Hi everyone!  Well, I know its just been a day since I posted all my
concerns about getting a new baby - but we did it!!  My husband had his
heart set on an albino and that's what we got - an 8 week old female
albino.  She's absolutely beautiful!  She's so tiny and bright white
(except her belly which has a blondish/yellow cast).  Her eyes are red
(actually when you look into them they look pink).  Her name is
Snowball.  When I took her home, Salt & Pepper didn't quite know what
she was!  Salt, our sensitive, always in need of reassurance one seemed
a bit hurt.  Not that she didn't like her, she just drifted off into a
corner (not too far away from us otherwise we wouldn't be able to see
her) and layed down with her little head on her paws - I swear she was
sulking!  She kept looking over every once in a while to make sure we
saw her.  All this took place over about 4 minutes.  Pepper hoovered
over top of her for the first hour.  Checking her out.  While Pepper did
that, I spent some time with Salt.  Then the baby flipped out of her
curious mode and pounced on Pepper and the two started wrestling.  Salt
poked her nose in every once in a while to check on things but always
backed away.  Then Pepper took an eating break and the next thing I
knew, Salt come bouncing out of a room with Snowball in tow.  The two
were wrestling and playing just like Pepper and Snowball were!  Big sigh
of relief.
 
For the rest of the evening we noticed Salt took the big sister role.
Whenever Snowball wanted to play Salt would let her tug at any body part
without getting irritated.  And when she played with her, she always let
Snowball win - which you could tell was a show because Salts double the
size of the baby!  They all snuggled up together and so far everything
is going great.  I figured that since she can't really jump yet, I'd let
them have the run of the place.  The baby seems better at the litter box
than the other two!  Who knows, maybe she'll teach them a thing or two.
 
Does anyone know of any differences with albinos?  I've heard that
they're more affectionate, but from what I saw yesterday, she had no
interest in being held even though when we brought Salt home, she was a
snuggler from the get go.  My dad asked if she would be sickly since
other species albinos tended to be sickly.  I really didn't know, so if
anyone knows anything about their behaviour or anything else I should
know, please pass it on!
 
Thanks,
 
Michelle, Kenny, Salt, Pepper & Snowball
[Posted in FML issue 1030]