> little bit ago.  Her blood glucose level was 136.3mg/dl.  Is that good?
 
Re Abu and Todd Olson:
 
My vet (Dr. Roberts, Douglas Co Animal Hosp, Castle Rock, CO) told me
it's useful to get about 3 blood glucose readings (a "curve"), at 2,
4, and 8 hours after eating.  He and I did this for Seldon, and
according to him, Seldon's ok, as his readings were 75, 75, and 93.  I
might do it again next year, as Seldon sleeps a great deal (that's why
I call him "the hunter of dreams"), and 75 is apparently borderline.
Supposedly inslinomic ferrets have readings like 40, 400, and
something else, i.e. they start perhaps with a crash then vary wildly.
 
Perhaps Dr. Williams or someone could comment with more confidence on
this, and about the efficacy of taking one reading versus three
readings.
 
Re Discovery:
 
I saw a show called "Martens: Playful Thieves" which I though was very
good; it mainly covered the small mustelids, and was generally very
positive.  It featured stone and pine martens, weasels (God, they're
cute -- I've been calling Dors my "least weasel" since she's so
compact), stoats, polecats, badgers, and otters.  It talked about
hunting, mating, play, conservation, and lodging.
 
Re smuggling:
 
I'm personally much too paranoid to move to an active FFZ, and I walk
the fuzzies almost every day, so it would be difficult there as well.
One thing I noticed about a AAA map of CA is that AAA marks the Ag
stations, and I thought that I had noticed (but not tried) two ways in
without crossing an Ag station (BUT COULD WELL BE WRONG): one through
Death Valley and one somewhere along the AZ border.  Perhaps someone
who knows CA can comment on the accuracy of this.
 
Actually, it seems the best way to go through is just have confidence
and do it, with fuzzies hidden, but I'm kind of bad at that sort of
thing, and I have visions of people gassing my loved ones at the
border (I wonder, can you just say, "OK, I'm turning around", and
avoid confiscation/killing?  Maybe it depends on the inspector?).
Actually, I thought the official policy was, you have 5 days to prove
you shipped them out of the state (perhaps the CDFA would know).  When
I was in AZ I saw a ferret that had been tatooed in CA on the abdomen,
with the apparent mechanism of "if it's found here again, we will kill
it".
 
Re games (fetch!):
 
Hey, I found a way to play fetch with Dors: she REALLY wants to hide
her stuffed animals in a certain treasure trove in the house, so I
stand between the trove and where I'm throwing the stuffed animal.
She boings (pepe le pew style) past me to try to put the stuffed
animal back, and I grab her, extract the animal from her clenched
jaws, and throw it again.  She'll do it with one stuffed animal about
5 or 7 times, and then she chooses a different trove in which to hide
it, ending the game.  So, lately I've let her return one animal after
about 4 times fetching, and then we start on another animal from her
collection.  Amazing!
 
Re escape:
 
I recently made a "ferret lock" (like an air lock?) from a 2 by 7 nice
piece of paneling.  My front door is in a corner, so I just truncate
the corner with the piece, and the fuzzies can't get to the door any
more, but I can step over it.  If your fuzzies jump high, then you'd
have to get much more elaborate, or make an overhang lip on the piece,
or something.  Also, one worry is that they might jump over it then
not be able to return to their water and food, so on the other side I
put some boxes to climb on to allow them to return if they get over.
 
Re allergic reactions:
 
Fortunately we've not had any problems, but on the last shots (rabies
and distemper at once), Dors got the (apparently common) marble-like
lump at the site.  It took about 5 weeks for that lump to go away!
 
Todd Cromwell
Dors (La Cazadora de botela plastiko) & Seldon (El Cazador de Sueno)
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[Posted in FML issue 0986]