Hi
 
To Stephanie, Nipper and Valentine:
I came across your letter in the Ferret Digest and thought you might be
interested in getting the catalog from the National Wildlife Federation.
 
What I have found in it (it seems to appear quarterly) is as follows:
1.  A wonderful t-shirt with a family of ferrets on the front
2.  Once in a while they will have a stuffed animal ferret.. didn't have
    one pictured in the latest edition.
Both refer to the endangered black-footed ferret, BUT... they are the
closest things I've been able to find with regard to ferts.
 
I don't have the catalog with me right nor but if I can find it, will e-mail
you the address for them.  who knows..  they might even have a home page.
(If my other half ever finishes his netsurfing, I'll look for it.)
 
******
PEANUT: Our beautiful little 6 month old male... :-)He named himself on the
ride home when he discovered a peanut butter cookie on the front seat of my
car and decided that it was pretty tasty.
 
Our little carpet shark had his first visit to the vet yesterday.  We
weren't sure about this vet since we'd never met her (she works with the vet
who treats my dog), but she readily allowed us to inspect the type of
distemper vaccine she was using and Peanut just climbed up into her arms and
was on his very best behavior!  She warned us that Maryland still has the
barbaric policy of "off with their heads" in the case of ferret bites,
although she is optimistic that that policy will be changed in 1997... and
said that most health officers will go along with the 10 day quarantine now
IF the ferret has had a current rabies shot.  She really has a love ve for
the little critters and was quite interested when we told her that we had
gained so much knowledge from the digest.  Asked us to call her with the
address so she could subscribe.  ANYWAY... we told her about the rough shape
Peanut was in when we got him (prolapsed colon, dehydrated... no heft)...
and she checked him thoroughly (including stool examination) before giving
him his distemper shot (yes, she DID have us hang around for about a half
hour after the shot)... Peanut weighs 2.4 lbs and she pronounced him to be
in excellent condition.  We take him back in two weeks for his rabies shot
and then one more distemper two weeks after that.
 
(As an aside, Peanut has done more to lower my other half's bloodpressure
than the BP medication.  Don can come home after a horrible day at work and
within 10 minutes, Peanut will have him relaxed and laughing with his
antics)
 
We still have a problem of him getting over-exuberant (Peanut not Don!  <G>)
and when he does, his nips turn into hard bites.  The only thing we've found
to be effective is returning him to his cage for a 5 minute time-out..
after that he usually is pretty good for the remainder of the morning or
evening.  He seems to understand the difference in being returned to his
cage for sleep or when we have to leave for work, and being put in there for
punishment.... mainly because he gets wooled and kissed when it night-night
time or go to work time..  and when he's being punished for bad behavior, he
just gets gently placed in his cage with a stern "chill!" Seems to work
fairly well.
 
It's like having a toddler... you just have to be ever vigilant.  Peanut's
favorite activity is finding a way to climb onto my computer table.  So far
we have: turned the curtains up so he can't climb them, rearranged the boxes
stored under my table (we're moving soon) so he can't use them as stairs,
pulled my chair into the middle of the room when I'm not in it (he can jump
well enough to play trapeze artist and swing his body into the chair and
then just step onto the table)..  Now he has learned to push boxes and
manuever them in such a way that he can STILL get up to the table!  His
skill levels are AMAZING!!!  Can't wait til we're finally relocated and
arranged so that we can give him his freedom and create travel tunnels for
him.  We have to ferret-proof some areas before we can give him
free-reign....and teach him to get along with our Chow (who is currently
residing elsewhere).
 
Thanks to the person who suggested training the fert to come from t the
sound of the treat box rattling.  We are now doing this morning and evening
with a tupperware container of Cheerios.  We shake the box and Peanut comes
running.  He no longer grabs the cheerios and runs with them but sits there
and eats them from my hand.  He gets three in the morning and three at
night... showed absolutely no interest in raisins.
 
We really enjoy all the stories of the ferts and their humans.  Ou best
wishes and hearts go out to all who are fighting medical battles.  We cry
and hurt with you when we read about the heartaches... we don't know what
we'd do without our Peanut.  HE has brought such joy to us and we are hoping
to add to our menagerie sometime this fall when we get settled and have
established a "ferret-friendly environment"...
 
Hugs to all
Peanut (and his humans...Don and Judi)
[Posted in FML issue 1596]