Hi everyone!
You may remember my post several days ago about putting Fang and his new
high strung kitty roommate together.  My plan was to just put them together
in the "neutral" room and let them run without holding either (which is what
we usually do).  I received an encouraging response so I tried it.  As soon
as we sprung them Fang went RUNNING for the cat which immediately fled in
terror.  Since we closed off the doors to their individual rooms it had no
choice but to remain in the neutral zone with Fang.  The cat seems to have
NO idea how to retract it's claws and even with regular trimmings they still
are always visible beyond the paw and more often than not, used in a
menacing fashion if you are bold enough to attempt petting it.  It's master
plan for escaping poor, love struck Fang was to run so fast you could
actually hear it's claws ripping into the carpet.  Oh, how this thrilled
Fang, he dooked, danced, tail-wagged... everything.  Unfortunately, this
kitty is severely deficient in most things cat like and could not for the
life of itself, figure out that it should go UP to escape.  It continually
backed itself into corners and froze.  Fang would go within about 6 inches
of it and when it started to hiss he would just go flat and lie there
staring at it dreamily, like -Oooohhhh the kitty.  It hissed and growled and
moaned, but would not go past him to run away.  Fang started to make a funny
hiss/huff type sound every time it hissed at him, (I've never heard him do
it before) but still just laid there very still.  Even when I would pick him
up he would just be all limp and hypnotized by the kitty.  My roommate, who
owns the cat, was insisting that it was being further emotionally retarded
by this experience, and continually shrieked "Oh!  Poor kitty girl", which
only served to frazzle the animal more.  Fang did finally take that
inevitable lunge for the cats nose and sent it flying back towards the wall
in a hissing frenzy, so I moved Fang so it could escape.  After that Fang
lost almost all interest and went off to investigate other things.  Tonight,
me and my husband tried it once more but this time Fang didn't chase it, he
just went up to it and when it started to hiss, he went flat and stared for
awhile before leaving.  If the cat runs, he will start to chase after, but
if he walks off and the kitty moves away when he's not looking, he'll just
approach slowly until the hissing starts and then go flat.  My husband
thinks that is his way of trying to tell the cat that he's not aggressive.
Do ferrets usually communicate this to other animals?  In this manner, if at
all?  Does anyone have any ideas about him "mocking " the cats hissing?  Is
that what he was doing?  It didn't seem too vicious when he jumped at the
cats face, and he's never been anything but sweet, no biting even when he
was a kit (when we play now, if he nips to hard and we say oww!  we can
usually get some make-up kisses!), did he just get fed up with waiting to
play?  I'd appreciate any responses about going any further with this, as it
stands right now, I'm kind of afraid that the cat is going to eventually
attack out of fear.  Oh, and my initial goal of ending Fang's obsession with
the rug by the kitty's door seems pretty close to accomplished, at least for
now (only 3 times in 2 days).  You can e-mail any help you could give me to:
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Thanks!
Cynthia & Fang
[Posted in FML issue 2364]