I want to ask for advice from people out there with experience introducing
new ferrets into their home.
 
After many years of being and only-ferret, Chloe has recenlty acquired a
friend.  I kept Buddy in his cage for a bit to let Chloe have a good sniff,
and then reversed, so that Buddy could have a sniff also.  When I let them
out together, Chhloe followed Buddy around.  Buddy sniffed her butt and all
h--- broke loose.  Chloe started screaming and Buddy kept trying to sniff
her butt.  I separated them and put Buddy in his cage and calmed Chloe down.
 
Chloe refuses to eat her food when she's at my apartment (she'll take
raisins and Linatone) and carries on if I put her in her cage (shakes and
chews the bars).  When buddy comes near her, she lets out an almost
high-pitched sigh (on its way to being a hiss but not quite).  She sits
perched high on a chair, watching Buddy and is completely unresponsive when
I speak to her.
 
I gave her on night (about 14 hours) in which she didn't eat any of her
food.  Finally, I took her up to John's place to calm down and to get her to
eat (I really worry about that) and the moment we left my apartment, she
perked up and was right as rain.  She was alert and happy and when we got to
John's place, she tucked into her food.
 
I'm going to try putting Linatone on Buddy this weekend in order to get her
to be less scared of him (he goes up to her 'dooking all the way', wanting
to make friends) and also bathing them together.
 
Does anyone have any other suggestions or pearls of wisdom.  I'm hesitant to
do anything that's going to cause Chloe a lot of stress and am particularly
concerned about the not-eating thing.  I love her so much and don't want to
be the cause of any unhappiness to her.
 
Please help,
 
Judith
[Posted in FML issue 1768]