Hello everyone,
 
I'm sorry I don't remember who wanted to know about these things, but on:
 
Fluffy Coats:
I just wanted to say that both of my ferrets eat Iams Kitten food, but for
some reason Monkey's coat is as soft as a bunny rabbit and Jitterbug's is
quite coarse.  So the person who wanted to know the food to give for a nice
fluffy coat, I'm not sure it is entirely dependent on diet.  Now when I use
the Horse Mane and Tail conditioner on Jitterbug, her coat definetly
improves, but is still not as soft as Monkeys (especially if I use the Horse
Mane and Tail conditioner on Monkey too).  Although, diet and bathing habits
(how often you bath as well as the kind of shampoo) have something to do
with the quality of their coats, some of it is simply genetic.  And by the
way, they are BOTH Marshall Farm ferrets so I think its the same thing as
how come MY hair is softer than my sister's.
 
STEPPING ON FERRETS:
My cousin was in town yesterday and accidently stepped on Monkeys foot!
Monkey was limping for about 5 minutes and my cousin felt terrible (she had
never been around ferrets before and didn't know how careful you need to be
if you have shoes on).  But Monkey seems fine now.  What I wanted to know
is, what should you do in this type of situation.  Vets?  How do you know if
they are really hurt?  What do you do if they are?  (I mean immediatly
before you can get to the vet).  I thank god monkey wasn't seriously hurt
and she seems good as ever, but after that unfortunate death I have been
very worried about this type of injury.
 
EARBITING:
Monkey was a famous earbiter when we first got her.  Poor Jitterbug's ear
was red and wet almost all the time.  Especially since Jitterbug slept much
more often then Monkey and Monkey, having oh so much energy, had nothing
else to do but chew Jitterbug's ear while she slept.  I tried saying NO!
and scruffing her whenever I caught her, but it only made her decided she
wasn't supposed to chew on Jitterbug when Mommy was looking.  Next, I
sprayed Jitterbug's ears with Bitter Apple (which poor Jitterbug HATED, she
said "but mommy, I didn't do anything wrong).  This confused Monkey and
detered her for about a week (I had to spray Jitterbugs ears every day).
Now Monkey doesn't mind bitter apple so much.  Eventually they worked it out
themselves.  When Jitterbug got really anoyed she would finally wake up and
attack Monkey and I would wind up seperating them because MONKEY would be
crying like she hadn't done anything to deserve such a harsh treatment from
Jitterbug.  She won't chew on her anymore in front of me, but I still need
to seperate them sometimes.  I eventually wound up with two cages.  Not so
bad really, I use one for a travel/time out cage and the other (which is
much bigger) for their general housing.  I did notice recently though, that
sometimes Jitterbug chews on Monkeys ears when Monkey is sleeping!  However,
Jitterbug is a little lady, and Monkey's ears are never red, only
well-groomed.  I hope that you have better success with the scruffing and/or
bitter apple, otherwise you might try getting a second cage as well.
 
 Dooks to all,
 
 Rebecca, Monkey and Jitterbug
[Posted in FML issue 1818]