I can't express how saddened I am about Hjalmar, Pepper, and
Sasha.  I haven't logged on in about a week, and this last hour
and a half of wading through my mail has been quite emotional.
My deepest sympathy goes to all their families and ferret friends.
 
I want to convey what helps me through times like these.  I look at
all the pets in the world.  Statistics say that only 1 in 6 pets
stay with the same owner their entire life.  It is a great
comfort to me to remember that my pets, and yours, had one of the
best homes possible.  They felt safe and secure throughout their
life.  They had food, shelter, and most importantly, lots of love.
Having read what happened in all three cases, there was nothing
more that you could have done.  You did your best to keep them alive,
so you can in no way blame yourself for their death.  So try to
have happy memories of their life.  Don't feel guilt at their passing.
 
And if anyone says "why are you so upset, it was only an animal?",
explain to them that you lost a valued member of your family, and
you are mourning for their loss.  Never let it bring you down, some
people will never understand the way you feel.  We must mourn for
our pets, never, never, let anyone make you feel stupid for doing so.
 
 ------------------
 
We should consider compiling a "ferret illness FAQ".  When someone's
ferret is sick, we don't have time to have a long correspondence
narrowing down the problem.  The owner is the only one who knows
the symptoms, and they may not even notice that something is wrong
unless it is pointed out and they can check for it.  Anyone have
any ideas?
 
 -----------------
 
On to lighter things...
 
As I said before, I haven't been on in about a week, it's going to
take me some time to catch up with my mail.  If I owe you a letter
please drop me a reminder since I'm very likely to forget that I
haven't already sent a reply.
 
 ------------------
 
Beastmaster 2:  Through the Portals of Time is out on tape.  I
rented it the other day.  It's fairly good, although don't expect
it to win any awards.  :)  The ferrets again played a prominent role
in the movie, although the didn't really do much acting.  He did
actually call them ferrets in the movie (when the girl goes "Eww,
rats!"), and he praises them a lot, and even gives them both a kiss.
They again make funny noises, gnaw ropes (with canine teeth... I think
not!), and bite the bad guys.  One primary difference is that in this
movie the animals don't have a lot of good scenes, where they "save
the day", like in the last one.  In this one they are mostly just
his "eyes" and help out a little in the fighting.
 
The premise of this one is that the bad guys come into modern day
L.A. through a time portal and Dar follows them.
 
The ferrets had the same names as in the first movie, which was
pretty lame since the male died at the end of the first movie.
(BTW, the credits said they were bred by Marshall Farms)
 
(this paragraph is a spoiler -- don't read if it will spoil the movie
for you)  The love interest is a whiny, rich, L.A. party girl who's
fairly annoying throughout most of the movie.  They don't really develop
a romance, or even much of a friendship, during the movie, yet in the
last scene Dar automatically seems to love her and leaves his ferrets
behind because she "needs someone to take care of her".
 
One amusing moment, when the actress is holding the ferrets she must have
just eaten something interesting.  One of the ferrets kept going for her
mouth.  In the scene she's saying how cute they are while she's desperately
trying to keep the ferret from getting her face.  :)  All ferret owners
will find it amusing, even professional ferrets can't resist minty
breath.  :) :)
 
Re:  Ferret on Star Trek: NG -- Yes, it was called a "Wompet".  It was
a little albino.  It looked like a young female, fairly small with a
female's skinny face.  I was very excited when I saw it, and meant to
say something, but I too forgot.  I certainly hope that in the future
people will know better than to keep their Wompets in small plexiglass
cages, though!  I was somewhat dismayed that they used something that
inappropriate as a cage.  I know noone's going to run out and make
a small plexiglass cage for their ferret, but they might think that
it's O.K. to keep them in aquariums.
 
- Nancy
 
Nancy Hartman                     CIS graduate student
[log in to unmask]                  U. of Delaware
        President and founder, Delaware Valley Ferret Club
          Owner of Percy, Bree, & Popcorn, the ferrets
 
[Posted in FML issue 0402]