Hello everyone. Thanks for asking about Rhea.

She seems to be doing well. With all the responses I received when I
asked for help I just knew something would click and help her.

I started to pay attention to the sounds in the household and would
watch Rhea very closely. I noticed a few things. She is very skittish
and almost any load noise would make her flinch and hide, she has no
trust in me as she seems to be very scared when I pick her up, a baby
voice I made when speaking to my other ferrets would let the devil
loose in her along with any whistle or other high pitched noise and a
few other things.

This is what we are doing. 1st- I had to retrain myself not to speak to
my babies in the tone of voice that would upset her. I found out about
this problem when she was pined and I leaned over to chat with her and
put me hand in to touch her. You could see a change in her mannerism.
She would get very agitated. She did clamp down on my hand then but I
just spoke softly and offered a bit of ferret tone. (Ok I will tell you
that doing that took every bit of my self control and energy as that
bite took almost 2 weeks to heal.) But I was happy to have found one
source of the rage.

2nd- She got LOTS of extra play time. I had her pined at first then I
realized she needed to run. So I let her out on controlled free roam.
This also worked wonders. She really needed release energy and also I
think to be able to hide when needed.

3rd- All the squeaky toys, that I could find; ), were removed from our
home. When she was out I kept the TV off and always spoke softly.
!~67tryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyytttsaqqqqqqq - 
LOL I needed to get coffee and Rhea thought she would try to help
explain. So I left it in. As the weeks went by I would try to introduce
new sounds and she has taken to a few.

4th- I held her. A LOT. I would notice if she was starting to become
agitated and pick her up and speak very softly while holding her very
close and tight. Sometimes she would respond other times she would need
to go back into her cage for a cool down.

So this is what we did and are doing. Now she hasn't bitten me since
the above mentioned time. She plays with everyone during free roam and
I don't even have to have a pen ready for me to run to for safety if
she gets a bit jumpy. I did the first week or two. (It was a sight to
see me pined while the babies had control of the living room.) I
haven't seen the change in her mannerism into demon for quite some
time. Come to think of it not for a long while. She will play with me
and only sometimes do I get a nip with a long kiss. Every time she gets
let out I hold her tight and tell her everything will be fine. I kiss
her face off as I love her to death now and she licks me and I let her
down. She still gets jumpy with certain sound but she no longer runs to
attack. When I pick her up all four legs spread out and her little body
goes stiff. I think it's a height thing or trust issue. SO when I pick
her up now I do it very close to the floor and she get tucked in my
arms right under my chin tight. This is a new thing were trying.

THE BAD NEWS- about 2 weeks ago I noticed the hair on her one arm
thinning and a bit on her shoulder. I had to go out of town (for all of
3 days) and when I returned back I noticed the hair on her front legs
gone and that shoulder was much thinner. Only her undercoat is left.
Speaking to the vet told HE believes she is adrenal. Blood work wont
show 100% if she is and the only way to know for sure is to go in and
look. Well were NOT going in anywhere. However I have NO wish to treat
her for something I do not know for 100% she has. She is perfect, as
in DMK, and I am really trying to limit all chemicals, sugars and
preservatives from there going into her and all my babies. But last
night I noticed a spot on her skin that looks to be a bruise. I just
looked now and it really resembles a bruise. Last night she had her
own cage as I don't know how it got there. It seems we will be going
to the vet after all.

So that's it. Everything has healed on me and all I have left now is
scars. But those marks show what happens to animals when they have been
mistreated. No matter how long. For the 7 ferrets that I got from the
DMK rescue and 5 I had from day 2 of this adventure every scar is well
worth having when I see or hear how well each are doing.

Thank you for you love and support. Every offer of help was a blessing.
-- 
Misty Hosier
Broward Ferret Rescue and Referral
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http://www.missionfish.org/NPMMF/nphomepage.jsp?NP_ID=20871
http://www.myspace.com/ferretplayground

[Posted in FML 5893]