Hey Ya'll,
 
OK, first off, a question resulting from a sad situation.  A very dear
friend of mine recently lost a ferret very, very unexpectedly.  The ferret
had had some diarrhea, had been diagnosed with E.  Coli and was being
treated for this.  But in a matter of a few hours, the ferret suddenly
became very ill and died.  A necropsy showed fatty liver disease.  Her
ferret has never seen this in FERRETs.  Has anyone dealt with this, vets or
owners?
 
Second- I have deaf ferrets.  I know the signs.  One is a DEW and one is a
cinn.  blaze.  However, Mazel Tov (code name Natasha) may also be deaf.  She
is a pretty sable, absolutely no white on her at all.  Nope, she isn't a MF.
She is, however, an extremely bad biter.  And comes up and bites me, drawing
blood, for absolutely no reason.  I have some indications she is deaf, and
will be watching her closer to see.  Does the Waardenburg's show up in
normal colors/patterns?  Or perhaps this is just a deaf ferret?
 
>He has this uncanny ability to dislocate his head to be able to bite people,
>regardless of the way you are holding him.
 
I had to laugh Bob. You think it is an FLO thang? This description fits Miss
Mazel Tov so well. She is the only ferret I have run across that I can have
scruffed so tight with one hand that she looks like she has had a bad face
lift, and she can still bite that hand! It is a constant test in bravery at
this point to even pick her up.
 
No folks, I don't think she is mean.  She is very young still, a big girl
and I think biting is her way of communicating.  I just have to figure out
how to translate it.  Any universal translators out there operating on
ferretese?
 
To give you an example, I was sitting sucking up coffee this am in my big
chair.  Had my legs up on the chair, with one foot near the edge.  She runs
up, bites my big toe and runs off.  And yes, it drew blood.  I hadn't even
seen her coming, so didn't react.  I did go and pick her up a few seconds
later, and kissed her belly.  She didn't try and bite me then.  And no, I do
not even attempt to kiss her face at this point.  Sigh.
 
Funny Story time- I have been ill this week and quite dizzy.  But I really
needed to get to school, so I braved myself, sucked up lots of coffee, and
parked on campus for a change.  As I am walking from the parking garage to
the library, I feel what I think is a piece of paper stuck to my little toe.
So I kick off my Birkenstocks and look at the bottom of my foot to see...You
guessed it!  Ferret Poop!!  The little S**** had pooped inside my sandle and
I didn't see it because of the straps.  These suckers are pretty new too!!
So here I am, sitting on a wall outside the library, with a stick, scraping
ferret poop off the inside of my shoe.  And then dragging my foot through
the grass to clean it off.
 
And no, it wasn't because I thought the library was a ferret poop free zone.
Somehow, I rather doubt that at this point.  And of course, the office I
needed to go to was closed for a meeting this afternoon.  Figgers.
 
Mo' Maggie, Monkey, Margie, Margaret, Marie, Magpie, Mae, you know...her
(just wait till I find out who did that!)
[Posted in FML issue 2307]