Dear members, volunteers, friends and fuzzies,
These days one cannot turn around without hearing about the H1N1 flu
strain. It's in the newspapers, the television, the radio, and even
in your morning cereal. Well, it seems that way. As many of you may
know, the influenza virus is one of the very few viruses that can jump
species from humans to ferrets, and vice-a-versa. We understand that
many of our members and extended fuzzy families have concerns about
exposing their ferrets, children and themselves to this illness, and
with the frolic coming up on Saturday, we would like to allay some of
your fears and concerns.
We will be going ahead with our plans to hold the frolic this
Saturday November 14th, 2009, at Jack Purcell Community Center, as we
have in the past. Whilst it has always been our request that any
sick ferrets be left at home, we would like to re-iterate this once
more. If your fuzzy is showing signs of a fever, lethargy, coughing
or sneezing, or any related flu symptoms, please leave them in the
comfort of their cages at home. As well, if you yourself are showing
flu symptoms, do yourself the kindness of cuddling up in your bed
with some warm tea, a book, or Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod.
As we have at the past frolics, we will have an abundance of hand
washing stations, equipped with a %70 percent alcohol hand sanitizer.
We will have wipes for any poops that happen, and several garbage cans
for the "ferret deposits", as well as several litter boxes. There
will still be games, and playpens, and many fun things to do for the
moms, dads, kids and kits, but extra care will be taken to sanitize
the play areas and game boards on a regular basis.
Because of the nature of our foster home, and the ages and chronic
illnesses of some of our wards, we will not be bringing any of our
"Special Needs" ferrets to the Frolic. We will also be paying close
attention to the handling of our younger fosters on display this year
as well. While the H1N1 is not a major deal for a young or healthy
ferret, it can be
devastating for an older or weaker ferret. We would also like to point
out that throughout this flu season, there have only been 4 CONFIRMED
cases of H1N1 in ferrets in the USA, and while very sad, there has only
been 1 CONFIRMED death due to a secondary infection in conjunction with
the H1N1.
I would also like to direct you to a H1N1 care and prevention thread
on our web forums, authored by the fantastic, omnipotent, and all
round fantastic dude James Leaman. It contains prevention and
treatment tips. The URL is:
http://www.ferretrescue.ca/smf/index.php/topic,759.0.html. Make sure
you thank James very much for his titanic effort, and he does accept
monetary tokens of appreciation. Marybeth will also be handing out
another article, newly written by herself concerning H1N1 and the
seasonal flu and ferrets. While nowhere as good as James, a literary
god, it still makes for some very informative reading.
So once again, everything is heading forward as planned, and we hope
to see you all there this year, as we have many new activities,
including... PHOTOS WITH SANTA!!! A favorite from years past, and
many games, activities, auction items, a health tent and many more
things to see and do. But if in doubt of your ferrets health, let
them rest at home, but do come yourself! However, if you're healthy,
and so is your ferret, don't let the media hype get to you and come
out and enjoy of our Ferouciously Fantastic Fall Ferret Frolic!
See you all on Saturday!
Jennifer Leaman
VP
P.S. My husband made me write all that stuff about him
Author
