Hello all...
 
        Well, first off I would like to discourage anyone living in the
Seattle vicinity from purchasing ferrets from Doktor Pets at Bellevue
Square Mall.  I was in there the other day and found several of their
ferrets had double incisors-- they are all Marshall Farms ferrets, and
several were somewhat sickly looking.  A couple looked as if they might
have eye infections.  They are all kept in cedar chips which this pet
store recommended I use for my ferret.  When, after being warned strongly
by people here not to use the chips as well as by my vet who is fairly
knowlegeable of ferrets-- I spoke to people several times at the store and
each time they denied fervently that I had any clue as to what I was
talking about.  Anyhow the Marshall Farms ferrets I have been seeing
lately have been looking worse and worse.
        Cleo has been a very good girl lately.  She got her flea powdering
yesterday which she really hates so she has been sulking.  Recently I
found that she has been secreting away stuffed animals into the closet.  I
saw her dragging a significantly huge stuffed rabbit in there the other
day.  Well the room looks a bit less cluttered and on examination none of
the toys seem to be missing any stuffing so I let her keep her hidy hole.
I also found some ginger snaps in there from god-knows-when.
        I have noticed that no matter what I do she always gets up at four
in the morning and wants to play which drives me nuts.  She comes and
pounces on my feet-- or my boyfriend's or burrows under the covers.  Then
she'll hop and roll all over the room until she notices that we are still
(silly humans) lying quietly in bed.  Her measures become more drastic
then and she will lick at our noses or lips or play in my hair.
        We are going to be getting a playmate for Cleo soon we hope.  I am
waiting to see if we are going to move before we get her a pal as I
wouldn't want the ferret to get adjusted just to have to move a couple of
weeks later.  I know this has been discussed many times before but I have
fallen a little behind-- I saw a silver mitt the other day and thought she
was just adorable... I am wondering if the breeding it takes to get these
marks makes much of a difference in the ferrets personality for better or
for worse.  I am also wondering how Cleo will adapt to sharing space with
another ferret-- is this even a good idea when she has been raised as an
only-ferret?
 
Hope all the ferrets out there are doing well  :)
 
Amy and Cleo
 
[Posted in FML issue 0470]