Kat--You are such a sweetie.  Remind us anytime of of how easy it is to
misunderstand or to be imperfect human beings.
 
When Wolf had cancer on his neck and back that returned for the second
time--he already had scar tissue from the first surgery and poor suturing
job.  Then he had this fast growing fibrosarcoma on his neck, shoulder,
and back.  In addition, he had insulinoma and adrenal problems.
 
After his surgeries-I could not scruff him to trim his nails.  Nor could he
bend over to lick off Nutrical.  I could not trim his nails.  He whimpered
in pain just moving for weeks.  He had had several major surgeries and was
sutured in multiple places.  I did not know if he would make it.  His
suffering was so apparent.  It was horrible.
 
During that time, he caught one of his very long nails on the cage.  He
tore the whole thing off and there was blood everywhere by the time I found
him.  The nail area was black for several weeks and never grew back.
 
Sometimes there are circumstances that prevent us from doing the right
thing.  Sometimes we are just utterly ignorant and need gentle guides like
Kat to help us.
 
The first thing I did when I had Baby was to go out and buy soft rubbery
toys and tiny hard rubber easy to swallow toys for her.  It was truly a
miracle she lived through my gross ignorance.  The books at the pet shop
were very outdated.  There was nothing on scruffing, what to eat, what toys
to play with, etc.  I was bathing her once a week.
 
I had just started hitting her for biting me hard repeatedly in multiple
sites when I had to go into the hospital again for more surgeries.  My
nephew cared for my baby during this time.  I was lucky my nephew stopped
her biting and showed me how to scruff when I got home 5 days later.  She
was a calm sweet heart who never again bit me.  The day before surgery I
had seriously contemplated giving her up to someone somewhere.  She was
really scaring me and hurting me.
 
I was a savage ignorant and probably average new ferret owner.  Can anyone
remember back to those days??
[Posted in FML issue 2766]