Hello, and Happy Holidays to you all.
 
My name is Sue Harding and I live in Acton, Ma and am happily owned by my
crew, The Fuzzybutt 5.  I adopted my first two ferrets in November of 1998.
Some of you might remember that I posted to the FML about their love story.
Since then Abigail and Caleb have been joined by Robbie, Jojo and Kemo
Sabe.  Before ferrets I was a die hard cat lover, but now I can't imagine
my life without my children.
 
Caleb is a 2 1/2 year old chocolate sable who just wants to be loved.  He
won't scratch or bite me for attention, instead he tries to climb to the
highest point in the room so that he can hopefully make eye contact with
me.  Somehow with Caleb, I always know when he is looking at me for
attention, even if I can't see him.
 
Abigail is a very beautiful, but petite albino female.  She is 1 1/2 years
old now and still a sweet, but wired weasle!  This is a child who can find
the smallest places and crawl into them and go exploring.  My saving grace
is that she comes when called!  She is the youngest and the proverbial
little sister, but the others all love her to death, otherwise they
wouldn't put up with her antics!
 
Jojo, is one huge white face and chested sable male.  He is about 3 years
old.  I call him my lovebug.  He just wants to be held and scratched and
kissed.  His favorite way of getting attention, and boy does it work, is to
lie flat on his back and show me his huge belly.  Jojo, with his winter
weight weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 pounds, compared to
Abigail's 1 .25 pounds he's huge!  Jojo was operated on for adrenal diease
this summer and he is currently drug free, so I am thankful for that this
Christmas.
 
Robbie, Jojo's bonded mate, is a 3 1/2 year old wanna be blaze mitt.  He is
a very sweet ferret who has finally grown the fur back on his tail after
his adrenal surgery this past summer.  His vet and I have finally found the
right dose of pred.  for him.  I'm glad that he is feeling better, because
his stress behaviors have gone away.  Out of all my five, Robbie is the
only one who hasn't gotten over the trauma of his abandonment from before I
adopted him.  He still won't sleep on me like the others will.  I am hoping
that with time this will change.  I must say that he is one of the most
gentle and focused kissers I've ever met.  He kisses the same spot at the
base of my nose with the most gentlest of tongues.  It's very sweet to
watch him do it.
 
Kemo Sabe is the latest addition to my crew.  He seems to be about 2 to 2
1/2 years old.  He is a beautiful medium silver blaze mitt with garnet
colored eyes.  He came home with me from the shelter after he crawled into
the cage where my other four were sleeping.  (I had been boarding my four
at the shelter while I was away.) How could I turn away an animal that so
clearly wanted to be with us?  He obviously knew a good thing when he saw
it.  So Kemo makes five and we are all one very big and happy family.
 
This spring I will begin to take my crew out to do some educational talks
about pet care and animal behavior and adaptation.  My happy go lucky group
will make great ferret ambassadors I think.  Best wishes for a safe, happy
and healthy new year.
 
Sue Harding and the Fuzzybutt 5.
[Posted in FML issue 2905]