Hello Everyone!
 
You've been hearing all this London, Ontario "Hoopla" and are probably
wondering if its ever going to come to an end.  Probably not for some time,
but I think that its important that you hear about some positive happenings
about the two ferrets that Manfred and I acquired from London.
 
First off, the two boys are staying with us.  We are theirs to do with as
they wish.  I knew it as soon as we saw them.  They looked up at us so
scared I thought those little black eyes were going to pop out of their
sockets.  Manfred and I looked at them, looked at each other, and we knew
immediately, they're not going anywhere except to Tillsonburg and our home.
 
Its day four now and the looks from them are obviously a little more
relaxed.  Every time I walk past their cage and see they are awake, I always
talk to them softly and give them a little scratch on the head.  When they
are out and about there is still the occasional fuzzed up tail, still the
occasional mad dash for cover, but all in all we're seeing a big difference.
 
Last night, while making dinner Sonny (tiny ray of sunshine, chocolate
sable) and Henry (short for O'Henry, chocolate sable), along with Daisy
(nine month old female spayed albino) were running around the dining room,
kitchen and animal room (all on one floor of our back split).  I kept
stepping around them and keeping an eye on them while making dinner.  At one
point when I looked up, Sonny was in the corner of the dining room chuckling
at Measly (9 month old male feline).  Everything was fine.  Measly left and
I guess Sonny figured his chuckling had scared Measly away, so he decided he
was tougher than he thought and immediately started war dancing in the
corner.  I whispered to Manfred to come have a "look-see." We just quietly
stood there watching and within a few seconds there was Henry joining in the
war dance.  I was laughing and crying at the same time, overwhelmed with joy
that they were relaxed enough and feeling enough at home to actually be
ferrets.
 
There is a God.
 
It looks like we're going to be working on getting a few cages and supplies
and turning one of our spare bedrooms (my craft room) into a ferret help
room.  I don't know if anything will ever come of it, but we'll be ready
next time and unfortunately there will probably be a next time.  I'm also
going to make some napsacks for the fuzzies (for my own and to have on hand,
just in case).  I had a close look at one in the store, thought the price of
$30.  was outragious and decided I could make them without a problem and for
a fraction of the price.  Cheap towels are always available and my surger
will make them durable.
 
Daisy, 8 or 9 months old, now has these two little companions in her cage
with her.  She's been petrified of our two adult males.  They attack her
every time they see her, so all this time she's been alone.  We thought,
well, they're close to the same size, they're used to being with a lot of
ferrets, just maybe.  We put them in the cage (mostly to keep them from
helping me clean their cage) and then put her back in too and we watched
them for awhile.  She checked them out thoroughly, sniffing every square
inch.  She wouldn't allow them to sniff her though ("That's rude, Mom!").
We brought an extra "Bankie" and everyone settled in, had a bite to eat and
were off to snooze land.  The only problem was they were going to the
washroom beside the litter pan instead of in it.... not to worry, they
caught on when Daisy used it a few times and now everyone is using the pan.
 
Thank you for all your supportive letters we've been receiving since this
all started.
 
With Love and Admiration To All Of You!
DEB.  (Manfred and our 10 "Kids" too)
[Posted in FML issue 2176]