Hi again!
 
Someone asked for nicknames.  Besides the usual ones such as sweetie,
rascal, brat (or bratski), honey bun, stinker, etc., Nikki sometimes gets
called Nik or Nickenbacher.  Benji gets Benjamin most of the time but
occasionally is called Benjers, Bend your manners or Benjammer.  Bud the
Stud gets called Buddy most of the time but sometimes he gets B's, or
Beezer, Budzucky, or Budinsky.  Sadie is sometimes called our Lady Sadie or
the Shady Lady.  Scooter gets called Scooty Boots (or Scooter Booter), or
Scooby Doo.  Jasper is sometimes called Jazz.  Josie sometimes gets called
Dozy Josie and Snoopy gets called something simple like Snoops.
 
Our newest edition we call Mookie for short but he looks like one of the
Ewoks on Star Wars and the name Mookie Dookie Ewok just stuck.
 
When Huggy Bear was alive we used to called him Bear.  I guess that's
logical.  When Dyna was alive we latched on the nickname Rambo.  She
loved to get into the kitchen drawers, especially where the elastic bands
were.  We would open the door and Dyna would peek out with an elastic
around her head.  When Willie was alive we would often say "Where there
is a Willie there is a way" because he would never give up on anything.
Does this sound familiar?
 
Concerning diet, we have heard (and experienced) that cancer is a very
common killer.  Without going into details, we have had some heart wrenching
experiences with this disease.  Almost all of the ones that have died, died
of cancer.  We suspect diet has a lot to do with it and we feed the best
quality kitten food possible (Iams, Performatrim, Max Cat for kittens).  We
have tried a few brans of food made especailly for ferrets but our fuzzies
didn't particularly like it.  After thinking about it, mink are in the
ferret family and since we are fairly close to a number of mink farms, and
mink are raised for their coats, we would try mink food.  We havn't tried
mink food long enough yet to know whether or not they like it or whether it
will help combat against cancer.  Mink food comes in small pellets and
smells funny but most of them have at least tried it and are getting used to
it.  We probably will never go to mink food completely because it is quite
soft in comparison to kibbled kitten food and we are afraid that it may
affect the teeth.  Our ferrets have good teeth and we believe the kibbles
help keep them that way.
 
We have 2 ferrets that are under a year old.  They are in our opinion,
overweight.  One ferret shelter owner says that there is no such thing as
an overweight ferret, but like people they have different body structures.
We should therefore not alter their diet. Should we put them on a weight
control diet?  Because they are so young, should we not put them on a diet
at all because they need their protein to develop properly?  What is you
opinion?
 
The other day on the FML someone talked about blankets (or should I say
blankies).  We have cut up flannel sheets which make there bedding warm
and cozy.  Lately, I have been sewing borg sacks (with the borg sewn to
the inside).  They just love that.  Speaking of warm and cozy.
 
One last word.  (I rarely get to say anthing so when I do, you get it all at
once).  I won't say a lot about this now and perhaps I will get criticized
but I am not speaking as an authoritarian but from my experience.  Over and
over again, the discipline that works is not yelling and definately not
spanking, especially not tapping them on the nose (I feel that I wouldn't
appreciate getting hit in the nose when I was bad either.  I would probably
fight back too.).  These make them even more hyper and doesn't seem to
accomplish anything.  Patience is the key word.  Be gentle and firm, talk
without a raised voice and move fairly slowly.  I know this is not always
possible.  Even I am not all of these things all of the time but I know that
when I follow this guideline, I get the best results.
 
Cam and Tryntje Miller.  Owned by Bud the Stud, Benji, Nikki, Sara,
Sadie, BJ, Jasper, Josie, Snoopy, Scooter, and Mookie Dookie Ewok.
 
Tryntje Miller
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Conrad Grebel College Library    Tel: (519) 885-0220 ext. 239
Waterloo, Ontario                Fax: (519) 885-0014
N2L 3G6
[Posted in FML issue 1384]