Ok- first, a little background info.  I found my first ferret in my
driveway in the middle of the night.  He was not claimed and soon became
mine, his name is Kodi.
 
A few months later, we adopted a little girl, now named Hope, to keep him
company.  Kodi had a tough time adapting to her, and still gets annoyed
with her.  She loves him to death though (came into the shelter with 2
others, and has been with others her whole life) and is extremely
attached.  We took Kodi to the vet about 3 months ago for the day and
she just about flipped.  When he came home that night she was all over
him.  She layed on top of him covering every part of his body except his
nose (and she is about half his size).  Everywhere he went for about the
next 2 weeks, she was right there.
 
Ok- so here is the problem- while he was at the vet, he was diagnosed
with Adrenal.  He has had severe hair loss, and loss of weight.  Knowing
how attached Hope is to him, we became worried about what would happen
to her when he is gone.  So we decided to get another ferret.  We adopted
a younger boy 2 weeks ago.  He is a year old, Hope is 2 1/2, and Kodi is
3.  It will soon be time to introduce them, and I am so worried about
how Kodi will take this.  Kodi is very calm and quiet, while Hope is
extremely rambunctious and has constant energy.  At times I believe he
is overwhelmed by her and I am worried the newbie will overwhelm him as
well.  Which is why, if I do introduce them, the newbie will be
introduced to Hope first to get some of his energy out of him so he
doesnt completely overwhelm our little man, Kodi.
 
The more I think about it, the worse I feel.  I feel like I am going to
disrupt Kodi's world, but in the long run, Hope needs a buddy for when
Kodi is gone.  However, Kodi grew all but one patch on his shoulders
back, and now he is starting to lose a lot of hair again.  So I dont know
how sick he is, or if it is just a skin condition.  If it is not Adrenal,
I would have screwed up his world for no reason.  I am now second
guessing this decision.
 
Please no flames...Im just trying to figure this out.  (And the ferret
was from a woman who bought it for her son and he wouldnt take care of
it, so we took it.)  He is on a "trial basis" I guess you could call it,
to see if he will get along with my 2 before we make the commitment.  We
have had him for 2 weeks for him to get used to us and he has been doing
VERY well.  We have yet to introduce him to the other two.  Any advice
on this would help.  Has anyone else added an addition for the sake of
the fuzzbutt that would be left behind when the cagemate is gone?  Any
help would be greatly appreciated.  And like I said, please, no flames.
Im not doing anything wrong, I just want to make the right decision
before introducing him to my 2.  Thanks so much.
 
-Barbara, Kodi (the love bug), Hope (the demon child), and the newbie,
 Otter.
[Posted in FML issue 4032]