Katrina wrote yesterday about her foster ferret "Kramer," and the way he
interacts with other animals-- Cully (whose name, incidentally, when I got
him, was also Kramer!) came to me as a three and a half year old who had had
very little interaction, as near as I can tell, with other animals for the
first three years.  His first reaction to new animals of any species besides
human is to run, which usually triggers the chase drive of the animal he's
running from, which just seems to reinforce his running away.  He seemed
especially disturbed by dogs.  Now that he's occasionally meeting some other
ferrets, he is getting better, but he may always be a bit of a
scaredy-ferret.  So, all that was a long way of saying I think it does get
better, but give him a lot of patience, and don't push him past his limits.
Forcing interactions can lead to several unhappy animals, including you!
Giving treats together is always a nice way to get animals used to each
other-- even when Cully and Amelia were worst enemies, I could get them to
lick linatone from each other's whiskers :-)
 
Regina
and Cully and Amelia too!
 
"I'm grazing with the dinosaurs and the dear old horses..."
                                                -- Nick Cave
Regina Harrison
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http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
[Posted in FML issue 2170]