Is someone collecting the limericks from Mo' Bob's contest?  Maybe there
could be a deadline (St.Patrick's Day, since Limerick is Irish) and then all
the limericks could be posted somewhere and voted on.  Wish I'd saved them
all, because I can't seem to stop!
 
Ferrets live by a code tried and true -
From which humans could benefit, too.
Teach YOUR sons and daughters
To "Do unto OTTERS
As OTTERS should do unto you."
 
Yesterday I was struck by ferret math!  It's been a year since Chip and
Dale, the rescues, joined Cody and created our ferret menage a trois.  But I
was in a pet store getting some stuff.  It was Petco, seems kinda decent.
They hadn't had any ferrets in stock for weeks and weeks.  Suddenly there
was this BIG baby ferret all alone, SO cute and leaping for attention.
Turns out he had been returned to the store after a month with a family
where the child was violently allergic.  They had been to doctors, washed
the ferret, etc., but she was having asthma attacks.  The girl was sobbing
when they brought the ferret back.  ( I don't know what to make of this
story, but there it is.) So here is this adorable ferret, miserable in a pet
store pen after freedom in a loving home.  I picked him up and he was so
kissy, so cute, so gorgeous, and only gentle playful mouthing, no hard
biting.  Obviously well cared for.  He was languishing separate from the new
batch of tiny baby ferrets, and half-price, too.  Well, I had NO PLANS to
get a ferret just now.  But how could I leave him?  I didn't.
 
I asked the store manager, who was very helpful, to tell the girl that he
was going to a good home with other ferrets.  The manager said the girl
called every day to see how he was.  I'm telling you, if this whole story
was made up, it still worked on me!
 
He is 12 weeks old, a Marshall's Farm sable with an organgey undercoat, very
full soft bushy fur.  He uses the litter box!  Chip and Dale accepted him
after some tussling.  Cody is sort of accepting him.  He is so much bigger
than her, and Cody's three years old.  The possible name list includes Speed
Bump, Bungee, and Ewok.
 
Could someone re-assure me: how much fighting is ok?  I draw the line at
screaming, panic poop and blood.  That's what Cody, Chip and Dale do, and so
they have to live apart.  But is biting, squeaking, and tussling ok?  The
baby seems to be holding his own with Cody, but I think he's confused.  Cody
has some faint scratches on her poor post-adrenal bald spots, but she's the
aggressor!  I'm kinda letting them fight it out, hoping for eventual
detente, but how much is too much?  Thanks for any comments.
 
Oh, I'm sorry this is so long, but I SAW the shipping crate from Marshall's
Farms.  It was a wooden flat tray, only about 6 inches high, and about two
feet by three feet around, with a wire mesh top.  There were little metal
cans tacked in each corner, apparently once filled with food and water.  The
bottom of the tray was packed shredded woody material, like cedar chips but
NOT cedar chips.  There were stickers on the side of the crate - a
Marshall's Farm address label from North Rose, NY, a notice saying the
animals were safe for travel at temperatures BELOW 45 degrees, instructions
for feeding wet canned cat food, the airport code (Bradley Field), and the
pet store address.  There were between 8 and ten baby ferrets shipped in
this crate.
 
Kat
[Posted in FML issue 1872]