Yesterday i wrote about the sneezie's vet visit.  well, everyone is happily
slurping down amoxicillin now, with no knowledge that amoxi is a MEDICINE
(oooh, ick, uck!), and while not better, nobody's immediately worse.  But
this episode, I'd like to write about more Noodle weirdness, and I have an
albino question for you.  First, the question:
 
Friday, my female albino, is *considerably* weaker than my three masked
ferrets.  Has anyone else observed this correlation?  She's got weaker jaw
and body strength, and she compensates by being wrigglier and twistier while
in fights (just let her get a munch on some soft skin - less pressure, but
more twist.  Ow!).  It's not that she's a jill - Potpie is as strong as
Noodle, and Easel's quite the little coiled spring.  Just wondering.
 
So, you may remember i went away on vacation for a week in late December..
I sent Noodle along with Easel and Friday to their sitter's (where they got
sick), and they ended up staying a good 8 or 9 days.  When i got them back,
Noodle was *mad*.  He bit me every chance he got, he wouldn't stay in my lap
when i picked him up - this is the ferret who'll normally jump for my lap
for a nap every time i sit down - and he wouldnt play with me.  In fact, if
both me and John were in the room, he'd specifically go curl up in John's
lap, but not mine.  Today, he finally came around and returned to acting a
bit more like his usual self with me, but only after 10 or so days of
snubbing.  Yoiks!  Not wishing to over-anthropomorphize, i've come up with
the theory that yes, animals do experience abandonment pangs/pains, but
certain animals, instead of resenting you, become *afraid* of you.  Let me
explain: When you leave, certain emotionally dependent animals experience
separation anxiety, but not being terribly complex emotionally, they begin
to associate the anxiety with memories of you, not with the *absence* of
you.  So, your leaving is upsetting, but they arent smart enough to
remember, as time lapses, that it's your absence that's upsetting - they
just begin to associate memories of you with that fear and upset.  So, when
you return, they've got bad associations and are mistrustful of you.
 
Let me state that i really only have seen this pattern in my less
intelligent pets that nonetheless still have strong emotional ability - a
bright but senile cat and Noodle, the dependent and somewhat retarded
ferret.  Potpie has full abilities to get mad at me for leaving her, and
always takes it out on me when i return - a reunion with her is always a
bizarre mixture of her pissy behavior and her glad-to-see-me behavior, but
no anxiety or distrust.  I.e, she remembers through whatever extended period
that i left her, that she's mad at me for leaving, and when I come back, she
displays her lack of appreciation in appropriate ways.  I first noticed the
anxious behavior in the cat mentioned above when i inherited her from a
previous owner who was going overseas and who she loved *very* deeply and
trusted implicitly.  He was gone for six months, and she went through severe
separation trauma, but instead of being glad to see him when he returned,
she was utterly terrified of him - of his very voice, even.  And i see the
same, less intense behavior from Noodle when I leave him for extended
periods - he trembles when i pick him up, he runs from me, he won't sleep in
my lap, etc.  Any notes or ideas to compare with my observations?  I might
just be smoking the proverbial crack... :)
 
Melissa, makin' stuff up
 
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      Melissa Litwicki                              "Is it ... atomic?"
      [log in to unmask]                             "Yes! VERY atomic!"
[Posted in FML issue 1805]