First, a quick history of the shelter. I was the owner of four ferrets at the beginning of the summer when I started working at the Louisiana SPCA here in New Orleans. We got four ferrets in within the two months I began working there. Of course, they all came home with me as "foster animals" until I could find ferret knowledable homes for them. Well, once people found out that I was taking in ferrets, It was all over and NOLA Ferrets shelter & rescue was born.
Another vet tech at the SPCA approached me about taking in her cousin's two ferrets. Apparently the cousin has a child that did not get along with the ferrets and she wanted to surrender them. So, Sipsina arrived with her cagemate Louie in October of 2002. I really wanted to find them a FOREVER home, so they stayed with me almost two months until someone from one of the ferret message boards I belong to, expressed interest in adopting them. Louie and Sipsina went to their supposed forever home in late Novemeber 2002.
When Sipsina was adopted her right eye looked slightly swollen. However, it had not gotten any larger during her six weeks at the shelter and it was believed by our local exotic vet that it was either a birth defect or a tumor that was not operable. Well, it was obviously a tumor and it has envaded her entire eye cavity.
The person who adopted Louie and Sipsina is a college student who also worked at the local humane society. Additionally they had fostered numerous cats and dogs and recently had taken in a terminally ferret that had been brought to the local animal shelter to die. However, she is not able to pay for the medical care that Sipsina needs. So it was with a heavy heart that Sipsina and Louie returned to the shelter Tuesday, January 21st.
So now our home based shelter, which is already extremely low on food and litter, is now faced with a very sudden and urgent expense. We do not have the resources to cover all of Sipsina's medical costs. She has already had $250 in xrays and bloodwork and will have close to $400 in surgery on Tuesday, January 28th.
The good news is that the xrays and bloodwork show that the tumor is not envading the bones in Sipsina's eye cavity so the entire tumor should be able to be removed. Also, the bloodwork shows all of her organs to be working great. So, besides the tumor she is in perfect health!
Sipsina still needs our help. She still desperatly needs donations to help damped her sugery expenses and most importantly she is going to need a true forever home after her ordeal is over.
If you would like to donate to Sipsina:
Donate directly to the shelter:
NOLA_Ferrets
C/O Laura Robbins
4402 S. Rocheblave St.
New Orleans, LA
70125
Or directly to Sipsina's vet:
Dr. Gregory Rich
3640 West Esplanade Ave.
Metarie, LA 70002
504-455-6386
Any donations are a blessing. Every little bit adds up!
Thank you for reading Sipsina's story
Please help us save Sipsina
