Hello all! (this is long, bear with me)
 
fidget gave me the first real medical scare of his life this past week,
nicely timed to coincide with the exact moment I was leaving the house to
take my grandfather to the hospital so he could have his knee replaced.
 
He is a cloth eater and he was chewing on his blanky before I caught him
(Fidget, not my grandfather).  Then he started hacking hard.  We called the
vet (thankfully he lives above his practice and is available any time) and
after much dispensing of petromalt and very close observation, we were
rewarded with litter deposits...thankfully my SOs office didn't mind that
Fidget had to go to work with him while I was at the hospital.
 
Anway...on my way home from the hospital I stopped at his office to pick
Fidget up.  I also had to run into the college library to rent a video for
class.  So I had no option but to put Fidget in my jacket and take him
along.  Fidget of course had to peep out as I was at the counter.  The
fellow asks me if Fidget is a ferret, I said yes.  He is nicely curious
saying he'd only seen them before and heard they bite.  By that time I had
Fidget pretty much all out of my jacket.  Before I can go into my speil
about biting...this fellow who looked to be in charge of something in the
library walks up and says "yes ferrets do bite."
 
I was quite amazed at myself because I slowly turned, Fidget in hand, looked
UP at this guy (I'm really short), raised my eyebrows and said in a very
polite manner.  "No, you have to teach ferrets, like any other animal, that
biting is not allowed."
 
Then the fellow behind the counter asks about Fidget's age, etc and asks if
that is as big as he will get (now Fidget is only about 2.5 pounds, since he
lost some weight as he began to shed and I'm sure all the petrolmalt didn't
help either and the duck soup incident is another story).  The know-it-all
says, yes that's as big as ferrets get.  I hold Fidget up and explain to the
guy behind the counter that no, Fidget isn't your high end example and give
him the weight range speil.
 
I felt as if I was in a surreal world because usually I get immediately
irritated by such sillyness (although i do keep it inside and remain nice)
but this time it was like competence and niceness were just oozing out of my
pores as I spoke and time stood still... Fidget was of course his congenial
self and was quite happy to be allowed out of my coat!
 
cheers
chris and Fidget, the "giant weasel" in WV
[Posted in FML issue 2250]