Recently was given one of those rawhide dog "Chewbones." Got to wondering
just what I could do to with this hard thing that the ferts ignored.
 
So soaked it in a pail of water for two days and was able to unwind it
(untied the end knots).  Got a number of rawhide sheets.  Cut them up into
strips about 1-inch by 4-inches with a very sharp!  pair of heavy scissors.
 
Since I'd saved the chicken/salmon juice & grease from the 20 lbs of
chicken and salmon scraps I'd cooked to go into the ferret soup (LUMPS) I
got the idea of stewing these rawhide strips in the chicken/salmon
drippings.
 
Put them hot on a couple layers of paper towels to let them air dry and
then gave them to the floor full of ferrets.
 
My-o-my, talk about tugs-of war.  The little ferts just went bonkers and
tried to run of to their hidey holes and secret places with their
competitors running shoulder/shoulder in all directions, their teeth
clamped on to whatever part of the chicken/salmon flavored rawhide strips
they could latch on to.
 
They reminded me of short, short legged bulldogs.  They hunker down, nose
to nose, their teeth clamped tightly on the softened, flavored rawhide
strips, and grunt, snort, and bark, all the while trying to back up and
away from the other fert of like mind who's pulling the other way just as
hard as he can.
 
After a couple of days, the pieces I've recovered showed that many of the
corners had been pulverized and ripped into streamers of rawhide with some
of the corners missing.  I've squeezed the cold poop between my fingers and
palm of my hand looking for chunks of rawhide and have found a few small
pieces that are very soft and slimy.  So apparently they're going through
OK.
 
So next time someone asks you what's new, you can tell them not to shake
hands with Lipinski.  Gad, did you see his fingernails ?
 
Edward Lipinski, One of the Wests Foremost Ferret Feces Feeler/squeezers.
( Domestic ferret only, not the "domesticated" ferret, since by definition,
the only "domesticated" ferret is a dead ferret - and it doesn't poop.  )
 
PS.  Squishing poop between my fingers and rubbing my palm to feel for
solid objects in my own poop some few years ago has sort of hardened me to
doing this with ferret poop when the need arises.  You see, two years ago
in the dentist's chair when the dental tech was scraping the plaque from
around the base of one of my molars, she accidentally popped off one of my
gold crowns ($450.00) and before I knew what had happened, I'd swallowed it.
 
Six days later while on a huckleberry picking trip up in the Cascades I
recovered the crown from my beautifully spiraled coil of warm, steaming
-you know what- and carefully rubbed it into the fir-needled ground cover
until it was somewhat cleaner and stuffed it into my stocking for
safe-keeping until we got home with our couple of gallons of huckleberries.
 
My dentist recemented the crown back on some days later after it had made
its "round trip."  We were both rather amazed that the trip had taken six
days.  Until I found it on that sixth day, I thought it had gotten by me
and was sorely disappointed.  As they say, persistance usually pays off.
 
EL
[Posted in FML issue 2582]