shelter at any given time, about 25% of which are not adoptable due to health, age or behavior issues. I will adopt those ferrets out, but the average person isn't interested.

I'm currently trying to downsize a bit. We have just a few too many cages and too many ferrets for me and my volunteers to really keep up with. Well, that's not really true -- we keep up with the ferrets, their cages are clean, but my home goes uncleaned!

I work full time as a secretary and run the shelter. Running the shelter means I get to do all the fundraising, PR work, intake, adoptions, vet visits, laundry, and whatever cleaning my volunteers don't get to. To say I am run ragged is an understatement. This is why I'm trying to cut back on the number of ferrets here. I have to be able to live in the house!

Most ferret shelter/rescues are in people's homes. Ferrets need a lot of personal interaction and supervision. They also are small and have a fast metabolism, and we need to keep a close eye on their food intake, the condition of their "output" and their general health. Things happen fast in a ferret, and one that doesn't eat for 2 days is literally skin stretched over bone and on death's door. So all ferrets are checked three times a day (more if they're sick) and the goal is to get every ferret out to play once a day for 2-3 hours.

We spend a lot of time cleaning and disinfecting. Ferrets are prone to several problems common to dogs and cats (giardia, coccidia, ear mites, fleas, ticks) but also can catch human flu and gastrointestinal illnesses. They have a set of diseases common to ferrets -- andrenal disease, insulinoma, and lymphoma are the most common -- complete with their own sets of symptoms and treatments.

Ferrets are very sensitive to stress, and will get sick more easily (and even have more vaccine reactions) if they are stressed. Just like humans, their immune system becomes suppressed when they are stressed, and since they're small and have such a fast metabolism, you can see the effects rather quickly. As a result, we try hard to keep the ferrets happy. That means lots of human interaction, play time, enriching activities (for ferrets, "enriching" can be anything from knocking over your garbage can to stealing your socks), great food, and good vet care.

Ferrets are expensive creatures. Their food is expensive (at least it is if you want them to live a reasonable length of time and be healthy!), the vet care is outrageously expensive, they're prone to a number of different illnesses, and they are so curious they seem like they're constantly trying to kill themselves. (Ferret owners must be diligent to keep them IN the house and OUT of trouble.)

As a result of all these costs, a large part of my job is fundraising. About 50% of our expenses go to vet care and medication, but adoption donations only account for about 1/3 of our income. No one here is paid a salary, so all money raised goes directly into the rescue.

Well, that's enough talk for today! I'm off to do some real work! :)