Well, I had thought I had seen it all before tonight, but now, I'll admit
new stuff comes by all the time.  As you all (probably) know, I'm a great
advocate of late neutering, and hold the deed off as long as possible.  So I
did for Chrys, who has an appointment in mid-November to, you know; as a
male I can hardly speak it.  Anyway, he has been running free with the other
17 with absolutely no ill effects--even the agression is minor-- until
tonight.  I walked into the house with an armload of dissertation, and
plopped down on the sofa to surf the newly restored cable when I noticed
Chrys was more than wrestling one of my albino females.  I thought it was
Tori, who plays with him quite often, so when I playfully picked him up to
give her a break, well, I blushed.  So I gave him the lecture about
premarital and unprotected woopie, and set him down.  Well, he proved he had
a one track mind, not unlike some undergrads I know, and I finally had to
lock the poor guy away.  I made a note to call the vet and hurry the evil
deed, then put it out of my mind and started reading the stuff I brought in.
 
About an hour later, Tori comes running up for a treat (yes, I blew the
whistle) as did all the others.  Tori's back was dry, but Crystal's was wet,
so I picked her up, and to my wonderment, I noted a fully swollen female
sexual organ.  In prime condition.  Ol' Chrys wasn't was dumb as he looked.
Crystal was one of the ferret's I adopted out of Portland this last summer,
and was virtually hairless, supposedly from stress.  Once She arrived here,
she has almost doubled her weight, and grew all her hair back.  An extensive
examination showed the tip of her tail was nearly nude and the "wet" area
was actually starting to thin; it had gotten past me because the rest of the
hair covered it up.
 
On Monday we go visit the vet; my guess is a tumor is causing the release of
female hormones inducing a false heat, but I'm not ruling out a botched
neutering.  Hey, it happens, but those are easy organs to find, and easy to
remove; the first guess is far more likely.  Anyway, put her in your mind if
you will during the next week.
 
I was asked by one of my friends if knowing so much about ferrets helped
when they became ill.  Not a chance.  I think it's worse because I know what
it could be, and tend to dwell on the really really bad stuff.  I haven't
had Crystal for a long time, but if you could only see how much she has
changed in the last few months.  She no longer bites, she wardances, sleeps
with other ferrets, and plays with them.  She has friends; she plays with
Razz and Nosette all the time, and she and Foster chase each other all over
the house.  Just a few months ago, she would bite any ferret that came near,
screaming and squirting ode d' fert.  Now she even sleeps with them (as well
as on my lap).
 
The same friend asked if such bad luck might cause me to rethink adopting
older ferrets in the future.  Not a chance.  If I can give one ferret the
love and attention they deserve for just a short while, it is worth it, even
if it hurts my heart because the time is short.  When I see Razz struggle to
climb things (she was declawed by a former owner) or see Buddy run around
sniffing things, my heart is full of joy and happiness.  Sam-luc has become
quite the joker; he runs and dances for hours.  If I wave my hand at him, he
instantly flops all over the place.  Fragle and Nosette double-team me, each
trying to get the toy from my hand.  Every moment is worth the price.  One
blink and they are gone.
 
Anyway, I should know more in the next few days, and will share the info
with the rest of you.  Wish us luck.
 
REFERENCE OF THE DAY:
 
D. Weber "The Diet of Polecats (_Mustela putorious_ L.) in Switzerland.
1989 *Zeitschrift Saugetierkunde* 54:157-171.
 
This is an excellent paper, not because it discusses the diet of wild
polecats, which it does very well, but because it uses that data in an
effort to explain both sexual dimorphism and the decline of polecat
populations within Europe.  The primary focus of the paper is for the long
term understanding of the decline of the Polecat rather than the short-term
understanding of the polecat diet.
 
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the paper was a discussion of how the
digestibility of certain foods change in the presence of others.  For
example, when meat was eaten alone, undigested meat cells were found in the
poop.  However, when meat was fed with whole mice, no undigested meat was
found.  Apparently, the undigestible portions of the mouse slowed and added
the absorption of the proteins.
 
Some key points.  1) Swiss polecats are almost entirely carnivorous.  2) The
main diet consists of small rodents, frogs and toads, birds, and
invertebrates.  To a lesser degree are rabbits and carrion.  Plants (mostly
fruits and nuts) are a very small portion of the diet.  3) Sexual dimorphism
is probably related to lower female maintence costs.
 
The best part of the paper has potiential significance for Ca Ca land
people.  P.  168 "...even partly overlapping food-niches make the long-term
coexistence of two or more _Mustela_ species impossible..." In other words,
in Ca Ca land, you have the mink and two weasels (the _Mustela_ species
part); so for ferrets to be able to go feral, they have to make at least one
of those three species take a hike, an event not even the polecat has been
able to do ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!
 
Mo' Bob and the 18 Musty Mustelids. (In memory of Gus)
[Posted in FML issue 1742]