Well, it's about time for a George update.  After going through a couple of
days where he wasn't eating as much as I thought he should, he's now doing
great and we're gearing up to look for a permanant home for him.  He's
playing well by himself, but I still haven't introduced him to other
ferrets.  As I type, he's playing on my lap.  He's going to be a handful
for whoever.  He has a taste for socks and other fabric.  He freely gives
major kisses and will fall asleep in my arms.  If I don't find a good home
for him fast, I'll end up keeping him and I just shouldn't.  If you think
you would enjoy a beautiful, 3 yr old sable male, neutered and possibly
descented male ferret and you are within driving distance of Cincinnati,
let me know.  I'm going to be picky about this one, but I know one of you
would give him a great home.  Adoption fee is negotiable.
 
On the subject of healthy ferrets, I have 6 ferrets and one rescue.  Of
those, George was injured but is doing great and is healthy in all other
aspects.  I have one ferret that probably has adrenal problems and 5 that
range in age from 2 to 5 that are all doing great.  They all have their
moments when they have a little cold or some funny poop, but look at
yourself.  All living creatures have some minor health issues from time to
time.  Ferrets are actually rather hardy, and don't often have problems
that are chronic or life-threatening.  This list is great for people who
don't know what is normal and will go away on its own and what is a serious
issue.
 
When I first got ferrets, I ran to the vet if they sneezed, coughed, didn't
play hard enough, or whatever else happened.  After years of experience
with my own ferrets and talking to more experienced owners, I now
recognized what needs vet attention, what needs my attention, and what will
do what its going to do with or without any attention.  I remember way back
when, I read a book that said that ferrets didn't throw up unless something
was seriously wrong with them.  Sure enough, at 3 am, one of my ferrets
barfed and I was on the phone with my vet while she talked me down and
after an exam the next day I was told that sometimes ferrets did that.  Now
if I find a barf in the cage, I watch more carefully for a couple of days,
inspect them all carefully and if it doesn't happen again, I let it go.  I
will say that this is not the recommended procedure.  It comes from knowing
my ferrets, their personalities, and past experience.  If you have health
concerns, take your ferret to the vet, they have better ways of finding
problems than you do, but one of the things I've learned over time is when
NOT to be worried.
 
This list represents 3000 people with an average of 6 ferrets each.  That's
18,000 ferrets.  If you take 18,000 of anything even statistically small
percentages will be represented with a given number of individuals.  For
example, if only 1% of ferrets have Disorder X at any given time, that
would still be 180 ferrets from this list who have it!  Statistically
speaking, you have a small chance of yours being it!  The moral being, a
vast percentage of ferrets are healthy, that just isn't newsworthy most of
time!
 
Kiss all the healthy fuzzies for me!
 
Rachel
 
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[Posted in FML issue 2627]