To Jen Lutton at U of Penn:
Many people (myself included) keep the fuzzies caged when not home.  My
fuzzies are generally confined to one room, though it's about 15' x 20'.
We're working on the room next to it.  The important thing is that you've
still got to do some ferretproofing; in your situation, you probably won't
have a single room big enough, but maybe you might want to give them
everything except the kitchen...also, it's as much ferretproofing your
behavior, i.e., check on and under cushions before you sit down, never step
on a crumpled towel, blanket, or pile of clothes, check the bed before
falling in (easier sometimes to find them elsewhere than check the bed),
I've found ferrets in my pillowcases on numerous occasions!!  In general,
young fuzzballs will need at least 4 hours a day play time.  But that's
okay, cause you'll be home studying hard all the time, right?  :) Remember
that there's cage cleaning, litterbox changing, food, water, nail-clipping,
etc, that take some time.  There are a number of health problems that are
common to ferrets, esp.  as they get older.  This is definitely something
to consider on a student budget, I was next door to you at Drexel until
last year, and now I'm thinking, I couldn't afford this month's fuzzie
expenses when I was there; but then again, I adopted a five-year old, and
this is our first major problem (see rest of post).  With younger ones,
just be sure to work distemper and rabies shots into the budget, as well as
food and litter and toys.  Also there can be emergencies, due to their uh,
inquisitive nature ;)
 
Took Goose (6-yr old BEW/Silver) to the vet yesterday, and as suspected,
it's an adrenal thing, BTW he *has* displayed increased aggressiveness
toward his sister lately, I know that came up a few days ago.  If his blood
test comes back otherwise OK, he'll be going into surgery on Sept.
5th...please keep fingers crossed/pray/whatever you do for him.  I'm so
glad that I found the FAQ's, and hence the FML, and hence Modern Ferret
magazine, etc, I was/am *infinitely* more prepared for this than I would
have been without these, and all of you.  Also this led me to take him to
the vet in Cherry Hill where Dr.  Kupersmith practices (Dr.  Kupersmith
writes a column for Modern Ferret), and I am quite happy with them, for
anyone w/in range of Cherry Hill, NJ who's looking for a vet (sorry to be
so localized, but I know there's quite a few ferret people around here).
We saw a Dr.  Cheng, and I was very happy with her and all the techs, they
were friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and well- prepared for ferrets!!!
The vet I went to before is very good, but just doesn't have the
facilities, equipment, etc for ferrets, it makes a big difference!  Well,
sorry this is so long, BTW, loved the "Dookin'" song =)
 
--edman   ([log in to unmask])
Ed & Kim, owned by Goose (not the thermometer, noooo!!! <squirm>),
Anastasia (where are they taking him?  aw, who cares, I got the
whole hammock), and Maggie the Labrador (poor guy, I hope they don't
take *me*, I feel *great*, I dont need no stinkin vet, look at me,
I'm healthy, I'm ... <whew!, not this time>
[Posted in FML issue 1287]