I forgot to tell folks something funny.  Meltdown has for a LONG time now
forcefully shaken her head side to side like we do to say "No!" when she
feels very strongly about something, but just this week she has twice SAID
"No!" as well -- only with Steve so far and only when she had to have the
big doses of Furosemide.  I knew a dog who could say that and "Momma", and a
dog who could say "Out!" (one of the dogs of my teens who was named Bluff --
also a grand name for a ferret), and saw a cat on tv who said "No!"
beautifully, plus we've had ferrets who attached meaning to certain sounds
(especially our Haleakala who named Steve and I with her own names and would
call us), and Hale used to try to yodel with a record we have, but I have
never before heard a ferret imitate a human word.  It kind of comes out as
"Neyh!" and obviously means "No!  Do NOT put that stuff in your hand into my
mouth!"
 
'Chopper is partially deaf.  She is also incredibly vocal, more so than most
hearing ferrets.  We do not know if she can hear the sounds she makes, and
they tend to be in conflict with her behaviors because she is assertive and
over 5 and a half but the sounds are the nebulous high pitched beeps of a
kit.  She has a very rough time with high pitched sounds and doesn't even
hear most of them but does much better with low ones.  She's the mouthiest
ferret here, though she will never break skin -- she just pinches to get a
person's attention -- we suspect that she is less able to realize there are
other ways to do so because sound is not a major factor in her life.  She's
also become extremely myopic, though when she was young she had great eyes
and was a climber of renown as well as someone who would wag her tail in
circles, hence her name.  She's our one who very obviously sees blue or sees
something very different about objects which are blue in any shade, and she
has an incredible attraction to the color.  She's also the one who when
young used to wait on high surfaces and bomb other ferrets with whatever was
up there, and who used to play trapeze on our dining room chandelier.
'Choppie is a garnet eyed Blaze (typical dark red -- typical gem stone
rubies are light red like the eyes of albino ferrets -- says the
jewelry-hating daughter of the long retired gemologist, who asks others to
not hassel her about variants such as tsavarites).
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 1885]