Hi all,
I wanted to catch everyone up on Snookie's progress. There has been a lot!!
Two weeks ago, he started to pester his buddy, Boomer, to play. I was
amazed! Just two weeks earlier, he could barely use his rear legs, and the
front ones were getting weak. (He had a slight compression of the C7/T1
vertebrae, maybe caused from falling off of a staircase.) Now he is jumping,
twisting, turning, and war dancing all over the place! I should be happy,
right? I have to admit, I *am* happy, but after all of the TLC I've been
giving him, I instead think, "No!! Stop that! You'll hurt your back again!
STOP! Argh! No! You *can't* be happy! Stop that war dancing!!" :-) I
guess I'm just hard to please! ;-)
Now, I have a question. About 4 weeks ago, Snookie had an injection of a
corticosteroid (sp?) to help bring down any swelling around the spinal cord.
Even now, 4 weeks later, he smells like a whole male. Is this normal, or
should I be thinking about a possible adrenal problem? He has no hair loss,
or any of the other "normal" symptoms, but he does smell a bit stronger than
he ever has. Two days after his last bath, he smelled again, which really
is unusual for my guys. He is almost 4 years old. Would that have anything
to do with it?
Next question: I believe it was Nikita, my hyper 9 month old female, who was
at the root of Snookie's injury. I have no proof, but I'm pretty certain.
I have been keeping them separated because I did not want to take the chance
of Nikita getting Snookie by the neck and shaking him and making his injury
flare up and/or get worse. I believe it is this separation, combined with
Snookie's strong odor that is now making Nikita want to get at him even
more. I supervise their playtime now, but it is getting really difficult to
keep them separated. While I'm home, they have complete freedom in this
large house (3,700 sq. ft.) and their are four staircases. Short of giving
them different play times, is their any way to discipline Nikita so that she
will leave Snookie alone? (This might bring up questions and/or comments
about ferret behavior, which would be interesting for me to hear.) I can see
how you can train ferrets to use the litter box and such, but is it possible
to successfully train a ferret NOT to be aggressive and/or try to establish
any dominance over another ferret? Nikita leave Snookie alone when I am
present, but I have heard her ambuse him when I stepped out of the room. I
was thinking about possibly holding Snookie in my arms, scruffing Nikita,
putting Snookie's face close to her's and pulling her around the room while
hissing, hoping that she would think that I was Snookie who was actually
pulling her around the room. Does anyone think this would work, or am I
grasping for straws?
One last thing...I saw Juliana's post about how Donna Niehaus and I went to
Georgia and came back with 10 of the GDFA'a ferrets. Well, Juliana, we have
several people coming over today to see the guys! Actually, the 4 month old
albino male is practically adopted already! Be prepared for us to make
another trip to see you!
-Mark Zmyewski
Snookie, Boomer, Buster, and Nikita
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[Posted in FML issue 2031]
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