The last week of March a couple ferret folks let me know that a
neighboring county's humane shelter had a couple ferrets needing homes.

So I went to pick them up. Like many humane shelters, they obviously
meant well, but were a bit misinformed about how to house ferrets. They
were in a guinea pig cage with wood shavings as a substrate, clumping
kitty litter and a drip bottle for water. Their chow consisted of
science diet cat kibble. O.K. in a pinch, I suppose, but not ideal.

After filling out the paperwork, making a donation a worker handed
both ferrets to me at one time. The boy was large and pudgy, the girl
smaller and frail. But both friendly and interested in me.

Being a natural feeder of course I had no kibbles at the house, so the
return trip entailed two stops to pick up my preferred mix of kibble
supplies: EVO cat poultry, EVO dog small red bites and wellness CORE
cat (all grain free).

Both ferrets had long claws, gunky ears and stank! Both had gray
deposits on their carnassials as well as coarse coats. No fleas though.
Observation of the female showed she moved with a definite limp on her
forehand. Both arms seemed affected with the left being worse than the
right. Her forelimbs were very atrophied and had practically no
muscling starting from her clavical down through her wrists! She moved
around mostly by keeping very hunched up, steadying herself briefly
with her front paws and shuffling her hind feet forward.

She didn't elicit any pain responses I just presumed she was a cripple
and may have been the reason the shelter worker hurriedly foisted her
into my arms. No matter, she needed a home. The boy was flabby, pudgy
but otherwise seemed o.k.

They both were set up in a FN with a crock for water and the new
kibble mix. Ears were cleaned, nails trimmed and a weigh in was done.
He weighed 42 oz., she was 26 oz. Pretty much within normal ferret
parameters. They both chowed down on the new kibble mix. After a few
days I added some raw minced and then gradually phased out the kibbles
and increased the raw quantity and sizes. Within just a couple weeks
they were no longer kibble crunchers but raw meaty bone munchers!
Within just days the girl was building muscles and getting stronger
on her forehand. Soon she was climbing sofa mountain hefting herself
up with her front paws!

The two of them integrated well with my regular crew, just a few
squabbles. Their names got changed from "Bandit" & "MJ" to Hercules
and Xena. I was hoping the better diet and more exercise would trim
him down and beef her up. Well it worked as planned for Xena; in a
month's time she gained 9 ounces! Hercules however has NOT trimmed
down, although he HAS toned up and gained 6 ounces! So now he weighs
in at a whopping even three pounds! And she weighs 2lbs 3 ounces!
So much for small Marshalls ferrets! Their coats are softening and
deepening in colors and there is no offensive odor (no bathing down
either). Activity levels are increasing. The gray deposits on their
teeth have disappeared. Both are devouring whole prey as well as raw.
Hercules begged for his massage and Xena gave me kisses last night
so guess they are happy here. Xena has begun two timing Hercules by
snoozing with RC! So just a couple more get a chance to become real
ferrets. Just a couple more know what it feels like to be loved.

[Posted in FML 7422]