Hi, my name is Anna Abney and I recently acquired my first ferret.  She
is a rescue, about 5 years old, sable, named Vykos and she is AWESOME.
She gets along wonderfully with my 3 resident and 5 foster cats (who
are used to strange and unusual things coming home with Mom) and has no
trouble putting my 55 pound dog in her place.  Normally my dog is very
calm and gentle with small animals, but this is her first ferret and she
wants to play too roughly.  She has chilled enough to allow her to sit on
a leash while Vykos runs around and she recently learned that Vykos' nose
end is just as sharp as the nose end of all my cats.  She has an enormous
5 foot tall wire cage for when we are not home or are asleep but
otherwise she has free range of the house.  She accompanies me and my dog
Eve to work every day and is learning to walk on a leash.  She is so good
at the leash thing I swear she must have been a dog in a past life.
She's a great ferret ambassador, being very curious about strangers and
very accepting of petting and holding.  She plays very gently with us
humans but has no compunctions about chomping the cats or the dog, lol.
It's ok, they always deserve it, lol.
 
I feed all of my animals a raw diet and am slowly converting Vykos onto
the same.  The proper feeding of small carnivores is something I am very
experienced and comfortable with and I have an excellent source of human
grade organic, high quality meats of all kinds.  So far Vykos has nibbled
rabbit and chicken.  It will be slow going since she has a 5 year old
kibble addiction to kick, but I've successfully switched 12 cats (my own
and others) and nothing, not even a ferret, can be as snobby and picky as
a spoiled rotten cushion puff princess cat (am I talking about my Luna
cat?  Nah, couldn't be her.)  So I tell myself every day "she will eat
raw, she will eat raw" and so it must be, because I won't be buying
kibble for the rest of Vykos' life.
 
Ferret math is already coming.  The cage is so huge I need at least one
other ferret to help Vykos fill it.  So if anyone knows of a nice, middle
aged ferret kid in need of a forever home in the Southeast, please let me
know.  He/she will have the best of care and will never want for a thing.
 
Anna and Vykos (plus kitties Luna, Arthur, Nathan, Bastett, Gracie,
Chase, Zeus, and Miette and Eve the =DCber Dog)
 
Greenwood, SC
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[Posted in FML issue 3961]