I've been on the list for 7-8 months...but seeing as how I'm not a
extrovert, I've just watched....
But now I got the urge to talk...'bout my ferrets! We had our 1st ferret (a
sable) about 23 years ago...long before there was much (if any) information
on them!
He was an impulse buy (by me...and quite a suprise to the new wife, when I
came home with this creature trying to claw his way out of a shoebox!) Well,
needless to say, he (eventually, and I do mean eventually!) became a member
of the family, and lived with us for 5-6 years, in spite of living in a Sky
Kennel and eating Meow Mix (I regret to say, we just didn't know better....)
We miss him still.....
Anyway, we always knew that ferrets would come back into our lives...but 1st
we had to pass thru that stage of life (credit cards..kids..and deep deep
debt!)....and we did...(paid off...grown up...and manageable!) :)
So come last Christmas Eve...we were down at the pet store and came home
with 2-14 week old female albinos. What a bundle of energy and joy they
were! They made for an enjoyable Christmas morning! Spoiled with every
kind of toy imaginable...
Apparently it's inevitable that ferret math strikes, 'cause March found us
with a 10-12 week old Heavy Silver male with very bad biting behavior. Tho
he nearly drove us crazy with his biting, but we preservered, and he is much
much better today...tho he ventilated both my wifes and mine fingers a few
days ago, when we unexpectly (to him) touched him during a leap to our laps
from a nearby cage...
Later in March we sucumbed to the 'look' of a gorgeous Sable male
(littermate to the Silver?) and so we became 4..... In early July, my wife
noted that we had never really had a 'baby'....'a ferret baby..' so off we
went...to look! We're only looking we said......(in vain apparently!....)
Well, as luck would have it, she found a beautiful little 'mime faced'
female..about 8 weeks old, and we said to ourselves 'we can't possibly bring
this kit into a house with 4 juviniles/adults without a companion.....' and
as we were unable to decide amongst the 2 other choices.....we got both, and
came home with 3 kits!!
Now we are 7!
The 2 girls Riki and Tiki (Albinos)
The 2 boys Tavi (the Silver) and Chuckles (the Sable)
The 3 kits Pansy and Clover and Rose
Anyway, all have gotten along well, and we do well up here in the Pacific
NorthWest!
We (wife and I) did, after all these years of suffering in the summer, put
in Central Air..(for the ferrets!!) The humans will suffer, but not the
ferrets!!
We have however had a ill one here for the last week or so...... :( Riki
has become less 'ferrety' seemingly prefering to sleep all the time..... She
is a tiny sprite, but we became alarmed at her thinness and have started
feeding her Gerber baby food (Chicken or Turkey) and Pedialyte and some
Heavy Cream 4 times a day or so....
Our Mobile Vet has been out twice in the last 5 days, and just today we've
switched her from Ampicillin to Sulfa ....she had blood drawn today also
and since the vet said she was slightly dehydrated, some SubQ fluids were
given...A stool culture showed no parasites....and 'enteritis' is all we
have at the moment for a Dx....
I'm keeping her isolated just so she can get some rest...she will still
viciously scruff any of the other 6 who dare to disturb her collection of
bottles and treasures she has gathered....but wants to 'rest' all the
time... We await blood results tomorrow (I hope) and a definitive diagnosis!
I'd like to thank Dayna in Va who called crosscountry on her own to talk to
me, about my sick ferret!!!
This is why I sponsor/donate to shelters.........for the
ferrets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really look foreward to reading the list every day!
I laugh with some, and tho I hate to admit it...I cry with others.....
I'll bet you'll be glad I go back to my 'silent mode' now!!
Richard & Debra
and the 7 Yakimaniacs!
[Posted in FML issue 2384]
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