Little Paws Ferret Rescue was formed after another rescue closed its doors after 15 years of hard work. The supporters were devastated when it closed as a rescue and became a Trust to look after the remaining ferrets that were deemed unrehomable. After mourning the loss of this wonderful organisation a few of the supporters gathered together to discuss the future.
There is such a great need for rescue and rehoming of our favorite little fuzz butts so we decided to set up a new rescue called Little Paws Ferret Rescue which will be a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).
Little Paws Ferret Rescue will offer rescue and rehoming of stray and abandoned ferrets, concentrating in the locality of Sunderland and South Tyneside (although we will rehome outside of that area there seem to be more than enough waifs and strays in these areas to keep us busy).
We will will organise shows, events and fundraising activities to raise the required funds to allow us to rescue and rehome.
We will share our journey with you all each step of the way and look forward to some exciting times to come. Please help us to create an amazing ferret community and keep up the valued support xx
1st April 2018
Little Paws Ferret Rescue had its first meeting on 9th April (in the pub!!) We decided on the name and agreed to look at the different structures. eventually we decided on a Charitably incorporated organisation. Things were really starting to happen and we were all excited to begin the journey.
We had our first rescues in already as Michelle (the founder and manager) had been rescuing on her own for a few months before. We had Negan who was a very difficult ferret and had issues with biting. The phone had started to ring as word is getting out and the rescues are starting to come our way.
We are desperate to have some building work done to section off an area of Michelle's garden and make it ferret proof. The rescue will operate from an outbuilding attached to Michelle's house which has its own entrance and will be perfect for the rescue work.
15th April 2018
We had a great meeting over messenger as Michelle was stuck in the house nursing a sick ferret. (Teddy was more than happy to participate and suggested that it was of greatest importance that the ferrets have their own fridge for fresh meat in the rescue room and possibly a sauna and Jacuzzi for pampering poorly ferrets!!)
It was agreed that Michelle would get the paperwork together for the next meeting to set up the CIO. We now have four dedicated people to become Trustees and one very dedicated volunteer.
20th April 2018
Michelle has been very busy designing logo's. We had a few to choose from but the winner was:
We have decided to do a little car boot sale to raise funds to get us started. Emma, Rachel, Elissa Michelle and Dawn are all looking for car boot sale items and we will go to the bug car boot sale in Seaham.
25th April 2018
It has been a busy few weeks! We have set up the Just Giving page, collected car booty items, the Facebook page is coming together nicely and we are starting to really take shape. We have some new ferrets in the rescue. Lexa and Buffy were found at Simonside Cemetery and are beauties. Borris has also come from South Shields area and is a lovely quiet boy.
The building work is still a long way off as we need to raise lots of money but the ferrets and their neutering and care comes first otherwise we won't have any ready to rehome.
Rachel transported a gorgeous hob over from Vets 4 Pets in South Shields but he took offence and gave her a little nibble. Poor Rachel!
1st May 2018
Beautiful Archie and Nicky (Rachel's favorite nibbler) have been running around my kitchen stinking out the place!! they are due to get neutered very soon so they will smell like roses afterwards. for now we have a very orange Archie to deal with!!
We now have 13 likes on the Facebook page so we are all ready to promote and share with friends to get the rescue name out there. We are also getting used to sharing technology and Elissa has set up a shared file. she will have to teach us all how to use everything hahaha.
We also have our first £20 on the Just Giving site!
6th May and we are up to £100 on Just Giving. I went away for a week and left the rescue in the capable hands of my son. unfortunately one of my oldie ferrets got very sick and I had to call on the help of the lovely supporters on the North East Ferret Community page. they rallied together and my lovely friend Hannah stepped in to help. she took little Khaleesi for some intensive care. Sadly poor Khaleesi passed away before mammy could come back and say goodbye. RIP baby we love you always :(
23rd May and the Just Giving is now at £260!! Wow how generous are our supporters. We will be able to get some neutering and micro chipping done with that!!
Negan is improving immensely. He is now very handleable and actually likes me!! YEA!! I am taking them to be micro chipped at North East Ferret Trust as Gillian has said that she can help out with the micro chipping. It is all go at the rescue and we are really picking up speed. The Charity Registration is in progress and should be submitted any day now.
Wow we have won a little competition that we entered with our local pet supplies company Delton Pets. We won a Cherry Pet Shampoo and a Cherry Disinfectant.
Thanks Deltons x
We have a very productive meeting (at a different pub this time!!) We have planned a date for the car boot sale and we have been looking at rehoming procedures. #thatsteamwork #ferretrescue
30th May 2018
We now have a website. Michelle has created a stunning website that has a home page, about us and an adoptions page.
The facebook is now up to 130 likes and we are really getting the message out there. We have some appointments booked for rehoming soon so we should see our first rescue success story.
Picked up a little jill that we have called Pip Squeak. she is a tiny little poley. The lady that found her was extremely lucky as she had a garden full of pet rabbits!! they were all free running in purpose built outdoor enclosures and the lady went out to feed them when a little head popped out from under the shed!! she is very placid and has settled nicely into her hutch. #littlerascal #cute
14th June 2018
Buffy and Lexa have been neutered and are recovering well. Pip Squeak has had her jill jab to take her out of season. Roker Park Vets are our regular vets that we use for neuters and they are very supportive. Vet said that Lexa was very lucky as she had a uterine infection. Caught it in time and should recover fine. Just shows how they don't show any illness as she has been her normal self. #LuckyFerret
17th June 2018
Today we all did a car boot sale to raise funds for Little Paws Ferret Rescue. We have been collecting things to sell and a local charity Animal Crackers donated some items from their shop that were not selling. the supporters were really generous and we had donations of a hutch, DVD players, Play Stations, books and bric a brac. We had a hectic day and were all worn out by the end.
Well done to all as we raised £100 to help us with neutering.
On the way home we received a call from a lovely lady who had found a little ferret straying in the Birtley area. I went straight over and collected this stunning little guy who the finder had named Cole. #Beautiful
18th June 2018
We had a visit from some potential rehomers who are interested in rehoming Nicky. The ferrets had a lovely play and bounce and all behaved very well.
Ferrets are really entertaining to watch. They will entertain you endlessly with their antics, bouncing and playing with toys, stealing everything and stashing it behind the cupboards!! They can get all the exercise they need tearing around the kitchen but they also like to go for fun walks with their friends from North East Ferret Community.
We have our first rehome tonight Ladies. Boris has gone to his forever home with a lovely couple. This is the best news and a landmark for the rescue. It was almost Negan that was chosen but he was pipped to the post by Boris who charmed his way into their hearts. We wish you look beautiful boy x
Negan is finally turning a corner. He is actually impressing me and has really settled lately. a bit more work and he may become a big softy. He actually started bouncing and dooking yesterday which he has never done and kept coming up to me and pawing my leg for attention. he may yet become a lover not a biter!!
1st July 2018
Sadly Nicky's potential home has fallen through as they have not come back for him and are not answering my messages. Oh well, he will soon find the perfect home but until then he is happy here with his pals. He is now living in a group with Negan, Buffy and Lexa and is very happy.
8th June 2018
We have had five whole rabbits donated by a supporter so they will help with feeding this week.
I now have a chip scanner and I have bought the posts for the fencing. I am still looking out for cheap boards. Trying to get materials for free or cheap as I priced up new and it will cost between £350 and £500. We put out a call on the page to get some interest and a few people responded but to date we are no further with the capital build.
The rescue is getting very busy. it is now getting challenging to hold down not one but four jobs, looking after my many pets and also keeping up with the care and running of a growing number of ferrets in our care. hopefully we will raise some funds to do the building work and create a dedicated ferret proof area for the ferrets to live.
Cole and Bear have been to the vets for neuter and are now home safe and sound. Both have been reserved and will be going to their new homes as soon as the hormones have gone down. We took Pip Squeak to see the vets as she has a distended tummy. I was worried about a uterine infection however the vet thinks that it could be something more sinister and she is booked in on Monday for exploratory tests. This could potentially cost some money (which we don't have much of at the minute) and funds are a bit depleted after the £96 cost for today's treatments. I am self funding a lot of this as the neuters are £42 for hobs and £56 for jills so you can imagine that the money doesn't go far. The joys of starting a rescue. Everything else has been planned but sometimes we get sick ferrets and we have a duty of care to get them help.
I put a post on the Little Paws page and North East Ferret Community to ask people to donate towards medical treatment and we received an astounding £150.
7th July 2018
What an Amazing day!!! Negan and his pal Nicky have been adopted. after all the hard work and dedication to make Negan rehomable it has finally happened!! I have sat and cried as I never really thought he would go and I will miss his cheeky little face but I am so happy I could burst!!! They just fell in love with Negan who was bouncing and flouncing and charming their pants off x I just knew that the right human was looking for him. They are experienced and they are fully aware of his history and are committed to giving him a lovely home where he lives indoors and has pals to run about with for 3 to 4 hours per day outside of the cage x I am so pleased for him x Well done boys and we wish you well in your new home with your new family.
Quick update on Pip Squeak, after the xray and ultrasound the vet has found an enlarged liver and spleen which is causing fluid retention. I have made the decision not to take any further invasive treatment as the prognosis is not great. I will message our veterinary ferret expert Catherine to see if she suggests any treatment and she will just live out her remaining time in my sickies group. Total cost for today was £156.74 which we covered through the donations. I am really guttered for her as she is the sweetest little jill and so young, she gives kisses and loves a cuddle. she is a beautiful little thing.
9th July 2018
New inmate Cooper has been collected from South Shields. He was picked up and taken to Vets 4 Pets who then contacted Little Paws Ferret Rescue to see if we could help. He was transported by the lovely Rachel who has kept him overnight and she thinks he may have issues with his sight. poor lad is so tired and just wants a nice place to sleep and some grub.
Here he is testing out Rachel's indoor hutch last night.
12th July 2018
Elissa just scored us a bunch of black polo-neck t-shirts from her work. They're embroidered with the old company name but that could easily be covered over if we got some embroidered patches with the Little Paws logo on and sew over the top. They will do for now when we go out fundraising until we have money for merchandise?! xxx
14th July 2018
We received a call from a lady who needed help rehoming her ferrets as she is moving to America (lucky lady!!) she had two beautiful boys Jinx and Bob and has also donated her 3 month old large indoor hutch which is huge. we will put it up to sell and the money can help with re-homing.
We have also taken in these two beautiful kits that had been rescued from an unscrupulous person giving a bunch of kits away for free!! she managed to get 8 of them and has re-homed 6 but these little guy's were still without a home. Meet Hazel and Oak who are around 8 weeks old.
15th July 2018
Today we have booked up to attend the Wolsingham Show in Durham. We are very excited as this is a big show and we should hopefully get some great PR for the rescue.
We also have our membership of National Ferret Welfare Association which will give us some credibility and provide us with insurance.
23rd July 2018
We finally have our bank account sorted and we have received a first response from the Charities Commission. they have a list of 19 questions for us to work through so another meeting is needed. Back to Oak Tree Farm for some grub and a trustee meeting. it seems that the trustees need a meeting without me so that they can discuss the premises an if this is the best option for the rescue.
I have sat and produced policies for the rescue including the rehoming policy and I have created the adoption forms. Busy, Busy, Busy!!!
Rachel, one of our wonderful trustees has put an advert on the intranet at her work. Her employers generously allow charitable work and she can ask for a few days a year to give to charity. Thank you Rachel. We have also had an offer from a local micro-chipper on one of Rachel's dog pages. she will be micro-chipping for us at cost price. I am amazed at how generous and supportive the local community are.
Just picked up this little jill from Felling. she is a tiny little thing and the owner had called her Pippa but as we have Pip Squeak I have renamed her Thin Lizzy. She is a beautiful silver and is around five years old. The owner has only had her for a short while but she is quite a handful and needs to be rehabilitated. As fate would have it the lady also had a hob that she had found and two hob kits. the kits and the jill had come from the lady that surrendered Jinx and Bob and the two kits. it seems that all the kits are litter mates and had come from a man who was giving them away for free on Facebook. Lizzy is quite possibly the mother of all of the kits. Its a small world!!
3rd August 2018
We received some beautiful videos of Negan and Nicky in their new homes that I just have to share with you all. it is wonderful to see them happy and loved in their new family. I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did (brings tears to the eyes!!)
10th August 2018
This weekend we had our annual camping trip to Alnwick Rugby Club. This is a historic event that was started by North East Ferret Rescue (now North East Ferret Trust) and we are continuing the tradition. We camped Friday and Saturday nights with a fun ferret show on Saturday. We organised quizzes, fun games and some great company.
The weekend started off hectic with an emergency rescue on the morning. We had to collect the two kits and a hob from Felling. the families new dog had chewed the indoor cage that the hob was in and the owner had put him in the cage with the two kits. This is very bad as an un-neutered hob is very capable of killing kits.
The owner asked for help as the neighbours could hear the kits screaming. We rushed over and collected them and Dawn one of our trustees will be fostering the hob named Dexter. The kits will come with us to Alnwick and we will reunite them with their siblings.
We finally set off for Alnwick and my phone rings. The lady explains that she works in a vets and they have a ferret that was handed in as a stray and they can't rehome him. She explained that she understood if it was too far away but they were a vets based in Alnwick. I say funny enough but I am heading up to Alnwick for the weekend camping with the ferret rescue!! We arranged to collect him on Saturday and he is an absolute love.
We had a great camping trip. everyone enjoyed some good fun with their ferrets. We had a quiz on the Saturday evening and a fun ferret show during the day.
19th August 2018
Picked up a little stray that had wondered into the back yard of a lovely family in Milfield. Little Albie had had a wonderful adventure and had made himself quite comfortable with the family. Their cat on the other hand was not impressed at all and refused to come home until the invader has been evicted.
20th August 2018
Archie and Cole have gone off to their new home together with a lovely rescue supporter Sarah Charlton and her partner Mick. they will live together in a large shed and will hopefully merge with another group. Good luck boys xx
29th August 2018
We have had a little tiny hob surrendered as he was a bit too much for his new owner who had very little experience of owning ferrets. He was a little tinker and within five minutes had been nicknamed The Exorcist as he could turn his head 360 degrees and still get your fingers even in a death grip. He joined the kits group and bounced vertically for about an hour before he settled down for a bit of tea. Evil comes in very small packages sometimes!
2nd September 2018
This weekend we were at Wolsingham Show in Durham. We were excited to attend this show for the first time and we will have a stall with rescue ferrets kits and the tombola. Michelle and her boys, James and Aidan, stayed overnight, camping in the marquee (now there's dedication!) We had some lovely volunteers helping out Elissa Fletcher and John Simpson, Rachel Thompson and her Mam, Sarah Charlton and Mick came to help with Archie and Cole and we had visits from some other lovely supporters who came to say hi.
3rd September 2018
Today Albie went to his new home with an amazing family. they have two children and Albie absolutely loves children. We wish Albie and the Searle family a happy future together x
Over the last few months we have been collecting donations through Just Giving to help us raise funds to build a fence that will separate the rescue from the main house and garden. This will give a dedicated space for the rescue where volunteers and visitors can come to the rescue independently of my home. We were able to raise £438.55 after the fees were taken off. This will really help us to move forward with the rescue plans.
We also joined the National Ferret Welfare Society as members and this gives us insurance cover and support. Our Charity registration is taking forever. We registered in June and still no further but we will be patient and move ahead full speed.
4th September 2018
Today Elissa and I have been looking for venues for the Autumn / Winter show. We visited Barley Mow Village Hall in Chester Le Street and decided that this was the perfect venue. it has a lovely kitchen and a massive hall. Watch out for more information on the show which will be on 18th November. Here is a photo of the hall.
We met a lovely lady Margaret who was very welcoming and gave us a full tour of the building. She told us about the history of the hall and that it has just been transferred from the council by asset transfer to the organisation. We were very impressed with the facilities and look forward to an amazing show.
5th September 2018
I have created a beautiful flyer for the show and posted it on the rescue facebook, North East Ferret Community and other local ferret pages. We are really excited now and we hope to attract a good crowd.
The hunt is on for sponsors for the event. We will find businesses and individuals to sponsor each class which will cover the rosettes and a little prize. We are also on the lookout for trophies for best in show and reserve best in show. I created a flyer for this too.
5th September 2018
Today I picked up Ferne from Cestria Vets in Chester Le Street. She was found in someones garden in Lumley. They took her up to the Forrest a short walk away from their home thinking that is where she belonged and within an hour she was back trying to get in the house! Thankfully they realised that she needed some help and took her to Cestria Vets where they contacted the rescue for help. She is a lovely little jill, full of cuddles and relieved to be safe and sound.
16th September 2018
Today we attended Dog Days Annual Fun Dog Show at Backhouse Park in Sunderland. Our first challenge was to carry all of the equipment from the car and van through to the middle of the park (and there was a lot).
We set up the events shelter and the ferret fun. I had my five pet ferrets with me as they are brilliant at PR. There was Thor, Flossy, Arya, Pixie and Fae.
They behaved impeccably and gave out lots of lovely cuddles to the visitors. they met some lovely doggy friends and we even had a little dog/ferret kiss!
The ferrets also got some lovely cuddles from the members of Bryson's who had a stall of their own and they may be featuring in some Bryson's Christmas cards.
At the end of the day we were exhausted but we met some wonderful people and their animals. Hopefully we will have changed some perceptions of ferrets and won some followers.
17th September 2018
We have been advising a lovely lady who found a little ferret in Redhouse, Sunderland. She has posted on all local sites and searched for an owner but alas none have been found. Deborah brought the little one to us and she is named Honey. What a beauty x Only a young kit jill and very loving. I think it was very hard for Deborah to say goodbye. Thank you Deborah for your care and love for this little one. It is the good work of people like yourself that make this all worthwhile x
18th September 2018
Very busy day today!
I have been very fortunate to bag us some display boards for the rescue. A local charity Gateshead Access Panel is unfortunately shutting its doors and had to find recipients for all of the furniture etc... We managed to get the display boards, a foldable table and chairs, and some stationary. Every little helps the rescue.
We had our banners and business cards designed and ordered. They look amazing!
We also had visit from a lovely couple who have rehomed Woody. Good luck in your new home with your new brothers and sisters Woody x
23rd September 2018
Elmo and Ash have left the building. they have gone together to a nice local family to be spoiled rotten x Here is Ash enjoying his new bed.
Honey also found her forever home with Kris and we think that they make a perfect pair. Good luck Honey x
26th September 2018
Today we ordered the fencing materials to start the building work. We ordered the materials from Norsdstrom in Sunderland and the man who answered the phone was very amused that we were running a ferret rescue. He asked if we had seen the Yorkshire Vet that week as there had been the biggest ferret he had ever seen on there. He also asked if they were as vicious as he had heard. I explained that they are mostly good natured and I still have all of my fingers. He asked that is we were ever in the area with the ferrets can we pop in and see them. We are changing opinions on ferrets every day x
We also have great news that the fencing materials has been paid for from a donation by Dav Kumar of Imperial Claims Consultants. He has offered to pay the full materials bill of £303.48 which means that we can use the donations money from Just Giving for the hutches instead. Thank You Dav and the team at Imperial Claims Consultants for making my day x
28th September 2018
While at work I picked up an email from the website from a lady who had quite a story to tell so I have copied most of it from her email.
" Hi I wonder if you’d kindly help. At 10 pm last night whilst I had my dog just out the front of my home, just up the path outside my gate was an animal which I initially thought was a cat, looked at us and then came running toward me. Shocked a realised it was a ferret! Despite my having a dog who thought the ferret was its next meal, the ferret came to me not the dog. I wasn’t far from my gate so panicked as I thought it must be a neighbours (I don’t know any of them) I went back to my gate to put my dog back in the house so as I could try an sort the ferret out. However it followed me to the gate (still whilst my dog was going nuts) it then followed me up my path to my front door. I couldn’t believe it! I opened the door to take my dog in and secure him in the kitchen...my god, the ferret to came right into my house. It’s obviously raised by human however I then noted it was filthy and it stank. It’s definitely been outside for some time. It must have been exhausted as it run under my stereo unit, curled up and went to sleep. Now I was stuck with some stray ferret in my house. I have since put it in my dogs crate. I was up until 2 am trying to calm it down, let it out for a bit in the kitchen (dog still going insane) the ferret is definitely friendly, it even came and sat on my lap for a bit but wow it stinks, my whole house stinks of it too now. Anyway I put it back in the crate? using kitchen roll as bedding etc. I’m wondering would you kindly be able to collect it from me? I live in Washington. I couldn’t just leave it outside as it could be killed by cats or cars. I love animals, don’t even eat them. I don’t know what to do."
One of our trustees Rachel kindly went on a rescue mission and collected the little adventurer and will be fostering him for a few days.
30th September 2018
Work has started on the new fencing. Supporter Andy Whelan is supplying the labour free of charge and we are very grateful. The space will be fenced off separate to the main house and garden and will be paved and fully ferret proofed. We will have hutches purpose built to fit the space and the rescue will have sole use of the outhouse building that is attached to the house. The building has its own entrance so that volunteers and visitors remain separate to my home and the family can go about their business. It also ensures that my dogs are excluded from the area for the safety of the ferrets. Here is the work so far.
We even started the paving!
4th October 2018
Today we had a message from one of our volunteers Tracey who had been asked if there were any stray ferrets collected in Washington. She had a friend who was looking for one he had lost and she remembered our posts about a ferret found. After some investigation we established that this was in fact the ferret that was picked up in Washington and we arranged for them to be reunited. The power of social media and our rescue have saved the day.
His owners were ecstatic to have him back with his brother where he belongs and they are going to look into microchips for them both.
Today we also had a call from an RSPCA officer. His friend wants to adopt some ferrets from a rescue and he was pointed in our direction by the previous rescue owners (Thank you Andy Rew and Gillian Betts). We had a good chat and we may be able to work with RSPCA in the future to receive strays and in turn we may get some neutering vouchers. How great is that? The officer said he will put it to his peers and see what the outcome is. We would need to be RSPCA inspected which would be great for the rescue as well (I have had an individual assessment as an RSPCA volunteer fosterer for ferrets recently but this would be the rescue space as a whole). Here's hoping that it all works out.
6th October 2018
I have been to Delton's Pet Supplies today and we have the hutches ordered. We have decided on three blocks of three cages 5ft by 2 ft each part and three high. They will be ready some time next week. £620 it will cost but worth every penny. Thank you to everyone that donated money towards the fencing and other activities. it will be well spent on the ferrets.
Monday 8th October
After four months in the application stage we have another response from the Charities Commission today. They need MORE information on our activities and had some questions to answer.
Please can you explain in greater detail what these activities mean in practice:
a) Handling days?
We will offer a service to vets, animal college students, animal welfare officers etc… so that they can gain experience of how to handle ferrets. This will help people working with domestic pets and their owners to be more confident in handling ferrets and will enhance animal welfare through better informed animal handlers that can spread the word about vaccinations, neutering and general health care. Many veterinary nurses, veterinarians, Animal Inspectors etc… have no experience in the correct handling of ferrets and their husbandry.
b) Information and ferret shows?
We will attend organised events with information to promote ferret welfare to advance the welfare of pet ferrets. We will provide opportunities for the public to handle and learn about ferret care.
We will organise ferret shows that will offer ferret owners the opportunity to share their love of ferrets within a community of ferret lovers. The event will promote animal welfare and good husbandry for ferrets. We will promote vaccinations which can halt the spread of Canine distemper which can be passed to ferrets and dogs. We will promote neutering to stop the many unwanted litters that are abandoned every year and promote microchipping to help lost ferrets to be reunited.
Our shows will be open to the public for them to come and enjoy the activities on offer and find out more about these fascinating pets.
Throughout our judging processes we will be advising on health care, diet and good husbandry to enhance the welfare of domestic ferrets.
c) Other community activity?
We will organise activity within the community such as regular free ferret walks to encourage ferret owners to meet and socialise. This can help alleviate social isolation, promote a more active lifestyle and allows ferret owners to meet likeminded people. We will also offer handling sessions within nursing homes and schools to help bring some happiness to the community.
We will operate a website and social media presence to help reunite lost ferrets, promote good husbandry, and promote vaccinations, neutering and vaccination. We will provide a place where ferret owners can be part of a community and can receive advice and support on owning ferrets.
d) Who will be delivering these events? Will they be paid for delivering these activities? If so how much and is this benefit no more than incidental?
Community events including shows, walks, and handling days will be delivered by the trustees and volunteers who will not be paid for their time. They will be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses only.
The process is so frustrating as the didn't ask for this information at the outset. just a list of activities. Well nothing to do about it but give them more information and hope for the best!! We WILL have charitable status soon if we can get past the paperwork!
17th October 2018
Preparations for Little Paws first ever ferret show are well underway. We have found a new venue Barley Mow Village Hall, Set the date, created marketing and started to promote the event on social media. Myself, Rachel Thompson and Elissa are experienced in planning shows and have taken responsibility for making it a success. Watch this space x
I have also found Mail Chimp which is an online newsletter website that if free to use. We are thinking that we can have articles from the trustees and supporters, ferret health articles and cartoons or memes as well as advertising events and the ferret walks. We hope to use this to promote the educational element within our charitable objectives by having featured articles about ferret health.
19th October 2018
We have had Lizzy, Ferne, Pip Squeak, Dexter and Cooper to the vets today for their neuter. they were all a little sleepy and poor Pip Squeak did not take the anaesthetic very well and was a bit poorly. she spent the night indoors being pampered and felt much better in the morning.
20th October 2018
When planning the ferret show we discussed the issue of Canine Distemper and if we should insist on having only vaccinated ferrets at the show. We quickly dismissed this as this is our first show and we do not have a large number of ferret owners with vaccinated ferrets. Instead we decided that we would use this as an opportunity to educate ferret owners about the importance of having ferrets vaccinated against Canine Distemper which is a horrible disease that is almost always fatal in ferrets. I worked very hard and gathered material from other rescues and websites and I put together a presentation to display at the show.
Some of the images were very hard to look at and the whole exercise has given me a healthy respect for the need to vaccinate.
I also took the opportunity to contact some ferret food manufacturers to see if we can get some samples and possibly some donations for our show. I emailed all of the ferret food manufacturers yesterday and Burgess have offered to send us vouchers for raffle prizes and Alpha have offered bags of food and asked how many prizes we need.
25th October 2018
Rachel has been very busy and has ordered the rosettes for the winners. We have also been ordering trophies for the winners.
I had a great idea to have an award for the most adventurous ferret and it will be in the name of Bandit.
Bandit was a much loved pet ferret belonging to Charlie Hammerton. Charlie and Bandit first made an appearance when they walked the length of Hadrian's Wall to raise money for Motor Neuron Disease following the death of Charlies mum. The old rescue went to meet up with him and Bandit and show their support. The supporters have followed Charlie ever since. Charlie sold everything he owned, bought a camper van and he and Bandit travelled many miles across Europe raising money for charity. they even ended up at the Arctic Circle and Charlie plotted their journey in a Facebook page called the Adventures of Bandit.
We will be getting nominations from owners and supporters for ferrets that are adventurous and promote good ferret PR. We are hoping that Charlie will present the award on the day.
29th October 2018
What a fantastic day today. we have Jinx and Box reserved and little Lizzy has gone off to her new home with a new ferret sister. I am so pleased for Lizzy and we wish her the best of luck.
31st October 2018
It's all coming together now. The rosettes and trophies are here. Just 18 days to the show now and we are so excited (and terrified).
5th November 2018
Elissa, Rachel and I have been on a visit to Best Pets to buy things for the show. We have purchased food stuff to feed the masses and ferret toys and accessories to sell. Elissa will be making her delicious brownie and fudge for the day, Rachel will be making vegetarian chilli and my husband will be making pulled pork. What a day this will be. We are still nervous that no one will turn up or we will have too little parking etc... We will all be grey(er) by the end!!
Elissa and I have been working very hard on the program. We have adverts to go in and a quiz which Elissa and John will write. I am so excited for 18th November.
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