Welcome to Lakeroad Ferret Farm Rescue/Shelter, Inc.

The 8 in a Box Gang

   • Surrendered to the Shelter on October 3, 2012.

   • Daimhin was a champagne male. He left for the Rainbow Bridge August 8, 2016.
   • Fenton was a dark sable, with mask, male and was approx 20 months old. He left for the Rainbow Bridge November 12, 2012.
   • Gizmo was an albino male. He left for the Rainbow Bridge November 27, 2015.
   • Jay-Jay was a brown sable mitt male, with mask. He left for the Rainbow Bridge October 31, 2012.
   • Phoenix was a sable, with hood, male. He left for the Rainbow Bridge August 21, 2015.
   • Spike was a blaze, with bib, male. He left for the Rainbow Bridge November 9, 2014.
   • Ulla was a sable female, with pink nose. She left for the Rainbow Bridge October 21, 2012.
   • Wade was a graying sable male. He left for the Rainbow Bridge March 4, 2015.

   • They were sponsored by a not so far away family in Elbridge, NY.

   • Read about how these eight arrived at the Shelter by clicking here, or read their latest updates below.

  Daimhin has adrenal disease and Insulinoma. Daimhin is on medication two times a day for Insulinoma and once a month for the adrenal disease. He will live out his life here at the Shelter because of his medical issues.


May 14, 2017:
  Daniel loves hanging with the 5 pack, they got up while he was here. See the attached picture of him and Reggie. While Daniel was washing pans, I went to the laundry room, brought up the clean, the 5 pack had a ball climbing the mountain of it.

April 19, 2017:
  When I got down stairs this morning I found blood stains all over the floor in the playroom, Tiny Tim. I had to bath him to clean him up. His bladder issues are getting worse. I figured out why the 4 others in that cage have been sleeping in hammocks, and sleep boxes. Tiny Tim has lost the ability to poo at will, I found all manner of poo in the bed that he was sleeping in, he is now sleeping with his little butt hanging out of the bed.

August 8, 2016:
  When I got home from my morning run Damian was gone. The pain meds allowed him to be comfortable and to leave in peaceful sleep.

June 2, 2016:
  When I got Daimhin out of the pen he was covered in poo so I had to stop to put him under the faucet to wash him up.

January 4, 2016:
  Damian is doing well, his incision is healing well.

January 1, 2016:
  Yesterday was a very long day but Doc; bless his heart pulled it off. He got that mass off Damian. Doc showed me how deep it was so it was going to have to be an invasive surgery not a snip. Damian has 4 stitches. Doc did the surgery between office visits. I told him we were going to be picking up papers, going shopping for a birthday present and having lunch. It worked out great because I did not have to haul Damian around while we did that.

December 30, 2015:
  Tomorrow we go to Doc. I am not going to haul Razzle and Dazzle since they will not be leaving the shelter. That mass on Damian is nasty, it has been bleeding for days. It must hurt because when I try to clean it up Damian flinches when I touch it. I hope since Doc will not have Razz and Dazz he will have time to deal with the mass...

December 9, 2015:
  I got an appointment with Doc for Daimhin on the 31st - he has a sebaceous cyst that I can't keep from bleeding all over, it is the size of a quarter, it needs to come off.

December 6, 2015:
  Daimhin is in the sick pen, I move him in and out of there and the dining room. He has little mobility and very little eye sight so I keep in him in smaller areas that have throw rugs.

November 27, 2015:
  Gizmo has left for the Rainbow Bridge. I put Daimhin in the play pen, he and Gizmo were only getting the areas that have rugs because they could not negotiate the bare floors any more. Since Gizmo is gone, Daimhin does not need the big horizontal cage. I moved him out, stripped it then got it ready for the Long Island kids.

November 26, 2015:
  We are losing Gizmo, I didn't even take him out of the play pen, I put Daimhin back in his cage.

November 25, 2015:
  Gizmo has decided he does not want soup or meds, he did not finish it this morning so tonight I offered a dropper with meds. He flat out refused it. I am not going to push him. I put he and his brother in the play pen they are both slowing down considerably.

October 7, 2015:
  Gizmo was acting funny this morning so I did a BG - the meter said low.. the lowest setting is 40 on the meter so it was below 40 he is now on pred.

September 4, 2015:
  When Mum does meds some of us kids are set on a towel in the stack of clean poo boxes, because Mum needs to be sure we eat all our soup with meds in it, or we have a cage buddy that will push us out of the way so they can have our soup. Mum had me Daimhin, in the box eating my soup while Mum was passing out bowls of soup to the other kids.
  I had finished my bowl of soup, I wanted more, Mum had left the blender of soup sitting right next to where I was so I helped myself to more soup. Mum is so silly sometimes.

  

August 21, 2015:
  Phoenix is gone, OFD found a tumour on his spleen that had metastasised to his tummy.

August 20, 2015:
  I spoke to Doc, Phoenix has peed 13 oz of fluid off his little body. Doc said he wants to get more off before he decides on surgery. He did do an x-ray and found his chest area is clear, if surgery is necessary he knows he is a good candidate for surgery . Now he needs to be able to see the area that is full of fluid. If he can't get enough fluid off to see what is in there tomorrow by x-ray he will open him up to see what is going on. If Phoenix has surgery he will not be coming home tomorrow.

August 19, 2015:
  I am home, we got to docs what, 20 to 3 we went in Doc let a client out of the room and took us in. Doc thinks we are going to find a mass in Phoenix. He is going to put him on Lasix to get fluid down he has 2# of fluid in him, but Doc is not optimistic about that treatment, he figures the loss of his hind legs a few months ago was an indication something was going on, and now that something is causing the edema. We opted to leave Phoenix there so if the Lasix does not do the trick doc is going to open him up drain the fluid and look around inside. We agreed that if it is not fixable he will let him go on the table.

August 18, 2015:
  I am feeling a tad better about getting Phoenix to doc, Ili has offered to come in to do the kids meds so I am going to take her up on the offer. Bless you Ili! I feel 100% better. It figures we would have our required safety meeting in the middle of the day for the first time in 18 years! LOL Rocky came to me to see if the 10 till noon worked for the shelter, I could not go to him and say I am not showing up after he made it to fit our schedule. Phoenix is not any better, his little eyes are bright but you can see how uncomfortable he is. His little back feet are just puffed up like balloons. I took them out of the cage and put them in the playpen so they have more mobility.

August 17, 2015:
  Phoenix is bloated up like a balloon his back feet are big and fat - I called Doc he said get him back on Pred, I added some Lasix to his soup. We have an appointment for Thursday if he does not improve. I am thinking he is not going to improve his belly is huge but his bladder is not. I see no improvement from this morning to tonight's soup and meds. I am hanging on the phone waiting for Doc now it just dawned on me he has been coughing this may be heart related.. I hope I can talk with doc to see if maybe I am on the right track. Doc wants him in sooner - he too thinks it is heart related, said Wed 10 am I said great will be there then remembered I have my mandated safety meeting at 10 am that day… so I called to see if I could get a later appointment.

August 14, 2015:
  I let Daimhin, Gizmo and Phoenix out on the porch. When I wanted them to come in I could not find Phoenix. I tore the porch apart looking for him, I thought he had gotten himself into the kitchen without my seeing him. Then I heard a noise in the drainage pipe they use to get to the floor. Phoenix was in it, he would not come out from either end so I ended up cutting the pipe in two to physically pull him out. I used duct tape to put it back together.

May 18, 2015:
  Well that was a heck of a day! When I first called Doc's I told them I was doing a drop off, I was told there was an appointment at 3:15 I grabbed it . As I was getting things around I realized if I went that late I was not going to be home in time to do meds. I called back and got one of the girls we have a history with. I told Deb what was going on she said let me go talk to Doc.. she came back with a 11:45 am appointment.
  There was a 20 min delay/slow down on 490 so we got to Brockport at 11:30. The bus drivers were talking about Wegman's having zweigles on sale this morning, so I wanted to grab them as long as I was so close. I did run in got 4 - 3# packages 2 white and 2 red gives us 72 hots for clinic day.
  I was at OFD on time and only had to wait about 5 min. Doc did blood work; BG was 105. He did X-ray that was clean, no signs of trauma or masses pressing on the spine. Heart and lungs clean. Doc decided Phoenix had probably thrown a blood clot, so he gave him a Dex shot in the office and told me to put him on Pred until we see improvement, if none in 72 hrs there probably would not be any. I was to continue with the Moxy because he said it sounded like he had a bit of bronchitis lingering which is why he is still coughing.
  While we chatted I set Phoenix down on the floor. He left a very large pee puddle with no straining, then went to the other side of the room and left us a very nice well formed perfect color poo, again no straining. As he went over to his carrier he was actually slightly using one of his hind legs. Doc and I were both pleased to see he had more mobility in the hind end, doc figures he should recover and get his legs back.
  I am to call in 3 days with an update.

May 18, 2015:
  Phoenix - I discovered he was unable to use his hind legs about 2 pm Sunday May 17, 2015 - There was no fall or injury that I am aware of, to cause him to lose using his hind legs . I gave him a Dex shot 1/2 ml before putting him to bed for the night, thinking that if it was an injury and inflammation that would help. It did not make a difference. When you push up on his hind legs he does not respond by pushing back.
  Phoenix has been coughing off and on for a week so I started him on Moxy 0.25 two time a day with soup. The cough did not go away but has diminished some.
  I am lost, it is time for Doc to see what he can do.

April 10, 2015:
  I found Oryx in Angels cage and Angel in the library with the Rochester boys. I must have mixed the girls up when I was switching rooms earlier. Oryx was fast asleep in Angels hammock with no care in the world. Angel was a bit fluffed up because Ricardo wanted to sleep in the drawer Angel was in and she was not having any of it. It was Ricardo's demeanor that told me something was up so I checked the drawers he was standing in front of. Sure enough there was a little girl I thought was Oryx. Angel looked at me with a look that said why did you leave me in here with all these boys. So the kids are in their proper cages.
  At one point I had more kids missing than I had MIA tags so I made new ones while I was waiting for the MIA kids to reappear. Phoenix wandered out from where he was when I was tagging cages.

November 9, 2014:
  This is where Mum found the Gizmo and Phoenix when she went looking for them. She looked and looked and here they are.

March 4, 2015:
AM: I found Wade sleeping in the toy box, in a crash. I tried giving him soup he was too far gone so I got a Dex in him. In truth I will be surprised if he responds to be with us when I get home. He was cool to the touch and limp. All we can do now is wait for the Dex to do its magic.
PM: Wade was gone when I checked on him. So our 8 in the box gang are down to 3. The boys were sleeping on top of him when I stuck my hand in to check on him. I was not sure the condition because he was warm from them sleeping on top.. He is gone and has been for most of the day.

November 9, 2014:
  Spike left for Rainbow Bridge this morning, when I got him up for meds his eyes said I am done Mum I have had enough. I brought him up to the sick pen got him settled in a warm blanket left him some soup. I checked on him about noon and he was gone without eating his soup.

November 8, 2014:
  I found Spike alive but he is struggling, I gave him his meds in a dropper again this morning. I believe his little body is shutting down.

November 7, 2014:
  I put Spike in his cage and left the other 4 out and about (their turn for night shift) Spike was crashing so I had to give him his meds in a dropper. He could hardly manage to stand so I tucked him in his cage so he did not have to go far to eat, drink and poo. I hope he will be in better shape in the morning.

November 1, 2014:
  Spike is struggling. I put Spike in the play pen last night so he did not have to go far to find food and water, he has a hard time walking now.

May 12, 2014:
  Hi Kelly, it has taken me a bit of time but I finally got the blanket you got for Fenton for Christmas in 2012 sewn so we can hang it out over his grave. I got his grave site done this morning I thought you might like to see how it turned out. If you look closely you can see a small tree just to the right of the big tree the blanket is hanging in. It is a blue spruce we planted when we put the grave site in. It did not do well over this last winter so I took all the leaves we had in the yard and piled them around the tree. I am hoping they will feed the tree and keep the ground moist enough for it to bounce back.
  Thanks again for helping us take care of our fur kids, I apologize that it took so long to get that done so you could see it.

February 8, 2013:
  Hi! We are the 8 in the box gang now a business of 5. You can read all about how we got here right here on this link. Sadly 3 of our cage mates left for Rainbow Bridge shortly after we got to the shelter. Mum says when we ferrets are dumped (we were literally on the side of the road) she has to guess what is causing us to be ill. Mum had taken all of us to see our favorite doc and we got a clean bill of health. 2 of us got an implant. Fenton, Jay-Jay and Ulla left us. I (Spike) got real sick at the same time but Mum was able to get me better so now she says I am fat and sassy!
  I have a far away mom in Atlanta GA I was wondering if there was anyone out there that would like to be a far away family to my brothers, Daimhin Champaign, Gizmo albino, Phoenix masked sable, Wade graying sable. I am the most handsome of the group, the blaze, looking directly at the camera. Don’t fear Mum is holding that cover to our box open with her free hand.
  When we have a far away family they help financially to keep us in food and money in the account in case one of us needs to see our favorite Doc. If you think you would like to join our far away family circle connect with Mum and she can give you all the information you need to make an informed decision about being a far away family or you can go here to check it out all on your own.
  I know my cage mates are jealous because I have a far away mom and they do not, please consider being a far way family to my brothers. The most handsome fur kid in the middle of the bunch
  Spike

 

January 6, 2013:
  Dear Miss Olivia,
  We love the presents you sent us, Mum is sending pictures!
Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!

         

  Pictures of the kids enjoying the fruits of their Christmas...

                       

December 29, 2012:
  Oh Sweet Daimhin your Christmas pressies Arrived yay !!! :)))))
  Im so Glad you like them Little Sweetheart i will be sending you more little gifts tru out the year!
  Love you Little man xxx
  Please Keep in Touch
  Lots of Love and Dooks ....
  Your Santa ( Sandra )

December 28, 2012:
  Dear Miss Sandra,
Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!
I love my presents! - Daimhin

         

December 23, 2012:
  Dear Mr Tim,
Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!

     

December 21, 2012:
  Dear Miss Peach we love Ferretone – thank you very, very much for our Christmas gifts!
   - Daimhin, Spike and Wade

 

December 19, 2012:
  Dear Miss Heather, we love the presents you and your club put together for us. Here are some pictures of us getting into them. Please feel free to post them on your Face book account to share with all the other humans that had a hand in getting the presents to us! You guys rock!
Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!   Thank You, thank you, thank you, thank you!
  The 8 in the box gang

                 

December 18, 2012:
  Dear Miss Priscilla Mum let me open my presents this morning, I love them all thanks for thinking of me this year! Mums says I was not as cooperative as Squiggles when she was taking pictures. I love you! - Spike

      

December 18, 2012:
  Dear Miss Nikki, Thank you for sending us presents! Mum let me check them out first. - Spike

 

November 12, 2012:
  Fenton left for the Rainbow Bridge this afternoon.

November 10, 2012:
  AM: Spike is eating on his own and looking brighter, Fenton took his meds, I am warming his fluids he is a bit dehydrated this morning. He and Spike are curled together in the pen when I get them up so they are keeping each other warm.
  PM: Fenton and Spike are doing okay, I am still doing fluids for Fenton, Spike is eating on his own now, and both are still on Moxy/antibiotic.

November 9, 2012:
  I thought I had Fenton and Spike under control, Spike has been eating on his own soup included, he is still on antibiotic but he is improving. Fenton however I just found lying in a puddle of sticky icky black poo. So I guess what ever it is they have it is going to go through him like it did Spike.
  I just got him bathed and cleaned up. I got some carafate in him, hopefully that will stop the bleeding.

November 8, 2012:
  AM: Spike has had his meds; he did not need fluids this morning. I have Fenton up here with him in the same pen, I noticed last night he has lost a lot of weight; I want to watch him closer.
  PM: I had to do fluids on Fenton but Spike did not need them.

November 7, 2012:
  AM: I got soup and meds into Spike, he sat on my lap and ate most of what was in the soup bowl.
  Spike – our boy is doing better – Here are two pictures, one I took last night then one I took this morning. He ate some soup tonight.

   

November 6, 2012:
  Spike is still with us, I am warming the fluids for Spike while I check in.

November 5, 2012:
  AM: Spike is still with us.
  PM: Spike – we have well formed sort of brown poo – don’t ask me how he is not eating anything. So I put food in his pen with the water, he is still on fluids and meds but he seems to be improving. That said the last time I said that he got bad again so we shall see.

November 4, 2012:
  AM: I have many black puddles in the pen for Spike.
  Mid AM: I was thinking we were loosing both Stevie and Spike, however – when I went to check on Spike his little head popped up and his eyes were clear so we are going to continue to treat.

November 3, 2012:
  AM: Spike is still with us, I just tended him with fluids I am going to set up a pen for him up here so I can keep better watch on him.
  PM: I got Spike moved up here into the sick pen, he is bleeding more and I can not seem to stop it. I am afraid I am going to loose this kid.

November 1, 2012:
  Spike is still with us, his poo is still icky but turning brownish green so I may have stopped the bleeding. I did 20 cc fluids and carafate when I got home from work tonight; I left him in the playpen so he does not have to negotiate the litter pans or his brothers.

October 31, 2012:
  Good Morning, Jay-Jay is gone; Spike is still with us but still looking a bit ragged. I gave him 20 cc of Sub Q fluids this morning he did not want any soup. I left him in the play pen and let the rest of the crew have the play room; they are bouncing off the walls.
  I have been racking my brain trying to come up with a common denominator as to why these kids are getting sick. I wondered if it was something on the porch but all the other kids use the porch and they are not getting sick. I just do not know what is going on. I am watching poo boxes in all cages and the gang of 8 is the only one showing signs of illness.

October 30, 2012:
  AM Update: I found 2 of the gang of 8 not feeling well. Icky sticky poo so I have given them carafate, fluids and soup. I have no idea what the heck is going on here but these kids seem to be dropping like flies lately. I want to check BG but I need to get fluids in them first so they will actually give me enough blood the first time, I hate having to keep clipping nails to get enough blood for the test. If they are dehydrated they do not give me enough blood.

  PM Update: I believe Spike is improving, I am not so sure I am going to save Js

October 3, 2012:
  I will be climbing the bathroom gate for a few days, until we get them in to see Doc on Monday. I expect with good food and exercise they will put on some weight and their coats will get better. I will have Doc do implants on the kids that need them when we go in.
  We are up and moving, boy oh boy 8 ferrets can sure produce a lot of poo! Jackie is going to stay home and take a break, Ili is coming today. I want to focus on the raffle packages and garage.

October 3, 2012:
  8 in the box gang are here, they are all very under nourished, and under weight, their nails were terribly long, there seems to be at least 4 that are adrenal, and all their coats are awful. All but one look like they are older but in the condition they are in I am not surprised. They got here shortly after I got home at 3:30.
  Bob and Jackie came in a noon and stayed while I was at work and then until we got them settled.
  The folks transported them in a plastic tote with the cover on, when I opened the top it was hot in there, the poor things were in an oven. They are happy kids, dove into the food and water as soon as they were let out of the tote. I have not gotten pictures of the box yet. You can see how they are checking out their surroundings up here. It took all 3 of us to cut their nails; some of the kids would lick ferretone some would not.

 


Arrival Story:
  We got a call from folks from Medford, Long Island about 8 ferrets they found on the side of the road. I called them back when I got home from work, and we played phone tag for a day. Apparently, the guy and his brother were picking up junk and they opened a plastic tote and in there were the eight ferrets. They had gone to pet stores and called a few places and found out seven are male and one is female. They have them in their home and are interacting with them. They said they are very friendly and very full of energy, but they had no info on their ages.

October 2, 2012:
  I finally spoke with these people last night. They are going to bring all 8 of them to us on Wednesday 10/3/2012. I was to get an email for confirmation from them, but I have not gotten that email. I have room and will quarantine here if they actually do come to Naples.

  We have gotten no more word from the folks on LI – they were supposed to email us to confirm the transfer of these 8 kids. I just got off the phone with Lisa, they could not get through to my email via the website. I am not sure what that is all about but when I spoke with her she said we were still on for Wednesday 10/03/12 for the fur kids to be coming to Naples. I took her email address so I could email her with directions. I sent an email but have not gotten word back from her.
  I have contacted Doc. the kids have an appointment to see him at 8 am on Monday 10/08/12 good thing we have the day off from school.

  It appears we are still getting the 8 in a box kids on Wednesday 10/03/120. I will set them up in the upstairs bathroom behind the gate and keep the gate up at the top of the stairs to keep the shelter kids down stairs until these kids see Doc.