Starting with youngest and going up:
 
Today Seven of Six got both sleep smell (She tends toward pop-corny rather
than bakery or corn chip so far.) and musk (She's on a skunky but soft high
note.) for the very first time.  She has gained a LOT of weight since being
here -- no more counting every rib on her.  Her mouth is healing
beautifully, too.  Don't know what physical pressure suppressed scents
before, or if there was another factor but she's no longer anonymous.
 
When they all got their rabies shots yesterday Glueball made a point of
covering Doc Martins (Basking Ridge Animal Hospital) with kisses; during
her vaccination she showed him that she preferred kisses as a distraction
over Nutrical.
 
Ashling (the alpha) showed off her muscles and brains.  When does she NOT
show off her muscles and brains?  If she'd been human she would have been
a Rhodes Scholar.
 
Scooter let him see that his hand is just perfect now and that he can
almost fall asleep in anyone's arms as long as he's stroked, also that
his bum jiggles from being fat.
 
Jumpstart, being shy, did not give him a nose bump, but his strong legs
amazed the vet.  He kept putting his hand against his feet and feeling how
strongly Jumper could push back and just grinning.  Face it, this is a
ferret who can jump a barrier which is over 3' high from a still position,
and who sometimes clears 3 and 1/2 feet.  He likes to do a vevverid
impersonation by standing bipedally for long periods of time, too,
especially if a tambourine is being played above him.
 
Warp shocked him by being 5 and 1/2 when she looks 3, but she might
actually be getting an acute onset adrenal.  We have to wait a bit just in
case it only is mechanical fur-loss from that new tight toy which we have
taken from her -- though Meeteetse gets it in one-on-one time since it's
great for her rear legs -- but Warp might have surgery in her future.  Too
bad it didn't show up at the same time as her insulinoma if it is adrenal.
The adrenals looked normal when she had her surgery.
 
Meeteetse looks younger than she is, too, and aside from some mast cell
tumors that aren't bothering her to the point where they need to come out,
and some possible rear leg arthritis she's doing great.  Let's see: she's 7
now.  She has more stamina than anyone else, stands up to remove treats
from the drawer pull on the stove despite the linoleum (though she does
slip at times so we are thinking that if we redo floors this coming year
we'll have a new linoleum put in which has more texture), plays tube-tube
and other games, loves to have her hips massaged with a vibrating hairbrush
(also perfect for getting knots out of my fine and easily knotting hair
with minimal hair loss), and is doing marvelously.  We were worried about
getting her vaccinated since she can't be scruffed anymore due to damage to
her neck from when she got behind me and tripped me -- develops lesions if
scruffed.  There was some concern that she might have a blood disorder due
to the neck lesions but with scruffing eliminated there have been no more
lesions and never any elsewhere, so that's marvelous.  Her shot went fine.
She had it in lower down with treats and encouragement and while held in a
splayed hand, so it worked out.
[Posted in FML issue 2903]