Dear FrettchenVolk: [G.] Ferret People:
 
When it rains, it pours.  Remember that adage?  It's like saying that
trouble always seems to come in pairs and it comes a runnin'.
 
I just got off the phone with a new father.  I listened to his story about
what happened with one of his two male ferrets.  Because of the unusual
behavior of his ferret, the way its "other side" came out, he was alarmed
and called his veterinarian.  His vet suggested that he call Ferrets
NorthWest.  And so he did.
 
This is his story.  As soon as the ferret heard the first cries of his
infant child cuddled in his wife's arms the ferret appeared to become highly
agitated and was constantly under foot, such that the wife could walk only
after she repeatedly thrust the ferret aside with her foot.  The new mother
was at first somewhat amused by the ferret's intense interest in her new
baby, but in attempting to get away from the highly excited ferret, she
walked away briskly.
 
The ferret dogged her every step and than attempted climbing the mother's
legs, apparently to get at the crying baby.  At first her husband ignored
her pleas to get the ferret away from her, since, in his words, he thought
it was quite amusing to watch the highly animated antics of the ferret
eagerly trying to get up to the baby in her mother's arms.
 
Then something happened that changed the scene from hilarity to horror.
This extremely exicted ferret (a Marshall Farms neuter, 4-years old) sunk
his fangs repeatedly into the wife's ankle; it was bite, bite, and bite as
the ferret savaged around the wife's ankle, biting her repeatedly.
 
The husband retrieved the ferret and put him in his cage, handling the
extremely agitated ferret with caution, so that he himself would not be
bitten by the struggling ferret.  It was noted then, that the second ferret,
a 5-year old, was also becoming agitated and he was also put into the cage.
Heretofore, the 5-year ferret had ignored the crying baby, but with all the
commotion and loud talking, it too was becoming obviously agitated.
 
Since that incident a few days ago, they have taken note of the fact that
everytime the baby cries, the 4-year old ferret tries to get out of the
cage.  The 5-year old ferret appears to be completely oblivious to the
baby's crying.  The new parents are concerned what would happen if the
ferret got out of its cage and got to the crying/sleeping infant without
their knowledge.  The mother is actively breast-feeding.
 
I spent about a half-hour on the phone with the father and offered him my
best counsel.  He was aware of the Ohio ferret case.  I have asked him to
provide Ferrets NorthWest with a detailed, factual writeup of this incident
as well as a detailed and factual life history of both his ferrets.  Neither
ferret has ever had meat or poultry in its diet.  Both eat Totally Ferret.
More on this later.
 
Anybody got any theories?  Let's read them.
 
In the meantime folks, be alert.  The world needs more lerts.
 
NOTE: Suggest that citing ferret bite statistics and comparing to other pet
bites maybe is false hope.  No one can argue that there are more incidents
of ferret bites (to infants) than are reported, so be careful out there.
Best accept what IS and try to understand the "whys" and then work on
prevention.  In the meantime, see below.
 
        Verbum sat sapienti. [L.] A word to the wise is sufficient.
Edward Lipinski, Frettchenvergnuegen from the Frettchenlustbarkeitsfuehrer !
Frettchenvergnuegen [G.] Joy of Ferrets.  F...fuehrer [G.] Ferret frolics
leader.
[F]erret [E]ndowment for [R]esearch,[R]ehab, [E]ducation & [T]raining
[S]ociety, NorthWest.
[Posted in FML issue 2233]