Alaska is exeperiencing an early Spring!  Got up to above 30 degrees
yesterday, and should be that way for the next few days.  Tee-shirt weather!
 
                        Our First Experiences with FML
 
I feel our time on the FML is drawing to a close.  Maybe a posting or two
left beyond this one.  Just wanted to thank those of you who helped directly
with the School District thing.  With your help, I think we have a good
chance for a change.  We have learned so much more about our pets than we
ever intended, and so appreciate, the other info we picked up in the digest.
 
It was like going into your back yard and looking up on a clear night ...
and feeling like you had the market cornered on stars.  Then, the next
night, finding a spot away from the city lights and dirty air.  You look up
again, and are pleasently awe struck by what is really out there.  Thank you
all, even the flamers (they were little flames).
 
                             Ferrets Enter our Lives
 
Our first ferret, Tory, was a rescue animal.  My oldest son found him at the
local animal shelter.  The woman who was keeping him said he was two years
old, but was not sure.  Short of giving David (my son) a ride to pick it up,
we had very little involvement with it for about a year.  My only other
experience with a ferret was that I had an acquaintence who owned an albino
several years ago.  I can remember that it hissed agreat deal, and was said
to bite strangers.  I only saw it three or four times and made no attempt to
"bond" with it.
 
My son and his wife remained up here for about a year longer and then
decided to move to California.  You can guess the rest.  We bought Tory from
him with full intentions of reselling him at the earliest opportunity.
Well, that never happened.  He became a delightful addition to our
household.
 
Nearly a year later, we decided to get Tory a companion.  He had always been
a pretty mellow fellow, but he just looked lonely.  It was our daughter
Penny's idea, and we consented to the second ferret if she paid half, and
would help with the feeding, etc.  We purchased Lori at 6 weeks, and she has
been fiesty, and playful from the very beginning.  At first we put her in a
separate cage, and placed it next to Tory.  They were so interested in each
other, that the second day we put them in the same cage and watched
carefully.  It took them no time to be as long lost friends.
 
Tory was at least three, but it did not seem to matter, if anything, Lori
pumped some life into the older guy, who began playing in ways we had not
seen before.  They would roll and tumble, and jump each other from a hiding
place, clucking ahd hissing all the while.
 
                                Tory's Hair Loss
 
Last November I, my wife Sue, and Penny (9) went to Las Vegas as we usually
do to attend Comdex, We hired a neighbor boy to come in each day and tend to
the pets.  He is a responsible person, but I am sure did not spend a lot of
time with them.  We were gone for a week, and I think Tory got a bit
stressed, because he was so used to human interaction.  Our being gone did
not seem to bother Lori as much, if at all.
 
When we returned, we noticed that Tori was losing fur big time, and within
about a week had lost all the hair from his tail, back, and belly.  He was
also scratching a lot.  I took him to the Vet, and she thought he might have
an adrenal problem, but the blood test came back negative.  She wanted to
operate right away, but we held off, and opted for antibiotics instead (for
the lacerations created by his constant scratching).
 
We did four things while we were observing him carefully.
 
   1.) Changed his diet from Wiskas kitten food to a mixture of Science Diet
       and Iams kitten foods.
 
   2.) Provided him with a half teaspoon of Feritone and Multi-vitamin
       supplement each day.
 
   3.) Gave him extra love and attention, including brushing his bare skin
       and remaining fur each day.
 
   4.) Purchased and set up a full spectrum light to simulate the sunlight
   he was not getting due to our short winter days up here.  During
   mid-December, the sun is up at about 10:00AM and down before 3:00PM.
 
Within days, he began to show a stubble on his back.  The stubble became a
spot, and the spot spread.  He now has all his fur back, and it is thicker,
and softer than ever.  Ferrets shed and regrow their coats twice a year, and
I just can't help but think that maybe the stress or poor nutrition ...  or
both cause the loss of one coat and growing of the second to be out of
synch.  I don't know what good the light did except the changing of some
animal's coats is sometimes triggered by the amount of available daylight.
Kept inside as they are, they may not get the cues they need for their
internal clocks.
 
I mention this because some of what is being diagnosed as an adrenal problem
could merely be a similar event.  The surgery is very invasive, probably
quite painful, not to mention, pricey.  Just an observation.
 
                             Take a Break
 
Those of you who may have misplaced your *happy spot* should now cover your
eyes and skip to the next posting.....
 
A man wearing a cheap suit and thorny disposition walked into a Sacramento
doctor's office with a four pound ferret stuck securely to the top of his
head.
 
The doctor looked up from his desk, and said, "May I help you?"
 
The ferret replied, "Yeah Doc, could you please get this bureaucrat off my
butt!"
 
                                                 *****
Take care.
 
Doug, Sue, Penny - Lori, Tory, & Shadow
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1495]