Chris, could you post this anonymously? Thanks!
 
Hi, this is Wednesday's Mom again, with more frets and queries and general
stuff about our now-11-week old kit. Since we've never raised (or had much
experience at all with) ferrets before, we're full of questions about how to
go about it and what's "normal." (And if you think we're neurotic about parent-
hood now, wait til we have our first human child... :)
 
Near as I can tell, Wednesday seems to be generally happy and romping and
affectionate. It's difficult to read ferret moods, she tends to look fierce
when she is being playful, and she also uses her claws and teeth a fair bit,
nibbling happily on fingers and toes. This reminds me of the kneading of paws
and mouth that I've seen with cat kittens that were separated young from their
moms - do ferret kits do the same, or is she simply enjoying gnawing on me? Or
is she upset about something? She also makes lots of little noises, some of
which occasionally sound like a sneeze, but they are infrequent and she seems
pretty strong and healthy and active, and sometimes the noises sound like
little squeak-warbles - hard to describe but I'm sure y'all are familiar. Are
these the norm? What do they mean? How do you convince a ferret not to bite?
 
I'm feeding her IAMS kitten food and water in general, with occasional drops of
that cod-liver protein stuff. She seems to enjoy apple juice and cream-of-broc-
coli soup and orange juice and milk - I do limit her dairy intake to a couple
of spoonfuls every few days - is this enough, too much, just right? What foods
are good or bad for her?
 
What are good schedules for shots? She's had the canine distemper shot already,
and has been spayed - is there a particular ideal age for the 2nd distemper and
the rabies shots? How often do these get renewed? What other health signs
signs should I be aware of?
 
She tolerates the harness I put on her when we go out, and I'm thinking of
getting an ID collar with bell at some point. Should I wait til she is full-
grown (how old is fullgrown anyway?) or do so now? If I take her for walks
without a harness, will she stay near me or should I always have it on her
when we are out? So far, due to the cold weather, I take her out wearing the
harness but also nestled in my jacket - but it's spring now, just about, so
I'll be letting her actually walk with the leash on. What sorts of experiences
have people had with training a ferret to use one of those?
 
She's increasingly affectionate - last night she honored me by crawling into
bed with me and snuggling up instead of burrowing someplace else to sleep - I
was so psyched! - and she deals well with other people and animals. Though, the
other animals do not always deal well with her! Three adult cats, used to other
animals but not ferrets, view her warily as neither predator nor prey, and keep
a close eye on her - she is alternately curious and indifferent, without a huge
attention span for them. A large adult doberman adores her, gives her baths and
sniffs her, which she tolerates - it's cute seeing our baby nose to nose with a
huge dog! The pup and kitten have fared less well - both are scared of her -
the pup stuck it's nose up to hers too quickly and got a small nip, and is now
completely freaked; and the skittish kitten hissed and provoked what would have
been a fight had we not quickly removed them. But the ferret kit is not ag-
gressive until provoked, so we need to convince the other animals to deal. We
don't leave the ferret alone with any of the other animals.
 
Wednesday likes riding on my shoulder and zonking out in peoples sleeves, and
chases her neon bell ball happily around the room. She's constantly exploring,
and quite the little thief, and we adore her!
 
Thanks for your patience with my queries! This list is a valuable resource!
 
W's Mom
 
[Posted in FML issue 0238]