Dooks to all on the List!  I hope everyone is having a great holiday
season.  Good thoughts and candles lit for those who have crossed the
bridge.
 
We decided to be nuts and take our five ferrets with us to holiday with my
parents in NC.  Normally, wouldn't be difficult but under the following
circumstances made the whole trip very interesting indeed.
 
We get an animal carrier, load up the fuzzies with their corner pan, and
one of their towels (they love sleeping in/under a bath towel).  Cool
beans..  no problem.  Let them drink at each stop, take one out to play..
whatever.  Then the timing belt SNAPS and the car doesn't move.
Fortunately, the tow truck wasn't too far away, and we had road side
assistance on our insurance (another compelling reason to have cell
phones!).  So, the good ole' Cajun guy takes us and our car to the garage,
set us up at a nearby hotel.  He says "don't worry 'bout dem animals..dey's
part of da family, eh."  (My best effort at imitating a Cajun accent in
text).  We check into the hotel room after negotiating a price that's
reasonable.  Well, we sneak the ferrets in...so what do we do?  Set them
loose in the bathroom...which they decide is a wonderful place to poop all
over, despite having a corner pan.  I grudgingly clean it up (don't want
to leave a mess...).  Found out a great way to give ferts water while not
using the bottle, and not leaving a mess in whatever room is being used...
Its sort of a "duh" but here goes: put them in the bathtub, plug it, and
fill with some water for them to drink.  My fuzzies are able to get out of
the typical hotel bathtub...so no problem there.  They actually did pretty
good.  The human kids went to get some continental breakfast...they were
asked "Do you have any pets?" They blessedly said "No".  Just before the
car was finished, hubby came over and put the fuzzies in a suitcase and
snuck out of the hotel with the fuzzies.  Whew!  So, I'm checking the room,
and what do I find?  Someone else's under wear and hand lotion...looks like
the housekeeper didn't do a great job of cleaning the room....I complain in
front of the regional manager who was doing a site inspection...anything
that the ferts could have done is superceded by that little find...during
this conversation the house keeper comes out and asks if the above
mentioned items are mine...I told her absolutely not, they were left by a
previous customer...EWWWWWWW!  Got out of that one....
 
So, on to grandma's house....the fuzzies love having a whole room all to
themselves.  I did learn that the mixture of fuzzies and brand new carpet
is potentially bad.  JoJo decided that the whole huge bedroom wasn't
enough for him and dug a hole through the carpet trying to dig out of the
room....will have to pay back mom for that one!  One problem...the alpha
ferret, JoJo, is getting listless...and not as active as usual.  A little
history here...when the fuzzies get let out for their daily play, JoJo
heads for the cat food bowl and spends time munching on that...I figure he
just loves cat food as a treat.  Not so...He went on a hunger strike!  Poor
little guy...once I figure this out, I get some of the cat food from my
mother's pantry and give it to JoJo...he chows down!  So, the little guy
has a preference to cat food for his meals...much happier now that he
isn't so hungry!  I felt so terrible for not recognizing this in the first
place...I did see him take a bite or two of the regular ferret food (they
get Kaytee ferret food).  So, off to the store to get high quality cat
food...found a small bag of Iam's Kitten..JoJo just loves it!  happy ferret
now!  Fortunately the trip home was uneventful.
 
I did notice something interesting...one of our newer fuzzies, Pepper, is
rather aggressive when it comes to eating...he will chirp and bark if other
ferts are trying to "share" the food bowl.  I actually had to separate him
from the others so they could eat in peace.  I fed him in the bathroom.  I
do realize that he is vying for alpha and regularly challenges JoJo for the
position.  Is this aggressive behavior a part of the "alpha wanna be"?  Or
is it just a matter of his personality.  He will work to steal treats from
the other ferrets as well.  He's usually a sweet loving ferret to me and
the other humans in the family...loves to give kisses, and play and all of
that...just aggressive around other ferrets.
 
Well, happy holidays to all!
 
--Julie
[Posted in FML issue 3281]