Another long letter; sorry, but I'm bubbling over with this new
ferret-parenthood thing.
 
     Well, the new girl no longer has blood in her stool; last time was the
morning after the vet gave her the anti-inflammatory shot, since then nothing
(she got the shot on the 20th). Now she seems to have mild diarrhea though.
It's not really watery, but it doesn't come out in a solid shape either; sort
of the consistency of pudding. Could this be because she's exclusively on
canned food? I'll be putting her on dry eventually, but she's still too young
to manage it. Speaking of that, I just got the video 'Living With Ferrets',
and there were some 6 week olds on there that looked nearly full-grown. At
8.5 weeks, the new girl is still quite tiny (about 10 ounces), as were all
the kits in her litter, though she *is* growing (she was about 7.5 ounces on
the 18th). Should I be concerned, or will she probably still grow to a healthy
size? I'm bringing her to the vet Thursday for booster shots, and I'll be
asking him about this (and about her diarrhea).
 
     As for how my older ferret is adjusting to the new arrival, it looks like
his initial negative reaction has had a *big* turnaround. Friday evening Buddy
was actually playing with the new girl. They would hop around, and pounce
toward each other, then bounce away. She was crawling behind my CD rack, and
Buddy was running from one side of the rack to the other, occasionally poking
his nose behind to see where she was. I've hardly ever seen Buddy so playful
as he was with her. Then they started play fighting over a fuzzy toy mouse;
each would grab it from the other and wrestle with it before the other would
grab it back. Until then, Buddy had never played with any toy I gave him except
a tennis ball, and that rarely. After that she was following Buddy around the
condo where ever he went. It was so cute :). Then Saturday, I caught them
asleep together in a heap under the couch. Since then they have played and
slept together a lot, and haven't fought, and the new girl still follows Buddy
around most of the time. It looks like they've hit it off after all :). Still,
I'm not going to leave them alone together beyond hearing distance till she's
bigger. Buddy could still hurt her, whether accidentally or intentionally.
 
     A question about ferret cleanliness: I've been keeping the new girl in
Buddy's cage and letting Buddy roam free for the time being (so far Buddy has
had no 'accidents' on the carpet; the multiple litter pans are working). While
the new girl usually seems to use the litter pan in the cage, it seems half the
time the poop sticks to her fur (usually on her tail) and she tracks it all
over the cage afterwards. I have to clean the cage and replace her bedding
twice a day. Are all young ferrets so messy? Do they grow out of it? I sure
do appreciate Buddy more since I got the new one; he's so clean!. By the way,
the cage is lined with linoleum. This works great for Buddy, who confines his
leavings to the litter pan, but works lousy for the new girl. Maybe I should
buy a separate cage for the new girl, with a wire floor and removable tray. I
hate to do this when I plan to let them both run loose eventually.
 
     About a name for the new girl; I was thinking about Cassidy (like in
Hop-along Cassidy), since she's missing a toe. I'd call her Cass for short.
What does everyone think?
 
                                       -John Rosloot-
 
[Posted in FML issue 0341]