I had to laugh about the ferret that pretended it couldn't use it's back
legs to get attention.  I thought I'd share a story about my very talented
fuzzy actor.
 
The infamous Reverend Maynard hadn't been eating on his own or drinking that
I'd noticed about a month and a half ago.  I took him to the vet and they
gave him amoxycilin (the pink bubblegum smelling stuff) and I was told to
give him pedialyte from a syringe quite a few times a day.  A knowledgable
person (thank you sharon) told me to give him fruit flavored pedialyte, as
most of hers at the shelter loved it...so I did.  After I convinced him to
try the pedialyte, I never saw him drinking on his own for about 3 weeks.  I
would cut my work short, hurry home from school, drop by the apartment often
to give him the pedialyte so he wouldn't dehydrate, eventually I left a
small bowl of it out, but he didn't even drink much out of it.  I found out
that he was faking it...he had been sick at first, but he didn't want to
give up the taste of the pedialyte and the attention of being syringe fed
and held and fretted over, etc... (I didn't find out until I saw him
drinking water out of the cage and he looked guilty when I caught him).
Isn't it funny how our ferrets train us?  Occasionally I give him liquid out
of the syringe now and he looks at it as a treat.  Silly fert.
 
Kelly
Reverend Maynard: "Maybe if I pretend to have a relapse, I'll get the
bubblegum medicine again, too... oh, oh, I don't think I feel so good."
Edie: "These ploys will never get you anywhere."
[Posted in FML issue 1733]