Hi all,
 
Sorry for the "form letter" format, because I can't thank all of you enough
for your suggestions for bite-training Phoebe and I feel like this is a
little impersonal.  Here's what we're doing for the time being:
 
Rob took Phoebe and the kits to the vet today.  The kids got their first
shots and the vet gave them a bill of perfect health -- no heart murmurs,
nothing abnormal.  Phoebe, OTOH, he's not too sure about.  She's got some
pain in her kidney area (adrenal?) and she's in "hunt mode" (his words) the
minute you put her down.  She's also doing what the vet called "imprisoning"
the kits -- she won't let them out of her sight, and she also won't let
them eat or drink or anything.  Luckily they're about 99.9% weaned, so
we're able to separate them.
 
Rob talked to our vet about the possibility of a depo-provera injection, but
Dr Lockwaldt was hesitant to do it for fear of possible side effects; his
line of thinking is that it would be better just to cut to the chase.  So on
Monday, Phoebe's going in to be spayed.  Our vet is also going to look for
other problems, like ovarian cysts or tumors.  Apparently jills can also
overproduce estrogen after a pregnancy, so that's another possibility to
explain her behaviour.  If this is the case she should be much easier to
deal with once she's fixed.
 
We also talked to Randy at the Ferret Aid Society about the possibility that
Phoebe just flat doesn't like being around other animals.  She's got an eye
out for a ferret-experienced person who currently doesn't have any other
pets, to see if Phoebe could stay there for a while if she's still acting
weird after she's spayed.  Apparently Randy had a fert at the shelter for a
while that even *attacked* her (Randy's not the ferret's) mom, but once she
was in a home with no other animals, this ferret was much more normal (if
you can apply "normal" to a ferret <g>).  If this is the case with Phoebe,
it's not fair to keep her at our place, since we have a cat and five other
ferrets not including the babies, so we'll try to find her a good home as
an only ferret.  Otherwise, she's staying with us.
 
Rob will be putting pictures of Phoebe's kits on the TIFG web page soon;
we'll post on the FML when they're ready for viewing.  (All 4 are sables,
and have cute fat little baby ferret tummies. :) )
 
So...until Monday, I'm wearing my Doc Martens workboots around the house,
but hopefully after Phoebe's hormone levels drop we'll be going barefoot
again soon.  :)
 
Thnaks again for all the advice, folks. Can't say I've ever been treed on a
chair by a ferret before, but there's a first time for everything... <bg>
 
Take care,
 
Kate
[log in to unmask]
with (in order of seniority) Jill, Buster, Putt-Putt, Poga, Zabaks, Phoebe,
and the four kits; not to mention Sam the cat and Rob the human....in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, eh?
[Posted in FML issue 2359]