Some of you may remember my posts about my newest arrival, Diva, a lovely
beginning-to-be-pear-shaped little sable-n-gold lass.  I was worried about
her activity level being low.  She had been through several homes (including
two different sets of my friends) before arriving at my house (to stay!),
but no one ever apparently noticed that she was, well, too quiet to be a
ferret!
 
Well, I happened on a revelation this weekend about that 'problem'.  All of
a sudden I wondered if she might be blind.
 
I got her out and watched her, moving my fingers in front of her face
numerous times.  Ne'er once did she ever follow my movements.  We got the
other ferrets out and tried them-- they all followed avidly.  Picked her
up again, tried again-- no response whatsoever.  So then I put her down
and followed her everywhere for a while.  I noticed that she uses her nose
constantly-- her head never comes up off the floor.  And, she frequently
ran into things with her nose, bounced back, and continued on.  She also
follows the walls and furniture rather than venturing out into the middle
of the floor.  And she never, ever, runs.  Or wardances, or plays with the
other ferrets.  Ever.  Eventually (after about fifteen minutes) she made
her way back to her cage, climbed in and went to sleep.  She usually never
wants to stay out much longer than that.
 
Her behavior had puzzled me ever since we got her.  I had wondered if she
was sick, but she looks great!  Pleasantly plump but not fat, little
square-built fert, luxurious glossy fur, eats great, poops great, and very
loving-- she is the only one that will curl up on you for ages, undistracted
by anything around her, and will lick and lick and lick.  So what do you
experts think-- do you think I might be right about her being blind???
 
It's pretty sad to me that, if she is, no one in all her life (she's
something like 3 & 1/2 years old), nobody ever paid enough attention to
her to notice.
 
Vickie
Diva ("What's all the fuss about?")
Pandora ("Yeah, what's all the fuss about HER and not me?")
Flower ("Who cares, I'm busy gloating over the fact that I escaped from my
cage four more times this week.")
Tank ("Maybe she IS blind!  And I'm deaf... maybe we can be friends.")
Moogie (""Luxurious fur", my butt!  Have a look at MY lovely new coat...
what there is of it, anyway.")
[Posted in FML issue 2574]