Sunday I got to see my Fredonia rescue and my baby from Kaye Pullen for the
first time.  The rescue is a small albino, with rabbit soft fur, and
gigantic paws.  Although I was wary of handling her at first, she has been
calm and there have been no incidents- with people anyway.  She had a pretty
bad infestation of fleas.  Last night I felt confident enough to give her a
good flea bath- an hour and a half.  Using a shallow bucket and lots of
patience, she let me scrub her down with soap and water, pick EVERY single
flea from her fur, scrub her fur and skin with a brush to get the eggs off,
and then dry her down.  She shivered through the whole thing, but no
attempts to nip.  I felt so satisfied to know she would sleep for the first
time without fleas crawling all over her.  She is so fluffy!
 
For the meantime, she is a total lap ferret.  She doesn't try to get down,
and doesn't seem to excited about exploring.
 
This morning when I woke her up, she stretched and yawned, then walked
straight over the the litterbox, took care of business, then came to the
door to come out.  No, I am not making it up!  Then I brought her into the
bathroom with me while I got ready for school, and I had to do a little
hopping to keep from getting my toes bit.  I've never had to deal with a toe
biter before.  She didn't bite hard.  Just kinda testing.
 
Right now she is rolling around in a towel on my lap, watching me type.  I
am very trusting of her.(just heard a ferret sigh).
 
Troy Lynn and the group who picked up these guys did a wonderful job of
making these wire cages.  I was really impressed!  Since we got home she has
adopted the upper level of our ferret condo, and seems content in her new
pad.  Its got to be 5 star compared to Fredonia.
 
She is very afraid of my two old boys (4 1/2) and more afraid of the baby.
This is probably because my boys take everything in stride and don't get
upset if she yells and nips at them, but the baby gets upset and starts
crying.  Socializing is going to take a lot of time with her.  I'm not
worried though.  She's such an angel.
 
The baby that I adopted from Kaye's crew is a handful!  She is a 6 month old
sable and full of energy, and very smart.  I had forgotten what it was like
to have a young ferret around.  What a little spaz!  She is very confident
and you can tell she is very mischevious.  This one's gonna be a bookcase
hazard.  At least my boyfriend has someone to play with when he comes over.
My two old guys are more interested in sleeping.
 
Introductions with my boys and the baby went fine.  She wasn't too
interested in them, but they followed her around like concerned parents.  I
was proud of them.  They taught her to play in the dryer hose- we could hear
them playing 'mouth' in there.  She got a little upset later on over who
knows what.  She and Ozzy had snuggled into a blanket together, and the next
thing we know they're tussling.  Which brings me to the spray thing.  Both
of my guys are descented, so I had never experienced a ferret spray.
WHEW!!!  They are definitely related to skunks!!  Hopefully we won't have
too many more incidents.
 
My boyfriend has taken on the task of turning the condo into ferret heaven.
He gets so excited about hammocks and tunnels and ladders etc.  He spent
hours last night making the second level of the condo for the rescue.
Ferret love is contagious!
 
I have noticed something odd about the rescue.  It seems her hind quarters
are small in proportion to the rest of her body.  She also stand and sits
funny on them, kind of the way a dog does, with her knees very bent.  Maybe
from being cooped up in a cage for so long.  Not sure.
 
She is stretched out with her head on the arm of my chair.
 
Great big hugs to Troy Lynn and Kaye Pullen and everyone else who helped
bring this angel to me!  I wish everyone's experience with rescues could be
this wonderful.
 
The baby sends dooks too!
 
gracie, aggie, ozzie, two nameless newbies.
 
PS. Need help with names! Ideas?
[Posted in FML issue 1744]