Time for some more 'new-ferret-parenthood bubbling'. Well, I've decided
on Cassidy as the new girl's name (like in Hop-along Cassidy, 'cause she's
missing a toe; see issue 339). I'm happy to say that her health has been fine
since her last vet visit; no more bleeding, and her diarrhea has cleared up.
She's also becoming less messy, no longer tracking poop all over her cage, or
getting it stuck to her fur. She's growing steadily, now up to 1 pound (she was
7 ounces on Oct 18th). It turns out my initial concern over her slow growth was
actually because I was reading the scale wrong (DUH!). I was taking the halfway
point between 0 and 1 pound as 8 ounces (which was correct) and each division
as 1/2 an ounce (WRONG! They're 1 ounce divisions). So she was actually growing
twice as fast as I thought. I'd still like to see her reach 2 pounds, just so
she's closer to Buddy's weight of 2.5 lbs (but all mothers think their children
are too thin :). Cass is also starting to get some adult fur; some courser
white fur is coming in around her mask, and some guards hairs are showing on
her body. I brought her in to work on Wednesday to show her off. Everyone
thought she was adorable (what else would they think, since she is :). Buddy
and Cassidy are still getting along great; I've never seen Buddy so playful and
frisky (not that kind of frisky; he's neutered :). Occasionally Buddy gets a
little too rough with Cassidy, pinning her down with his front paws and gnawing
on her head (you can tell when Cass is upset, as she makes her upset/in_pain/
generally_unhappy noise; sounds more like an angry duck than anything else :).
Most times though they just hop around together, chase each other, or wrestle
together.
 
     Here are some amusing things Cassidy and Buddy have been up to lately:
I bought a fabric fish which hangs from a string on a wand which sticks to the
fridge with a suction cup. Cass attacks the fish, but usually knocks it away
when she tries to grab it. Sometimes she gets it swinging in a circle, while
she runs around and around chasing it. Then she stops, and the fish swings
around and bops her on the rear, causing her to jump up and spin around, and
then run after it in the other direction. When she does catch it she holds it
with her front paws and chews it, or clamps it in her mouth and shakes it, or
tries to run away with it, causing either the fish to be yanked out of her
mouth or her to be yanked into a backwards somersault when she runs out of
slack on the string. By the way, Buddy has never show much interest in toys,
other than wrestling the occasional tennis ball. This morning though he was
standing by the fish, and it swung over and bumped him on the back, causing him
to swing his head around to see what it was. This started the fish swinging,
and all of a sudden Buddy started hopping around like mad, and then went for
the kill. He grabbed the fish in his mouth, shook it a while, then ran off with
it, pulling the wand right off the fridge. It was pretty funny seeing him run
off with this fish in his mouth, trailing the string and wand. I'm glad to see
him apparently getting so much more enjoyment out of life since Cass arrived.
So if any single ferret owners out there feel their ferret is a little melan-
choly, getting them a ferret pal may be the solution :).
 
     Another thing Cassidy's been doing sometimes is chasing my feet. I'll
be walking, and she'll run up to me from behind and pounce on the heel of my
trailing foot. Then as I bring that foot forward she will attack the other
one, and so on. A couple of times I've been running around the condo yelling
'Mad ferret! Mad ferret!', with her in hot pursuit :). She still likes to show
affection by biting and chewing. She usually doesn't bite hard, and when
it's my hands it generally seems cute. When she goes for soft spots though,
(like the part of your arm on the other side from your elbow, whatever that's
called) then it's not so cute (plus as she gets older and stronger, she bites
harder). Guess I'll just have to discipline her when she bites hard; she
should grow out of it in time. Well, I guess that's all for now.
 
John, Buddy, and Cassidy
 
[Posted in FML issue 0351]