Stephanie: I'm reading your post and in my mind's eye I can see a ferret
as big as a Doberman or any large breed, wardancing and hissing in a
campground.  I thought I'd fall off my chair laughing.  (Can you see them
trying to climb up us at that size?  Not only would we be 'depantsed' we'd
be 'declothed')  No can of raisin would be safe.  Headlines would read
"Campers mystified over missing towels, socks, and soap.  Campers have
been raided, cans of raisins missing.  One eyewitness stated seeing a
large, dancing and hissing animal, possibly a ferret but couldn't have
been-was the size of a large dog-running through the camp with towels,
socks, underwear flapping out of it's mouth and over it's head.  Local
authorities puzzled.  Local tracker says never have seen tracks like this
before.  Maybe a baby Bigfoot?"  And somewhere in the background there's a
ferret dooking!
 
The other day a grad student was asking about my ferret's names, and when I
told him one was Mookie, he asked if I knew that it was really a word.  I,
of course said, yes, and he asked me what it meant.  Looking brilliant, I
said, "Hey, it mean's Mookie!" He grinned and told me his wife is from
India, and Mookie means "Nosey".  I certainly didn't know it till that
minute, but boy, does it fit, especially my Mookie.  Little guy's nose is
always twitching.  A fellow here at work scanned some of the pictures of my
kids, so am using them as my wall paper.  Of course, Calvin the Camera Ham
is very prominent in a lot, and everyone thinks they are neat pictures.
 
Socks, my oldster, has discovered its fun to take over the rice box.  He
gets in, rolls, digs, stretches out on his back the his whole length, then
pops his head in and out to see if anyone's coming.  I walked over, looked
down and asked him what he thought he was doing.  The look on his face was
pure bliss, and he just wiggled down harder in the rice.  I put Alix, my
little silver girl in with him and he bullied her right out.  The other day
I did catch Alix trying to dig on the carpet, so I opened up the rice box
and popped her in.  She is so shy, she'd never gone near it.  Whoa!  She
was digging and rolling and dooking and having a blast!  I was really glad
to see that.
 
My little Bailey (the Bop), Alix's buddy, may have a serious problem.
These are the two little girls I took and am their 4th home.  Well, last
Friday while wrestling and playing with the group, or I should say while
they wrestled me around, I noticed the Bailey Bop's tummy was kind of bald.
I grabbed her, and right along her hips there's no hair.  Now you might
remember earlier when I wrote and said Kit had a fungus and hair loss.
Well, Bailey & Alix both have the same kind of tail, only on the Bop its
gone farther.
 
So, first thing Saturday morning she's in to Dr. Kubisz.  He examined her
and said he couldn't feel any adrenal swelling, but that didn't mean
anything.  However, her tummy was kind of red, and he thought it looked
like a flea allergy, except that mine don't have fleas.  So, we're trying
her on an allergy shot and medicated shampoo and spray.  I take her back
to him on the 9th for a check up.  If there's no improvement, she's going
to probably have exploratory to see if its adrenal or something else.  The
hair loss doesn't seem to have spread, and she thinks I'm nuts always
grabbing her and checking her.  Please keep the Bailey Bop in your thoughts
and prayers.  She and her friend Alix (the Silver Belle) have had it so
rough and just now seem to be starting to relax.  Bailey has accepted and
been accepted easier than Alix.  Alix doesn't want much to do with any of
them, she's kind of a loner, although Larry says he sees her out with the
others.  I"ve seen her play, but she'd rather just relax and watch the
world go by.  She loves Bob C.'s chicken gravy and literally begs for it.
I put a plate down the other day and here's most of the group mowing it
down.  Almost all shut their eyes when they eat this, like its to be
savored.  I look over and here's Alix, eyes are closed, tongue going a mile
a minute, and her little nose is just wrinkled upwards like she's afraid
the food won't go in her mouth and will land on her lips!  Wish I'd had the
camera for that picture-it was a classic.
 
Rebecca & The Crew of Merry Mayhem
=======================
Rebecca McFarlane
Secretary
Basic Medical Sciences
School Veterinary Medicine
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN  47907-1246
Phone:   765-494-8632
Fax:     765-494-0781
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste
good with ketchup"
[Posted in FML issue 2820]