Walking through the aisles in the garage at the river house in Ohio,
I was cleaning up newspapers and waste that had fallen from the cages.
With the numbers down there was more time for individual ferrets. One
hob always had a ton of food under his cage and I stopped to "fuss"
at him.
"Look at this mess," I said. "Why are you digging all your food
out of your dish? Don't you know you are supposed to EAT this?"
Reaching in, I easily picked him up, prying his back legs from the cage
wires. With all four limbs extended into a spread-eagle position, he
held his body rigid. As I placed this big, ol' smelly boy against my
chest, his front legs clung to me and he buried his face in my shirt.
I rubbed my hand over his too thin body and realized he was not as
healthy as I thought. I honestly thought I had picked him up to die
and that he could not have more than 15 minutes left with us.
Because I use a/d and Carnivore Care with my Jersey, I had a blender
of it in the ice chest. Using one hand, I poured a bowl and warmed it
for the hob, holding him in the other arm the entire time. He lapped
it up! He ate more, and more and more. He finally filled up and relaxed
some, then lay back in my arms and sighed. We put him in a travel cage
(donated by an anonymous donor through the IFC) with fresh bedding and
litter, and his own hammy. He slept. And, when he awoke, he ate more.
Suddenly, I thought he would live. An exam that evening showed he had
a bad canine and could not eat the hard kibble.
Mary Segalla had traveled from West Virginia to help Lori and she fell
in love with the big ol' stinky boy. She named him Gandalf after the
wizard in the Rings trilogy and we cared for him daily. Saturday I
went to Cincinnati to pick up some ferrets at the vet - including
Gandalf. Sunday I was at a professor's home an hour away, working on my
dissertation study. I got back to the house to find nobody there and
the "hospital ward" GONE! I ran to my room to see if my crew was okay
(they were) and as I came back into the kitchen, there was Lori and
Cindy and Mary and Julie and maybe even more people. I don't remember,
because all I wanted to know was, what happened to the special babies?
It turns out these special people had been taking care of everything.
The vet had called with lab results. Gandalf had giardhia and Lancelot
had coccidia. They were on meds and had been moved from the general
population so it would not become rampant. I knew by my relief that he
was still there that I was hooked. I later told Mary that she couldn't
have Gandalf (who she considered taking home), that he was MINE!
So, why am I telling you this 3 months later? Because this morning, a
DE WHITE ferret, not a golden boy, followed me out of the ferret room
and into my bedroom. He climbed everything and jumped from the bed to
the back of a chair with ease. He stole a new duck (thanks, Brenda J.)
and tried to hide it behind the dresser. He LOVES stuffed animals, the
bigger the better. (His bunny is somewhere in my mother's garage, where
he pulled it through the cat door and hid it!) He has had his left
canines removed and can eat kibble, both soft and hard, although he
still inhales the soup! He grooms my toes individually by taking ONE
in his paws and nit-picking with his teeth all along the toe. Gandy is
curled up on my chest now, but stretches out, too. And, occasionally,
he picks up his head, sniffs the air and sighs before settling down
with his head on my shoulder once more.
Happy New Year, all!
--
Renee Downs
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets the
credit!
"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart
Ferret Emergency Response, Rescue & Evacuation Team (F.E.R.R.E.T.)
http://www.ferretemergency.org
[log in to unmask]
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org
[Posted in FML 5848]
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