(what a subject header! :)
 
>From:    The Weezils of Doom <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: All shook up/vet needed
>Actually, I was hoping I would be at home when a quake hit.  I'm curious
>what the ferrets would do.  I've read about other animals going nuts right
>before a quake, like they could sense it.  I was wondering if my ferrets
>would have that ability.  Has anybody else had a chance to experience that?
 
Glad everyone's ok!  When I lived in Montreal, we had a medium-small
earthquake one morning-- the ferrets definitely reacted.  They woke me up
a few minutes before it hit by wardancing all over the bed.  it struck me
as really odd because they were both doing the same thing, they had come
to me to do it, but they weren't really interacting with each other, just
boinging all over the place.  Then the building shook!  I think they were
both concerned that I wasn't responding to whatever it is that they can
sense before the quake hit.
 
>From:    paula <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: update on biting ferret & email problems
>Anyone out there with vicious biter experience?  I am losing this battle.
>Please, please help!
 
Hi Paula,
I don't know if anyone else sent you this, but I compiled some information
on dealing with bad biters at
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083/probintro.html.
There's a lot of info and tips in there.  A couple of things strike me in
your email-- you mention that his teeth are still growing in.  You might
want to have a vet look at his teeth to make sure none of them are growing
in crookedly and causing him pain, which would cause him to bite hard.
Even just normal teething can be painful.  You mention that he acts sorry
about it later, which I think tends to support this idea.  The other thing
is about food-- young ferrets can be pretty possessive of their food.
Amelia nailed me pretty good as a kit when I took away an *empty* carrot
bag from her.  So, I would give him his space around food.  Maybe having
two food bowls would help, that way there's always one for him to go to
while the other one's being replenished.
 
I do believe that nearly any biter can be turned around, especially with
one so young.  However, it's not always an easy thing to do, and everyone
who interacts with the ferret has to be part of the training process.  I
guess I just want to say that if you eventually feel like you can't create
a good training environment for this ferret in your home, it's not a bad
thing to find a new home for him, in fact the very opposite.  I don't want
to sound like I'm doubting your abilities or your commitment, so please
don't take this that way-- I just want you to know that if Chisai can't be
accomodated in your household, then it's not a failure to find a home for
him that can accomodate him (this is how I came to own Cully, the ferret
who inspired the biter website).  I absolutely advocate responsibility for
one's pets, but sometimes responsibility can take different forms.  You
have my empathy!
 
>From:    Melissa Barnes <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Please help
>Well, I doubt that it is fleas, since there are none.  But what there is,
>is a scab of some kind.  Hidden under the fur on his belly, near dead
>center of his rib cage, there is a scab.  A black lump of crusty skin
>which would not wash off, but was certainly a scab, because of the way it
>hung on to the skin.
 
I'm not a vet and what I say should not replace having a vet look at the
scab, but Amelia has had something like that for most of her life on the
side of her ribs, including the description you gave of the hair growth.
My vet has said that it is scar tissue that periodically itches, so she
periodically scratches and chews it open (Amelia, not the vet).  I hit it
with Neosporin when it's open (the vanishing cream kind, not the ointment
kind as I think she'd eat the ointment), but otherwise there's not much
to be done about it.  I have a similar lump of scar tissue myself, so it's
easy for me to accept the vet's opinion.  However, there's always the
possibility that it could be a mast cell tumor, so you'd really want the
vet to take a look at it.  Good luck!
 
all my condolences to those with losses, and all my hopes for those facing
uncertainty,
 
Regina
 
Regina Harrison  [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/8096
 
           There comes a time when you cannot deliver
           This is a fact, this is a stone cold truth
[Posted in FML issue 3344]