>Other than sleeping all of time and eating on the few times that he is
>awake, Podo seems to be in good health.  His coat has improved dramatically
>since we acquired him, his stools are normal from what I can tell, and his
>body weight is average for his head and foot size.  He eats a high protein
>cat food supplemented with linatone.  He has never war danced or shown any
>energy whatsoever.  We also think that he may have been abused previously,
>he has nightmares, squeaking in his sleep, and when he is picked up his
>whole body curls with his claws digging in.  He looks like an albino with
>red eyes, but his fur is yellow with white here and there.
 
This is interesting.  Baby Face, the ferret who was rescued from a couple of
hookers on the North Side of Pittsburgh, arrived looking yellowed,
disheveled and disinterested.  He had been kept in a tiny cat carrier with
no litterbox and very little food or water (the landlord took him off the
women when he saw the poor creature sitting outside in 95 degree weather
with no food or water ...  I don't know how he even survived) I bathed him
(which improved the look a lot) but he was a dull white with yellow.  He
also had very weak back legs and would wobble and fall over a lot.  The vet
didn't see anything obviously wrong with him and since he'd been fed poorly
we decided to see what some good food would do.
 
It's taken the poor thing at least 4 months to show much change.  After the
first month, he started sleeping with the other ferrets.  At first he
ignored people and ferrets alike, only showing interest when gulping down
*anything* that pretended to be food.  (the first week all he did was eat
about once an hour, sleep and poop)
 
Slowly, he started showing some interest in playing.  He would wobble his
way in and out of the toys and boxes, but never run.  It's only been within
the last month that he's actually been seen doing "the dance" and initiating
play with the other ferrets.
 
This last couple of weeks have seen immense improvement.  I started giving
them the vitamin oil because they seemed itchy and Baby Face particularly
looked scruffy and had rough fur.  The vitamins seem to have helped
immensely.  I've seen improvements in his leg strength (he still wobbles but
will run, pounce and do the dance).  What's truly impressive is that his fur
has become much thicker (perhaps in response to the cold weather, too) and
much softer.  And he's WHITE.  He's whiter than right after a bath in the
whitening shampoo I had left over from my white dog.  He's whiter than I've
ever seen him.  It also looks as if he's grooming himself better.
 
And what's most joyful to me, he's initiating play with *people* now.  :)
<grin> He still has this solemn look to his face, won't come when called but
he stops and stares at you.  And he'll do the dance (pretty funny with
wobbles and flop-overs added) when he sees you walk up to him.  He has never
again bitten after that first chomp when I took him out of his cage for the
first time.  I think he was terrified.
 
He's turning out to be a very nice ferret, and beautiful.
 
--Barb--
 
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Barbara Carlson                   Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
[log in to unmask]                                      (412) 481-5927
 http://www.gsia.cmu.edu/andrew/bcarlson/home.html (under construction)
Thought for the day:
    If "boring women have immaculate homes," I must be very interesting!
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[Posted in FML issue 1465]