Boy, what a day!  Yesterday we took Seymour to the local animal shelter
to play with the kittens and help choose our new addition to the family.
When we walked in, the lady who worked there beemed at him and said, "Oh,
isn't he beautiful!" She took him from me gently and continued to fawn all
over him.(As if he needs a bigger ego!!) She let him crawl all over her desk
and didn't even get upset when he stepped on her computer keyboard and
erased half of the report she was writing!  So then we took him to the cats
and introduced them one at a time.  The bigger cats all seemed hostile, so
we ruled them out.  Most of the kittens were afraid of him, and a few were
absolutely petrified!!  But there was a litter of orange kittens that were
only a little afraid and seemed kind of interested with him.  They were also
all very playful with eachother and I suspect that once the one I choose
gets used to Seymour, they'd make a good companion.
 
    Well, it was while Seymour was looking over one of these kitties that he
suddenly went to a corner and laid down.  He had been very playful just
moments before, but I thought maybe he was just bored because none of the
kittens would play.  But then he started hacking and after a moment he threw
up!  We immediately moved him away from the kittens and into one of the
clean, empty cages.  I was pretty panicky because it was the first time he
had been sick.  I didn't know what vet to call, but one of the guys who
worked at the shelter calmly dialed a number and handed me the reciever.  A
lady answered the phone at the animal clinic and I asked stupidly, "Do ya'll
work on ferrets?" "Do we do what?" I repeated the same ineloquently phrased
question because I couldn't think of another way to say.  She told me that
she'd let me talk to the doctor.  A lady named Dr.  Mayhawk(sp?) picked up
the phone and I told her that my ferret was throwing up.  She asked how much
and I told her just this once.  She asked me if we had changed his food
recaently and I told her no.  Iasked if eating candy corn could make
himthrow up and she said not if it was just a little bit.  She told me that
he might get diarreha and to make sure he got plenty of water.  She said it
was probably nothin' to worry about but to let her know if it happened
again.  I hung up and went into the cat room where Seymour was acting
normally and Tony had cleaned up the mess while Iwas flipping out.  We
passed the clinic on the way home and I couldn't resist, being the overly
worried mom that I am, going in just to make sure.  I came in and told the
doctor that I was the hysterical woman that had just called her.  She gave
him a check up and said that he looked just fine and we must be taking real
good care of him.  She seemed to know what she was doing and treated him as
gently as she could.  She said she had several ferret owners who came to the
clinic and only one other clinic in town knew anything about ferrets.  I
guess we got pretty lucky finding her.  I asked before we left what vaccine
they used and she said Fervac.  She also said they used isoflurane if
anesthasia was needed.  Only time will tell, but I think this one's a
keeper!  This same vet is on call 24 hrs, so I don't have to find another
one for emergencies!
 
    Seymour went straight to bed when he got home (which in this case was a
box in the storage closet) when he got home.  He wasn't lethargic, just the
healthy sleep of a ferret who's had a big day.
 
    Another thing that happened yesterday was when I was calling around to
find a new apartment.  I called one place and the last question I asked
was, "Do you allow pets?" She said they didn't and then started going on
and on about this and that.  Trying to end the conversation, I said, "Well,
we have a ferret and we don't plan on giving him up, so-"
    "A parrot? Well, birds-"
    "Not a parrot, a ferret!"
    "What's a ferret? Is that like a gerbil?"
A GERBIL!!sheez...
    "No, it's much smarter than that. They're related to a mink and a
weasel. They're kinda small but they're really long and have stubby little
legs. They're fuzzy and a lot of them have a little mask, and-"
     "ooh, It gives me the creeps thinking about an animal like that!"
What a stupid woman!  I guess it just goes to show that ignorance
breeds fear!
 
To (the other) Barbara:
     How about naming your rescued ferret "LeMonte"? (That's Tom Cruises
character from interview with a vampire, since you said he looked like a
little white vampire.
 
To Todd:
     What on Earth would you be doing with your penis in the bars of your
ferret's cage??!!!
 
     I was going to say something about Marshall Farms, but for the sake
of BIG's sanity, I'll refrain. You're welcome.
        Well, that's all for now!(That's *ALL*, she says?)
                later!-Barb the Beastmaster and Seymour
[Posted in FML issue 1314]