CAT WRESTLING!!!!  My beautiful sable Mia has found a new sport to compliment
her carpet digging, sock pulling, barrier climbing and drain licking (blech).
 
I left her at my parents house for the weekend where they have four cats,
and Mia was allowed to socialize for awhile each day with them (supervised,
of course).  Three of the cats enjoyed watching her from a safe height and
never tried to play with her, but one of them HAD to investigate this new
critter in the house.  It was hilarious!!!!  As soon as Mia saw the cat
was interested, she started following the cat.  The cat would start to
move faster, and so would Mia, until the cat though she was being chased.
There's this HUGE cat being chased around by a 2 lb ferret - absolutely
hilarious.  When the cat got tired of running, Mia ran up under the cats
feet and started wrestling with him.  I couldn't believe how careful they
both were not to hurt each other.
 
Anyways, it convinced me that Mia's got to have a friend, so I'll be
looking for a new Fur-rat in the very near future.
 
On a more serious note - Mia has got something wrong with one of her back
legs.  About six weeks ago, she must have injured it somehow, because it
was totally limp for a couple of days.  When I first noticed it, I
rushed her to a 24 clinic, who told me it wasn't broken and it didn't
appear to be a spinal injury.  I saw my vet the next day, show said she
probably sprained it or something.  He's a great vet, but he probably
doesn't have a ferret of his own, since he told me to "Keep her calm for
a few days."  Ya, whatever.
 
Anyways, after a couple of days, her leg appeared to be fine.  She didn't
limp anymore, and she was tearing up the apartment as much as usual.
Unfortunately, last week she must have reinjured it, because I noticed
her holding the same leg straight out to the side while she walked.  I
immediately panicked, but when I tried to grab her, she pulled the leg
back under her and walked away, seemingly fine.  I thought maybe she was
just stretching, but now she seems to do it a couple of times a day.
(I'm pretty sure she's not just trying to get attention, since most times
she does it after running or jumping).  When she sticks her leg out like
that, it looks hyper-extended at the knee, and when she pulls it back in it
feels like it clicks.  As soon as she pulls it back in, she walks and runs
without any limp at all.
 
Two things are stopping me from taking her to the vet immediately.  She
doesn't have any problems from her leg, except for when she's holding it
out to the side (in other words, it probably won't happen in the vet's
office).  Secondly, two different vets saw her in much worse shape than
this, and it cost me $60 for them to tell me to "keep her calm".
 
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  I would hate to see it get any
worse.
 
Thanks,
 
Jim (another Jimbo, just what the FML needed)
and Mia Ferret
 
PS.  Many thanks to BIG, and all of the regular contributors to the FML.
Every morning I look forward to going to work just so I can read my mail!
[Posted in FML issue 1280]