Whew... I know it has been a while, but there has been alot going on here
lately.  I am screening people who are interested in White Fang so that once
we know what her needs are, we will (hopefully) have a new home waiting.
She is recovering very well so I don't think there is anything to worry
about with this little one for now.  Thank you all for your help with her,
you guys really came through for her.  She is our little miracle kid.  You
guys are really special, you know, I am honored to be associated with such a
caring group of ferret lovers.
 
Festus is improving daily.  He is eating Totally Ferret and getting lots of
Nutri-Cal, thanks to Dr. Chaudri of IGI, and Roxanne Zoubek who engineered a
generous donation of Nutri-Cal from the manufacturer.  Thank you, thank you,
thank you both.
 
Don't understand little Festus, but I just keep on working with him.  Once
he has gained some weight, he will have some blood work done and probably
some X-rays.  Hopefully, we can find an answer to why he will suddenly stop
eating, for no apparent reason.
 
Duchess, Cocoa Puff, Rikki, and Emily are doing wonderful, Rikki is even
getting "fat cheeks" now.  Thank you sponsors !  !  !  Topanga is great, and
amazingly, Emily even likes her.  Emily is usually very "picky" about her
friends, and does not get along with everyone, she has even attacked cats, I
was very surprised that she wanted to play with Topanga.  Boomer has gained
so much weight that he does not even look like little Boomer any more.  He
chatters and plays but seems unsure of how to react to other ferrets.  He
picks on the other ferrets, instigating arguements and fights.  I am lucky
to have some here that are very tolerant and will simply look at him or hold
him down for a moment then turn and walk away rather than fight with him.
(These guys are twice his size.) I am letting these wonderful guys teach
Boomer how to get along with other ferrets so that perhaps he can go to a
multi-ferret home or be adopted with a buddy.  Boomer is learning, I think.
 
I have not profiled Sam yet, so here goes.  Sam first arrived as Missy.  His
owner had gone to visit inlaws in Las Vegas and this ferret wandered into
the garage.  The man's father inlaw wanted to kill it, but the man knew he
was a ferret and intervened.  He brought "Missy" back home with him and
wanted to keep him as a pet.  After a while he decided he did not have
enough time to spend with his children *and* the ferret.  He took Missy to
the vet and got all the vaccinations before he called me to pick him up.
This man really loved this ferret and was almost in tears when I picked him
up, but he knew it was best for the ferret.  I realized quickly that Missy
was a male and the man was pretty surprised, unfortunately these things
happen often.  I had a little girl in here a while back named "Junior"
because the woman who owned her had told the pet shop she wanted a male and
they handed her Junior.
 
Okay, so I changed Missy's name to Sam.  He is an unusual ferret.  He
*hates* anything on four legs, that includes dogs, cats, ferrets, or
whatever.  I have tried many intros and different personalities, males,
females, the reactions are always the same, he tries to *kill* the other
animal.  Yet Sam is the most "people friendly" ferret I have ever known.  He
is very sweet, docile, and calm with humans and will even sit in your lap
for extended periods.  Guess he will have to be an "only" ferret.  I give
him separate playtime from the others and things work out fine here.
 
Sam is a mottled brown color, with white toes, and a patch on the back of his
head.  He has no tatoos, and I am wondering if he may be a Manitoba Canadian
ferret, I have never seen one before so I would be just guessing.   I would
estimate him to be around two years old.  He is pretty big, broad shouldered
and very smart.  He loves to play and chases me down the hall and if he
catches me he wraps both his front legs around my leg and just looks up at me
with a big grin on his face.  It is like he is saying, "Ha, ha, mom, gotcha".
 
Recently he has developed a growth on his elbow, I suppose it is a mast cell
tumor.  Guess that means one more trip to the vet..<sigh>... Otherwise Sam
is great.
 
I have a new rescue here now.  The animal shelter in a city about 30 miles
away called saying they had a ferret that someone had tossed into the animal
control van while the driver was not looking.  An employee of the shelter
had taken him home for about 10 days to "nurse him back to health" before
calling us.  (It is so neat that others care, too.) Club member Michael
Runyon picked him up for me that day and later, I brought him here.  I have
named him Toby.  He is a sable and very sweet.  He loves to give kisses and
was easily startled and unsure the first few days, but has settled in well.
A neat thing happened when I first brought him home and I put him in with
Rags.  Rags was asleep under a towel.  Toby checked out the cage, then went
over and crawled under the towel and wrapped himself aroung Rags and went to
sleep with him.  They have been buddies ever since.  He gets along with
anyone.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to "get rid of" such a sweet
little boy.  I think he is under one year old.  As soon I get him up on his
vaccinations, he will be available for adoption.
 
Well, I need to  run...  see ya later.
 
Trish and the 23 smiling, sticky-faced, furrballs.
[Posted in FML issue 1558]