Dear Ferret Folks-
When Caff-Pow came to me he was just a kit. The biggest kit that I had
ever *seen,* true, but still just a kit. He was three months old, and
he has always lived in a good sized business with his family. (If you
have never seen Danee DeVore's ferrets from Virginia, you are missing
a treat. They are *so* beautiful. Plus, it is a trip to see how Danee
manages to move large numbers of them on hotel luggage carts! Uncles,
cousins, aunts, parents, and siblings all on wheels!)
The first night I brought him home I had the cage hung with some of my
John Deere bedding. I have many mis-matched John Deere sets that have
made their way to me, one generous tractor fan at a time. Somehow, they
all work together. Some even glow in the dark! I thought the new boy
would be pleased to meet the new cage. It was *big*, danged big, and it
had Todd inside and Todd is a gentle soul. My plan was to take the set
of bedding that came home with Caff-Pow, (the Blue Set with cream and
blue hearts for the sake of description) and launder it, and put it
aside in my bedding collection for another time.
Mistake. Big mistake. Caff-Pow honked gigantic ferret tears as soon as
he was in the cage surrounded by the new John Deer bedding sets and
the novelty of meeting Todd had worn off. I had never heard a kit sob
before. It was *heartbreaking.* And it went on, and on, and on. He
could not be comforted. Finally it occurred to me to swap the John
Deere bedding for his Blue Heart set that still smelled of his mother
and uncles and siblings, and that still had a thin sheen of their fur
trapped on the soft fleece surfaces. Those swaps are always awkward but
this change had the desired effect. He stopped sobbing, and relaxed.
He curled up *next* to Todd (It was a while before they made a pile)
and slept deeply amongst the nested blue and cream hearts.
Time has passed. And Caff-Pow's favourite Blue Heart set has been
washed successfully, many times. He tolerates a little John Deere in
the cage, but always chooses his Blue Heart set over any other. That
set has seen a lot of wear and tear. It has been stretched, scratched,
chewed, and torn. But still, I keep it clean and hanging in the cage.
Increasingly, in rags.
Caff-Pow is no longer a kit, but he cannot bear to be parted from his
Blue Heart set. I took it out to wash it the other day and hung up
John Deere pieces, too. He refused to sleep in them. Instead, he slept
inside a ruffle of newspaper in the bottom of the cage. Once I started
hanging the Blue Heart set again, though, he climbed into one of the
Blue hammies and immediately crashed out for a few hours. I'm thinking
that I'm just going to have to hang mixed sets from now on, the green
and yellow John Deere pieces and some of the Blue set so that I always
have at least one large piece of the Blue set clean and another in
reserve. He becomes so remarkably fragrant while sleeping in the
urine-soaked newspaper, but I think on some level he likes that. It's
a guy thing.
But I am a girl, and I like order! I don't want to be hanging raggedy,
worn out hammies. At this point I hang some pieces of the Blue set up
as little more than fleece rags, as if I were hanging Tibetian Prayer
flags that the elements had finally reduced to threadbare sheets to
flutter in the wind and send their benedictions up to heaven. As long
as the scraps are *present* in the cage, Caff-Pow is content. But I
envision a time, say, another year down the road when I am going to be
hanging up Blue set scraps no larger than stamps, still attached to
their built in clips.
Perhaps I shall have to buy a new fleece set and *mail* it to Danee
DeVore, saying "Please let your business sleep in these for a week,
then send them back to me!" Why? Because Caff-Pow will always be a
kit at heart, an *enormous* kit who can leap from the top of the
refrigerator and hit the ground running, but a kit none the less. He
has never poofed, but he still honk-sobs occasionally, if I put him
back in the cage before he feels he has done enough playing. Todd
always tries to comfort 'Pow by grooming him with his tounge when the
sobs start, but still...so much mustellid drama. It hurts my heart.
Well, off to hang a few more blue and cream heart scraps. They will
sway in the cage against the bars, and send a few more ferrets'
prayers up to the sky...
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML 6802]
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