Hello!
 
I am new to the list and this is my first try at posting.  My name is
Millan and I live in Sweden with my three boys (one hooman boy-friend and
two fuzzy "children").  I have experienced the ferret world for almost one
year now and it's wonderful!  The fuzzies are both sable siamese, both are
1 year and 8 months old.  They are:
 
Ozzy - A hellion when we adopted him at 8 months of age.  After a lot of
time, TLC, and a buddy, he calmed down.  He's still a speedy ferret when he
wants to play, but a real cuddler when he's calm.
 
Obelix - He was also an adoption, 10 months when we got him, and he's the
BIG boy.  Really lazy, especially when it comes to the litter-boxes... but
very, very cute.
 
>From:    "Smith, Debbie [JANUS]" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Integrating new fuzzies
>Cocoa was being rather vicious toward one of my new babies ...
>All are fine but I'm wondering if anyone has any good information
>to share ...
 
I have experienced both successful and non-successful integration.  One
thing that seemed to work for me was to take the ferrets out when they're
sleeping and gently place them together in an open box (open so you have
easy access if one should wake up in a bad mood) with blankets.  Since they
are sleeping, they will (hopefully) associate the other ferret with
safeness and comfort, gradually getting used to each others smell,
movements and sounds.  If one seems to wake up, be there ready to give a
little ferretone or similar, so they know it's a GOOD situation they're in.
(Put some on the neck of the other one, maybe it will encourage a little
grooming.) Take your time, my successful integration took aprox.  three
weeks.  Good luck!!
 
>From:    DJTuvell <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: HISSING and other Lady(Bug)-like behavior
>...she eats Friskies instead of TF! I am trying to switch her to TF
>so I mix them in the bowl- but she picks out the Friskies to eat and
>leaves the rest!
 
Try putting some Friskies in a coffee grinder and make a powder.  Shake
this over the mix of TF and Friskies - maybe this will confuse her smell
and she will eat some TF and discover it's not so bad.  :) Also store a mix
of the two brands together for a while, they might take up the smell from
each other...
 
That's it for now, fuzzy hugs to all the ferrets.
 
Millan (the mom)
Ozzy (mama's boy)
Obelix (stealer-of-hearts)
Fredrik (the dad)
[Posted in FML issue 2583]