Slimming the Obese Ferret.

Two aspects may be considered in trimming the XS avoirdupois from the
bones of your ferret, or , for that matter, most any other house pet
can be treated as described below, if and when they are amenable to the
structured guidance needed.

Aspect number 1 is exercise, since it's easier than Aspect number 2.
Number 2 is the structure of his food. Note that the word structure is
given here. More on that later.

Yea, sure that's easy for you to say. Just how do you get tubby ferret
to exercise, huh?

Well, that's nearly impossible when you leave the ferret to his own
devices. What you've got to do is provide the stimulus for him to go,
go, and go, and, at the same time, make it fun for him as well as
yourself.

Oh, sure...you're gonna tell me exercise is fun for the two of us. This
I gotta see.

OK, now see this. See an English-made, thin strap Figure 8 harness. Not
the Chinese-made relatively thick nylon/plastic harness with the
impossible plastic snap buckle. Rather what you need for the ferret's
security and ease of putting on and taking off is the thin strap (about
3/8 inches wide and up to 18 inches long) that passes twice through a
leather loop of the same material and connected to which is a simple
steel ring, called a "D" ring.

Attached to this "D" ring is your tied-on length of nylon/rayon line
about the strength of 6-lb fishing line, or line maybe a little bit
stronger if you have a large, heavyweight hob. The length of the
harness line can be up to 12 feet or longer, depending how far ahead
of you you feel comfortable with the ferret ranging far ahead .

Looking at what we've got here sofar is this: a good leather harness
and 12 feet of line tied securely to the harness "D" ring. The line
should be the brightest color you can get, because it may turn out to
be the only easy way to locate your four-footed adventurer once you
allow him accidentally to get into thick brush and brambles or wrapped
around the wheels of a parked auto or two, or three.

The buckle on the thin strap English harness is a simple metal one,
square in shape or maybe rectangular and has a single pole or tongue on
it that is attached loosely to the center post of the buckle. By way
of comparison it is quite similar to a man's belt buckle and functions
the same way; that is, the tongue of the buckle passes through a hole
(one of a series) in the harness strap and secures the strap to given
circumferences which are the girth of the ferret's ribcage and neck.

Here at F.E.R.R.E.T.S. NW Foundation we punch up to 10 additional
holes in the strap. This give us wider adaptability of a single harness
to different sized ferrets, some twice as large as the smaller. We
frequently stake out up to 6 ferrets on our digging grounds,
essentially tied to vertical steel stakes by their leash lines. In this
manner our ferrets can commune intimately with Good Ole Mother Earth
and dig to their heart's content. And, boy! do they dig, ah haa.

Whoops, sorry there. Got to blabbering off topic, the topic of walking
your ferret.

Let me please continue on this interesting topic in a follow-on
posting, since this one is rather lengthy already.

Maybe "see" you tomorrow, OK? And more on the enjoyment of walking your
ferret and scaring the beejesus out of neighborhood cats, dogs and even
some people, some who say they've never seen such a large, hairy rat !
followed by, Does he bite ?

Edward Lipinski

-- 
Frettchen Freude

[Posted in FML 5659]