Hello to one and all!  I've been trying desperately to catch up on reading
the List.  I'm still about a week behind but I've decided not to wait to
send in my intro.  I've started a new job with a long commute and I just
don't have much time to read my email anymore.
 
My name is Anastasia Kidd.  I live in Plainfield, New Jersey, which is
kindof north central Jersey.  I live in a 110ish year old Victorian on a
half acre plot with my husband, Jeremy, and our 2 best friends and coowners
of the house, Lisa and Ken.  There are also 8 cats and 11 ferrets.  And
there's the 50 or so rose bushes.
 
The cats came first, as I've owned cats most of my life.  They are: Diesel-
10yrs black DSH, Moogie- 12?yrs tortoiseshell DSH, Tetsuo- 9yrs black
w/white DSH(and huge!  12inches at the shoulder and not overweight
either!), Ako- 9yrs black DSH, Flinx- 8yrs red classic Maine Coon(my
darling), Ashura- aka CH PR Olde Chelsea's Ashura- 5yrs brown mackeral
Maine Coon, Calamity- 4yrs silver tabby w/white DSH, and lastly Belle-
Calamity's sister, aka Disaster- 4yrs silver tabby DSH.
 
Ferrets came into my life in 1996 when we were arranging for Lisa and my
then fiance Jeremy to move in from California.  Lisa had 2 ferrets that
would be coming with her.  Unfortunately, a month or so before the move,
her albino girl, Kitten died suddenly.  A week later, a coworker noticed
the ferret statue on my desk and asked if I'd like to have her daughter's
ferret, cage and all.  Her 5 year old had developed serious asthma and they
were getting rid of all of their pets for her sake.  The ferret was an
albino girl named Fluffy.  Serendipity.  I took her immediately and planned
to surprise Lisa with her when she arrived.  As it happens, Fluffy turned
out to be a DEW male.  He's since been renamed Mercury.  I fell for the guy
and, even before Lisa and Jeremy arrived, I had gotten a ferret of my own.
And so it began!
 
The ferrets are: (In order of arrival, all ages are approximate and I'm
guessing as to color class)
 
- Mercury- 4.5yrs DEW male, recently had a episode that resulted in remova
l of his spleen and l.  adrenal and $1200 of my money.  He is now fully
recovered and back to his obnoxious self.  Thank goodness.
 
- Demetri- 4yrs silver male, my gorgeous boy.  He came in a dark silver
mitt and has been going whiter with every coat change.  He's nearly pure
white now.  He was adopted from a shelter.
 
- Zhakorati- 4.5yrs champagne sable girl.  The California escapee.  A
darling girl with a different look, she's almost almond-eyed.
 
- Nutmeg- 4.5yrs black sable girl.  Nutmeg came to us with a
sister/playmate, Cassia, from the same shelter.  We lost Cassie 1/97 to a
nasty flu bug.  We sent her to the Bridge after 2 months of trying to save
her.  Nutmeg's a quiet girl.  She's on a watch, currently, for a possible
adrenal.  China- 3.5yrs light silver girl, deaf.  When Cassie passed, the
man who owns the shelter, my friend, felt so bad that he insisted that I
have any other ferret I wanted.  I chose China.  She'd come in alone, kinda
skittish, probably because she's deaf and no one knew.  She's adapted to
having lots of friends.  Still nips tho.  Jhonathan- 2.5yrs dark silver
mitt male.  Started life as a panda.  My first whole male, bought from my
breeder friend.  What a difference!  He hit 4+ pounds before he was fixed.
He was such a handful then.  Now he's a sweetie who likes to give kisses.
Skittles- 2.5yrs chocolate sable girl.  Bought at the same time as Jhon,
she started life as a cinnamon.  She been spayed but not descented and
she's touchy enough that we're reminded quite often of that fact.  Java-
2yrs albino male.  I got Java from the same breeder to be a playmate for
Jhon because he was so much bigger than everyone else.  I needed someone
who could play on an equal level.  Java actually was bigger that Jhon
before he was fixed, and has now mellowed into an utter couch potato.  He
has jowls!  Jenna- 2.5yrs albino girl.  Jhon's sister from the same litter.
Came along with Java on the trip back from the breeder.  Ferret math
indeed!  A beautiful *little* girl.  Christopher- 1yr hooded silver mitt
male.  Bought from a pet store.  Bad me.  But I fell in love with his black
eyeliner.  Hyper kid.  Sam- 2yrs dark silver male.  My first real rescue.
(Do all ferret people end up rescuing ferrets?) Sam came to me after the
teen son lost interest.  Sam must have been pushing 5 pounds!  He is fat;
big with a bulldog.  But a sweetie, kisses constantly.  He's staying.
 
My comment is this: Lisa Shortley mentioned yellowing coats.  I've noticed
that in some of my guys too, especially Demetri and Chris.  Chris is very
yellow.  I feed a combo of Totally Ferret and Iams Kitten.  I'm told it's
not the food by an expert source.  I have no idea what else it could be.
They're coats are beautiful and plush tho.  Very soft too.
 
Whew.  That's way too long.  Sorry BIG, folks.  Take care all!
[Posted in FML issue 2899]