First I'd like to extend my condolences to all who's fuzzies have passed
on recently.  I imagine what I would feel like if I lost my little girl
and know that you probably feel 100 times worse.
 
Well, weeks have gone by and Nibbles still bites.  I'm know it is not out
of malice and hope she'll grow out of it.  Someone suggested making
sounds like a kit would make when another bites too hard.  I've never
heard the sound before and am using like a semi-high pitched squeal.  I'm
not sure whether she recognizes the sound or not, but it sure does work.
The other suggestion was to scruff her and drag her around while hissing
at her like a mother would do while disciplining her kit.  Nibbles hates
being scruffed, so I haven't tried that one.  Will her biting diminish
with time?  I know that all kits are different, but maybe there's some
pattern.
 
I tried the collar bit.  No go on that.  I can't make it tight enough
while being loose enough that she can get out of it in an emergency.  She
considers wearing the collar an emergency and either shrugs it off while
tunneling under covers, gets her lower jaw caught in it and flips out, or
shimmies it down to the point where it either pins her front legs to her
body or ends up around her middle.  Should we just keep trying?  Maybe
make it tight enough that she can't get out of it until she gets used to
it?
 
I tried two types of harnesses.  One from some manufacturer that uses a
ferret shaped piece of cardboard as packaging.  Basically it is just a
string with a plastic piece that has a screw in it and acts as a clamp.
I hated that thing.  It was too unwieldy and extremely hard to put on her
with two of us trying.  Then I bought the one I wanted (my mom bought the
other one), from Marshall Farms.  A wonderous piece of architecture.  The
clasps are plastic (like on the MF collar I bought) and the harness part
is H shaped when unclasped, where the "cross" part of the H runs parallel
to her backbone.  The best part about it is that the leash is a standard
type leash that unhooks from the harness.  Therefore we can get her used
to the harness without her getting entangled in the leash during her
"death throes."  She must think we are master torturers.  Between the
collar, the harness and bath time it's no wonder she still bites. :)
 
Here's my big question:
 
        When clipping her nails, she realized what I was doing and decided that
ferretone wasn't worth the torture of having her nails clipped.  Just as
I was about to clip a nail she flinched and the nail went further into
the clippers as I snipped.  I think I nipped the pink line in that nail
as she let out this hellacious groan.  The FAQ said it would be
accompanied by profuse bleeding, but she did not bleed at all.  Should I
be watchful for that toe?  I'm worried that I've hurt her in a way that
isn't instantly apparent.  This was prior to bath time (it actually
prompted bath time because her repeated attempts at escaping clipping
resulted in a ferretone all over her belly and paws) and she hasn't shown
any indication of injury since.
 
        Bath time was funny though.  She is no swimmer and getting her washed
required me holding her while she was in the water.  If I let her go, she
immediately made tracks (or is it paddles) for the side where her feeble
yet frantic attempts at escaping over the edge of the tub resulted in my
picking her up.  Thank god we clipped her nails beforehand.  Maybe we
should try the sink next time.
 
Sorry to take up so much space,
 
Jim and Nibbles
[Posted in FML issue 1084]