This little girl was the first fuzzy Pat ever brought home from a pet store.  She was trouble from the start, because she brought the green-poop disease in with her!  She didn't get sick at all, but I got soooo sick I almost died.  Fortunately Pat was able to get information about this virus on the internet and he kept me hydrated and nourished until I was able to get better on my own.  About all the vet could do was put me on amoxi-drops for any secondary infection. 

Baby is over five years old now.  Pat says that she is the smartest ferret he has ever known.  That's ok because he says I'm the cutest!   Baby is a little on the wild side and a real squirm-worm.  She will only hang around on someone's lap while she is mooching.  As soon as the treats are gone, she's outta there!  

She has always been lithe, agile and a talented climber.  If there is a ferret that can figure a way to get outside, it's Baby.  She loves the outdoors.  Baby gets along with everyone here at Dookie's House.  Even those bullies that occasionally come through the shelter don't mess with Baby.  She just ignores them and moves on.  Baby started showing signs of adrenal disease and underwent surgery on 13 January 2003 by our wonderful ferret-wise vet, Dr. Mitsie Vargas at the Orchid Springs Animal Hospital in Winter Haven.  Baby's symptoms didn't retreat so we followed up with Lupron which did the job.  We also think Baby has pancreas cancer but with daily chicken gravy feedings, she has been seizure free for several months now.  Baby has put on some weight and sleeps alot but her appetite remains strong and she seems to be feeling fine.  These days she enjoys a bit of lap time and Pat can tell that she knows that she is dearly loved.

**

Spunky-pup is the traveler of the group.  She loves to be outside too and seems to be always motivated to get out.  She has the knack for anticipating and timing a door opening so that as soon as it is opened even slightly, she hits it at a full run.  Once outside, she immediately hides until the coast is clear, then heads for the hills. 

She's the reason Pat got started with the shelter.   She got out one day and ended up being rescued by the All About Bandits Ferret Shelter in Annapolis, Maryland which was about two hours drive away.  When Pat went to retrieve her, he became aware of the overcrowding situation at the ferret shelters on the east coast.  After adopting Rosey and Sally, he started picking up rescues and fostering fuzzies for the shelter.  Next thing you know, he's rescuing them, sheltering them and finding homes for them.

Spunky underwent adrenal surgery just after her third birthday.  It's been 2 ½ years now and until very recently, she remained free of adrenal symptoms.  Spunky is still a very independent girl but can usually be found sleeping in a ferret pile with Baby and Sally.   

**

As I said, Sally was adopted from the All About Bandits Ferret Shelter with her sister Rosey.  When we got her, she was a recent rescue and was just a mess.  She was skinny as a rail and her coat was so threadbare, she looked like she had been hit by a neutron bomb.  

We are so proud of Sally as she has bounced back, put on weight and grew the most gorgeous winter coat.  We call her Silly-Sally, the Wild Child because she would get soooo excited, dance wildly, actually bouncing off the walls and otherwise running around in a frenzy.  She loves to ride around on Pat's shoulders and nuzzle in his hair. 

Sally is over seven years old now and we are thrilled that she is still doing well.  She did start showing adrenal disease symptoms a few months ago that responded very well to Lupron.  Sally is an accomplished mooch who magically appears at every treat gathering.  On occasion she can still be seen dancing and playing in the tubes with the others.

**

Verdi is a happy, outgoing seven year old silver boy who came in with Maya from the Bradenton area.  When he arrived, he was essentially naked from the shoulders back due to advanced adrenal disease.

We promptly scheduled him for surgery with Dr. Mitsie Vargas at the Orchid Springs Animal Hospital in Winter Haven and on May 13, 2002, she removed a grossly enlarged left adrenal gland and froze his right adrenal gland using cryogenic techniques.

Following surgery, Verdi rallied and promptly began regrowing his fur coat.  We were thrilled to see the new fuzz coming in all over his previous bare butt.  

Verdi is an incredibly happy, active boy with a unique personality.  He finds it necessary to paw at his water bowl to make sure it is just right before he will take a drink, getting water all over himself and the surrounding area in the process.

Verdi gets along with most of the ferrets here at Dookie's but sometimes has dominance issues with some new arrivals.  Lately, he has been calming down more and is becoming more accepting of other male ferrets.  His coat continues to soften and he is becoming a very handsome boy.

Old manVerdi, is a total joy to have here at Dookie's and we are very pleased that he has done so well, especially considering the poor condition he was in when he arrived.

Dunn arrived from a nice home in Kissimmee along with four other fuzzies, Bonnie, Clyde, Freddy and Brooks.  Their mom could no longer give them the time and attention that they deserve.  Dunn will be three years old in July.

Dunn is a plain vanilla boy with a very sweet personality with people but is aggressive with other ferrets.  He is vigilant in chasing and attacking any poor ferret foolish enough to enter his domain.  He's ruthless and will severely chomp them be they a big boy or a tiny girl.  We're afraid that he might seriously injure a small ferret unable to defend themselves.

Dunn's life isn't too bad at Dookie's House.  He spends most of the afternoons and evenings in the cage but gets out at night into the "forbidden areas" of the house where he stays until the next afternoon. Of course he is lonely by his own doing and shelter dad is his only playmate. Even though he follows shelter dad around like a puppy dog and gets special treats he even seems to be hesitant to approach him sometimes.  We're thinking that he may have had some bad experiences in his distant past with humans.

Recently, Dunn's spleen swelled up like a balloon.  For several days it seemed to be almost as hard as a rock.  Dr. Vargas examined him and we scheduled him for surgery. 

Surgery revealed a huge spleen that was totally engorged and adrenal tumors that were some of the largest she had ever seen.  Unfortunately,  his pancreas was adhered to his spleen and Dr. Vargas had difficulty separating it without injuring it.  It all looked very grim but we knew that Dr. Vargas would do her best.

Well, thankfully Dunn made it through the long surgery ok   Shelter dad brought him home and tended to him with Ringers infusions, chicken gravy with iron, pain killers and latex gloves filled with warm water to keep him warm.  He had a very rough recovery but is doing great now and is almost back to his previous energy levels. 

We've noticed that Dunn is much more relaxed and content with shelter dad now than before.  He was very sick and we had an opportunity to give him lots of TLC.  

Dunn needs to go to a home with loving, gentle, ferret-wise humans and no other ferrets.  After almost a year of looking for such a home for this little boy and making excuses to people why their home probably wouldn't suffice, shelter dad decided to take him off the adoptables page.  Those many months of being Dunn's sole companion took their toll and shelter dad simply loves him too much to part with him.

As is often the case with older ferrets, Napoleon had some initial difficulty dealing with the loss of his family and relocation to Dookie's.  His weight dropped and he developed persistent diarrhea that failed to respond to multiple antibiotic treatments and interferon.

Twice daily chicken gravy feedings, antacids/acid reducers and a small prednisone dosage seemed to help him alot.  He is now a plump boy and his coat is looking much better. 

Napoleon had another surgery on 13 January in a repeat attempt at removing the face lesion.  Dr. Vargas surgically removed the lesion this time.  The fur has since returned to the surgery site and the lesion appears to be history!

He still lacked energy and seemed to be spaced out, especially near meal time.  Testing of his blood glucose revealed that he most likely has pancreatic cancer (Insulinoma) which is responding to Prednisone injections and twice daily "chicken gravy" feedings.

Napoleon is a somewhat shy boy and it is a pleasure to see him dancing with joy when he is let out into the "forbidden areas" of Dookie's House.

Hans is a five year old, very cute, sable boy.  He was boarded at Dookie's with seven other ferrets for about six months.  Hans had previously undergone bilateral adrenal surgery and seemed to be doing fine.

Hans' health slowly declined over the next few months and by February, we thought the end was near for him.  He was very lethargic and began clenching his teeth, refusing the "chicken gravy" feedings.  During an exam by Dr. Mitsie Vargas, we learned that his kidneys were severely impaired.  Dr. Vargas put him on subcutaneous infusions of Ringers Lactate/Sodium Chloride in a last ditch effort to "kick start" his kidneys.  It was just what his little body needed and Hans bounced back very quickly.  However, when we began to taper off the infusions to twice weekly, his appetite again waned and he became more lethargic. 

Hans hasn't eaten any kibble for a few months now.  However, the twice daily "chicken gravy" feedings and infusions every day or so is keeping him well nourished and hydrated.  We give him a small dose of Prednisone every day to supplement his hormones.  While Hans doesn't have much stamina, he does enjoy his daily outings and occasionally show us a dance of joy.

When Hans' family moved into their new home in June, he remained at Dookie's House due to his poor health.  Hans has permanent kidney damage, but as long as he responds to the fluids, he'll be ok.  We've grown very fond of this sweet little boy and hope he continues to do  well.

Tommy (aka Goblin) arrived from the Lakeland SPCA with Lily where they had been relinquished by their previous owner. 

Tommy is a very active three year old Sable boy.  He is still a bit shy with humans but is friendly and thoroughly enjoys Ferretone treats.  He doesn't like being in the cage at all.  When out, he sometimes gets other ferrets squeaking when they mistake his zeal to romp and play as aggression.  He's getting much better on this and hasn't been put in time-out for quite awhile.

Tommy has visited our ferret-wise veterinarian, Dr. Mitsie Vargas at the Orchid Springs Animal Hospital in Winter Haven.  He recently went in for a distemper booster and we noticed that his teeth have alot of plaque and he has gingivitis.  So Tommy will soon be scheduled to get his teeth cleaned. 

Tommy also visited with Jim & Patty of Widget's Halfway House for socialization training.  He was very afraid of humans and would run and hide to avoid them.  Tommy responded to their knowledgeable touch and now enjoys being petted, will mooch ferretone and likes to give kisses when being talked to. 

While Tommy doesn't appear to be closely bonded to another ferret, we would like him to go to a home with at least one other compatible ferret.  Since Tommy absolutely hates the cage it would be great if he could go to a home that would allow him lots of freedom outside of the cage.

Birth Date:  09FEB01
Weight:  38oz.
Last vaccination:  24FEB04

Gunny seems to be a bit of a loner as he will often climb two barriers in his travels and often ends up sleeping in the opposite end of the house from the rest of the ferrets.  Still, he can often be found in a ferret pile in one of the popular flops here at Dookie's.

Gunny has visited our ferret-smart veterinarian for an exam and vaccinations.  Since Gunny seems to be closely bonded to Sarge, we would like to see the two of them go to a new home together.  However, Sarge has some serious allergies and will need special care for probably the rest of his life.  Sarge is listed on the Residents page.

Gunny is a free roam ferret and loves to go places that most other ferrets don't.  It would be best if he could go to a home with lots of freedom.

Birth Date:  05NOV02
Weight:  33oz.
Last vaccination:  30JUN03

Sarge is an eleven month old sable boy who was rescued from a local family with his cage mate, Gunny.  Sarge had an inflamed, oozing rash on his ears/head and several areas of his chest, arms, legs and abdomen.  Gunny appears to be unaffected.  We immediately took Sarge to our ferret-wise veterinarian, Dr. Mitsie Vargas who determined that he had a raging bacterial infection.  We sedated him and gave him a medicated scrub down followed by antibiotics and steroids. 

Sarge tolerated the procedure and responded well to treatment, however, in two weeks he suddenly broke out again.  His skin gets red and itchy and then he damages himself with the scratching and causes things to get infected.  Dr. Vargas gave him another steroid injection and we agreed to try using Benadryl to keep things under control for awhile.  We need to have him off of steroids for about three months before we can do allergy testing.

Well, despite Benadryl three times a day, Sarge relapsed again.  The problem seems to rapidly accelerate once he starts the scratching.  This time he started running a high fever again and needed antibiotics as well.   Dr. Vargas gave him another steroid injection.  We've decided to get his condition completely under control before attempting to wean him from the steroids again.

We're thinking that his allergies may be an inherited trait.  There's little-else we can do to change his environment so we've started exploring possible food allergies.  For now we have him on twice daily Atarax (an antihistamine) and tiny Depo-Medrol (methylprednisolone steroid) injections every other day.

Sarge is a complete sweetie and it's tough to see this young boy having such severe medical problems.  It's clear that he appreciates the care he is getting and he makes it easy for us to treat and medicate him.  We'll keep working with him and hopefully will soon discover what's itching this boy.

Guinness is a very sweet 4.5 year old Cinnamon boy who came in from a nice person from Cape Coral who had rescued him.  Guinness thinks he's a dog because his was raised with dogs.  He also has a stronger-than-normal body odor and significant hair loss, both probably due to adrenal disease.

Guinness has visited our ferret-wise veterinarian, Dr. Mitsie Vargas at the Orchid Springs Animal  who concurred that he most likely has adrenal disease.  We've scheduled little Guinness for surgery on 1 August 2003.  Guinness previously had a tumor removed from the top of his head this past June that was deemed non-life-threatening

Guinness is very sweet and friendly to humans but, due to his raging hormones, has some minor dominance issues with just a few other male ferrets here at Dookie's.  We're hopeful that adrenal surgery will calm him down and extend the life of this sweet little boy for at least a few more years.

Minnie is a five year old dark-eyed-white girl with obvious adrenal disease.  She arrived from the Titusville rescue terribly emaciated and dehydrated and seemed to be scared of everything around her.  She also has hypoglycemia indicating probable pancreas cancer (insulinoma).  Her blood glucose levels at a five hour fast are 40.

Initially she was not eating and was refusing "chicken gravy" feedings.  After a couple weeks of encouragement and small doses of Valium prior to meals she began accepting the gravy.  She now willingly eats a good portion of chicken gravy three times a day without the Valium.  She has dark stools so I am pre-treating her with Pepcid AC Complete prior to meals.

Minnie is putting on weight and her energy levels are markedly improving.  Her attitude is also improving and she seems to enjoy her daily outings and snuggle times. 

She didn't appear to be a good surgery candidate so, following an exam by Dr. Vargas, we started her on Lupron for her adrenal disease.

A few weeks ago she went in and got her teeth cleaned.  She had powerfully bad breath and gingivitis.  We're hoping that the cleaning will further improve her health and quality of life.

Minnie still doesn't eat kibble on her own but does have a good appetite for the gravy feedings three times a day.   Her fur is fully restored now and on her daily outings she enjoys exploring for a few minutes but soon finds a cozy sleep sack to curl up and snooze away in.

Dolly and Daisy:  ARRIVED 04SEP00/31AUG03 

These girls were bought by their previous owners for their young daughter.  After several months, the youngster sort of lost interest in them. Then her dad took over their daily care. Well it wasn't too long after that when mom noticed that their cage wasn't being kept clean and that food and water wasn't always available.  Thankfully she put her foot down.  When things didn't improve she was wise enough to contact Dookie's House and relinquish them. 

Both of these girls were born in the summer of 1999.  They have always been together and, while used to the cage, they really love to get out and romp and play together.  More photos of Dolly & Daisy here. 

Dolly and Daisy were subsequently adopted by Brenda Minger on 25 February 2001.   Unfortunately, on 31 August 2003, Brenda reported that she lacked adequate time for these two, so we brought them back into the shelter.  These girls will be five years old in July 2004.  While starting to show adrenal disease symptoms, Daisy is still doing well but we think Dolly has inflammatory bowel disease.  We've decided to keep them both here at Dookie's so we can attend to their increasing medical needs.

The Rainbow Bridge