Thanks to everyone who has replied so far about the FAQ I wrote about.  As was
explained in the last mailing, there are two others who were, and maybe still
are, making such a list.  I also received an "alpha" FAQ from someone whose
name escapes me at the moment (sorry, whoever you are, and thanks!).  I'm sure
a coordinated effort will come out of it all and there'll be at least some
sort of FAQ pretty soon.  Feel free to keep sending me your responses!
 
Well, I did it.  Took a 12-hour round trip last Sunday to visit a ferret
farm, and came home with an 8-week-old cinnamon male named Rusty.  Pixxel,
the 5-month-old female, seems to tolerate him pretty well: she sits on him
and chews on his ear, and he squeals and wails, but she lets him up now and
again when he wants to get a drink.  He seems to enjoy the battle, since when
we let them both loose he runs straight toward her.  We realized Pixxel had a
bit of an unfair advantage, though, since her collar kept him from getting
a decent hold on her neck!
 
Here's a pair of questions for those of you with more experience with young
kits than we have (Pixxel was 9 or 10 weeks old when we got her, and acted
-much- older than Rusty does: he's still downy and a little unsteady on
his feet):
 
1) Rusty makes a whimpering, wailing sound almost continuously when he's in
his cage, even while he's eating or playing with his toys.  He does it a bit
when he's being held, too.  Is this the kit version of the cluck-dook happy-
noise, or is he lonely or bored, or what?
 
2) He's remarkably well trained: he won't nip at a finger even if you tempt
him with it.  (That's a big reason why we went to a farm instead of the pet
store.)  The problem is, he also won't lick Ferretone off of a finger held
in front of his nose, so we can't reward him for good litter habits.  Do we
just need to give him the Ferretone from a little bottle, or could we
conceivably have a ferret that -doesn't- like Ferretone?!
 
Sorry to go on like this, but I'm a new parent again... :-)  Thanks
for your help!
 
- Pam, Pixxel, and Rusty
(oh, and Bob too :)
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[Posted in FML issue 0620]