From the time I saw those pictures of the ferrets on that farm, those
little faces haunted me. When they were rescued, I asked to adopt two.
Not much help, with those numbers I know.

A huge THANK YOU to Barb Clay who was nice enough to transport them
and ADV test them. What a chore that must have been.

The first boy that was marked for me, was a brilliant tangerine color,
with beautiful burgundy eyes, who immediately tried to bite me. When
we flipped him over someone said look a tumor on his prepuce. Then we
noticed he had a crooked jaw and a tooth jutting into his upper lip. I
have to tell you I was a little hesitant about taking him. Only because
my favorite hob died of prepucial adenocarcinoma after three horrible
surgeries that I vowed I would never go through again. I did not want
to get attached to him and relive that. But he deserved a chance. The
second boy, the largest and oldest is a dark eyed white with a black
tail and black V on his head. He had just been neutered. He seemed very
gentle and shy. Still have not decided whether or not he is deaf. On
the way home, I asked to adopt another boy from the friends who were
with me. Another little tangerine hob, who will eventually be a dark
eyed white.

I took them all in to work on Monday. I wanted to get the bad stuff out
of the way so that we could start working on trust. We neutered both
boys and reopened one side of the neutered boy's surgery site as he
had a seroma. All were positive for ear mites, the ears were cleaned
and treated. All had their distemper shots, teeth cleaned and stool
samples done which were neg. After I heard about the Giardia, we
also ran Giardia tests on all three, also neg. The first little hob
"Snaggletooth" or Snags for short apparently had a fractured jaw at one
time that healed badly, we took the offending tooth out. The problem
with his prepuce is not a tumor. the poor boy has a broken baculum. I
can only guess that he got both his jaw and his baculum caught at one
time on what that farm called cages.

He was the boy I thought I would have trouble with biting. He makes
small attempts but responds to no. He has turned out to be quite the
character. They are in quarantine downstairs for one month. One of the
playpens is near the tv. When Snags is in it he likes to stand up like
a Meerkat and watch it. He is also the only one who dooks so far. He
loves to be tossed onto the hammock. He dances and dooks and comes
running back for you to do it again.

The big white, who I have yet to name, shockingly turned out to be
quite the biter. He bites out of fear. He was petrified of hands coming
at him. He would literally shake in terror. He really wants to be
friends and is coming along nicely. I make it a point to pick him up
once a day and give him a lick of Ferretone so that he understands he
is not going to be hurt. He runs over now every time he sees me. He
will climb up the playpen and let me pick him up from there. He is also
a toy hog. He has adopted a fuzzy ring that he rolls with all four feet
while he lays on his back like a seal and don't you dare touch it. He
grabs it, puffs up and literally glares at you, like how dare you. He
checks all of his toys several times a day to make sure they are still
there then he relocates them to different spots.

The little soon to be white hob has turned out to be the sweetest
ferret. He is deaf as a stone, but has never once tried to bite. He
has learned to go up ramps and today for the first time ever I found
him sleeping in his hammock. He reminds me so much of my Elf, who died
several years ago. I often called Elf, Sniffy because deaf ferrets
always seem to be sniffing at things loudly, your ears, the bathtub
drains. He does it constantly. LOL!!

I am really enjoying these boys and the progress that they are making
each day. They are really a lot of fun. I will try to get some pictures
soon. LOL when they become the color they are supposed to be.

Pat Stauffer
Weasels
http://pages.prodigy.net/staufferp/

[Posted in FML 5763]