Hello to all who live in shark-infested dwellings!
 
I haven't posted yet, but believe me, I've been reading everybody's messages
faithfully.
 
My husband and I have three ferrets now, and we're picking up two more rescues
this weekend.  We bought Billy, a MF kit, at Animal Adventure in Indy last
summer.  Billy's one of the most beautiful ferrets I've seen, and I would
highly recommend Animal Adventure as a knowledgeable and humane store (they'd
better be--they sell *hundreds* of ferrets a year!!).
 
Next we got Allie in Iowa from a less reputable store in Iowa.  She was
"previously-owned" and very scrawny and scraggily, so of course we couldn't
resist her.  Later, when we called her old vet, we found out that she had been
given up because her owner thought she bit and had convulsions.  We haven't had
any trouble like that, but we were grateful to the pet store for being so
forthcoming :P
 
Charlene (Charli) was a true rescue from a humane society that had no idea what
to do with her and planned to euthanize her that evening.  She has a very short
tail and little stubby legs (you should see her run from Bill!!), with black
dots on her mask, but no ear tattoo.  She was whole and scentful at the time,
(John never could convince the shelter staff that she was female), and very
stinkily sprayed Allie as soon as they were introduced.  Nobody has mentioned
this as a reason to descent ferrets, but no way could we have lived in the same
house with those two if Charli hadn't had the operation.  Since she was spayed,
she has also gotten a lot less aggressive toward the others and hardly ever
draws blood from unsuspecting feet anymore.
 
John is in Indy again this weekend and is picking up two male sable furries,
named--you guessed it!--Smokey and Bandit.  They're supposed to be BIG, so
we'll see how the introductions go.
 
Some questions for your collective wisdom:
 
1) Allie, in her own perverse way, put on a winter coat a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, I know it's kind of hard to tell the difference between the seasons here
in northern Iowa (we still haven't seen 60 degrees this year), but c'mon!  Will
she be too hot during the summer with this parka?  Has anybody else had such a
mixed up little beast?
 
2) Our ferrets really didn't take to the "good" brands of cat food like Iams.
One time while we were on vacation, we ran out of food and got them Meow Mix
from the grocery store, and they went nuts over it.  Allie finally put on some
weight, and they ran to the MM bag whenever they were let out to play, even
after we got back home.  This is a corn-based product from Purina with 32%
protein (they say at least, heh heh).  Will this hurt them?  They really love
it!
 
3) We plan to move to Cinci or Columbus in about a month (no, we still don't
know which!), or should I say, outside Columbus?  Len Jaffe mentioned some
ferret-friendly vets near Columbus, Ohio, but does anybody know of one in
Cincinnati?  I'm interested for the buttheads' sake as well as my own--I hope
to be a vet student in a year or two, and I need the experience.
 
Thanks for the free advice!  We could also use some help renaming the new
guys--at this point it looks like they might become Calvin and Hobbes.
 
Laura McDonald
Billy, Allie, Charli
The Rats--Caramel, George, and Elmo, who can't believe we're going to get
*another* carpet shark
The Lizards
And, of course, the Husband, John
 
[Posted in FML issue 0453]