Hi All!
 
  Colds
  Dusty had a cold when I bought him and he graciously shared it with the
  others.  Bud and Gizzie are feeling much better.  This morning they were
  chasing Koto and Sylvia (the girls liked it when the boys were sick cause
  they left them alone!).  Zipper has it now and she sneezed on my face
  twice the other day (thank you for sharing).  Guess who has a horrible sore
  throat today!  I've had a mild one for 2 weeks (a few days after Dusty
  came) but it was tolerable, this is not!  Poor babies I know just how they
  feel.  I can gargle with alcohol (rum or vodka - don't swallow!) to relieve th
  pain but the ferrets can't.  Everyone has lost a little weight during this 7
  day ordeal but we're down to only 2 with colds now and the others have all
  recovered.  Hopefully it has run it's course.
 
  New Boys - Great News!
  Integrating two 1 year old whole males into our household is quite an
  experience.  These boys were going to be used in the rabies studies at
  KSU but because the studies will be performed at CDC headquarters
  instead, they were allowed to be placed in homes.  There were 6 and 2
  ended up with us.  I am continuously amazed at how adaptable ferrets are.
  These boys had been isolated in cages with minimal human-ferret
  interaction, no toys, litter box, or blankies and absolutely no ferret-ferret
  interaction.  They are very large and very gentle with humans.  Because
  I'd heard horror studies about whole males fighting (I'd never experienced
  any problems) I'm monitoring closely and caging separately when I'm not
  there.   Last night they were out from 7pm-4am and 5:30am - 7am and
  they did great.  They learned "NO!"  and how to use the litterbox quickly
  and aren't bothering the others  too much.  In fact, Ramsey picks on them!
  Occasionally I have to unlatch teeth from necks but they aren't biting hard
  enough to leave any marks, just wet fur.  I use the bitter apple spray to
  deter them from biting the others and it works very well.  When they are
  latched on, I spray the neck area right by their mouth - not in the mouth -
  and they immediately let go!  Last night around 11:30 one was asleep in
  the open cage when his brother (I assume they are brothers) came up and
  laid down right beside him and quickly fell asleep!  They don't have the
  "wild abandonment" that normal ferrets have so we're working on that.  I
  even got one to play for just a second yesterday!  The dryer hose is of
  great interest and at least one has gone through.  They are identical twins
  so I clipped the tail hair to tell the difference.   I'll have them neutered
  sometime soon.  Oh, one more thing - they enjoy reading as I've found
  them in the book case several times (pushing out the diet books!).
 
  Hugs to all!  tle
[Posted in FML issue 0973]