Hi
My ferrets have finally met an American FMLer - and I don't think they've
got over the shock yet!!!!
Todd had made arrangements previously to drop in to see us all whilst he was
on vacation in the Lake District (roughly 2 hours drive frome Bolton). He
arrived at 11.30 for a visit of a couple of hours - the couple of hours
turned out to be just over 6 hours! I reckon Todd was fascinated with
British ferrets. He'll probably be posting his side of the visit when he
gets back home.
He met all the gang, Fritz, Kurt, Bumper, Deanna Troi, Lil, Bill, Ben,
Stumpy, Cameron, Treacle, Dax, McCoy, Daniel, Max, Inga, Blackie, Brecon,
T.D. (short for Tasmanian Devil), Jasper, Tasha Yar, Alfie and Tara + kits.
We warned Todd that some of the m nipped a bit, the only one that really
tried it on was T.D. she is around 3 months old and hasn't really learned
all the social graces yet. Todd played with all of them, except Tara and
babies, I don't know whether the gang were suffering from 'culture shock'
from the different style of playing than they are used too, normally they
are left to their own devices at playtime, they have tubes, boxes, shopping
bags etc to play with and generally just interact with each other with
occasional input from Ron and myself. The only ferret that had to receive a
flick on the nose for nipping was T.D.
I think Todd was pleasantly surprised to find that British working ferrets
are, on the whole, not vicious - some ferreters do have vicious ferrets but
they've made the ferrets that way, a ferret is NOT naturally vicious!
I think Todd suffered a 'culture shock' when he watched six week old kits
eating chicks, (the chicks are the culls from a hatchery before any of you
start thinking we feed them live chicks) a growing kit can eat at least a
couple of chicks a day. The kits also have 'Ferret Complete' available at
all times. When the kits were 3 wks old I did try to start them off on
moistened Ferret Complete, however, they were around 4.5 wks before they
started showing any interest in anything other than their mother's milk.
I've got homes for all the kits, the albino jill is going down to
Nottingham, a poley jill is going to Bradford and the other is going to my
ferreting partner, the 2 poley hobs will be going to Bedford Ferret Welfare,
Mary has recently had to have several of her 'rescued' ferrets put to sleep
and she would like some kits to replace them. I am keeping Paw Paw the
little silver mitt. I just couldn't let all of them go. BTW I didn't breed
these kits, Tara and the kits were 'rescued' when the kits were only 1 day
old.
One difference between British and American ferrets seems to be that the
Brits don't fancy chomping TV/video/satelite remote controls or electric
cables - difference in diet maybe? None of my gang have the slightest
interest in cables and as for remote controls they are just things to
occasionally knock on the floor and push under the sofa - they also change
the programs by walking across the buttons. Conclusion reached: British
ferrets don't have a rubber fettish!
Other conclusions reached whilst chatting to Todd was that British ferrets
don't get bathed as often as American ferrets and that the Brits don't smell
any more than American ferrets. Fritz has never been bathed and we've had
him nearly 3 years - I don't think he'd be too chuffed about it if he was
bathed and that goes for all of them. IMHO is if you want to cut down on
the ferrety smell don't bathe your ferret so often, the ferrets glands don't
have to work so hard to replace the natural oils in the coat that get
removed by to frequent bathing.
Ear cleaning - Todd checked the ears of some of my gang to see how clean
they were - once again I do not indulge in proding and poking with cotton
buds, the only thing I do is put a few drops of olive oil (bought from a
chemist or should I say drug store) in their ears after a few hours I just
wipe the outside of the ear with a moistened cotton ball - not a cotton bud -
I don't go for poking sticks like objects in my ferrets ears. Wax is a
natural antiseptic against bacteria and infection so some should be
perfectly acceptable provided it is not dark and smelly!
BTW if any of you FMLers are visiting the UK anytime and want to meet
British ferrets please e-mail me. Bolton is in NW England but I feel sure
that arrangements could be made with other welfares/shelters in other parts
of the UK for you to visit them if you aren't visiting this neck of the
woods! Most of the welfares attend country shows etc with their 'roadshows'
to raise funds so provided your visit is in spring, summer or early autumn
(fall) there should be one you could possibly get to. As the NFWS News
editor I generally have most of the show dates to hand. But of course, if
you want to really chat to a visit to our homes is best, shows are generally
far too busy for the one to one approach and you don't get a lot of time
with the ferrets.
Tasha Yar is coming along quite nicely now, she came to us just over two
weeks ago, after being left in season all summer. She was very swollen and
had lost fur off her back, chest and belly. She is slowly returning to
normal size since having the jill jab but has lost more fur - her hormones
have really been in overdrive! She is eating OK and indulging in war
dancing so she must be feeling happy and secure. I have been giving her a
daily dose Ferretvite in hope that it will help her fur grow back more
quickly.
This 'busyness' of British ferrets have just discovered the delights of
'Ferretone'. Kurt - the 'pooter literate ferret - kept reading about this
magic stuff on the FML, he told the others and they demanded that I get them
some. A week ago a new pet store opened in Bolton and they sold the 'magick
potion', the ferrets British reserve just went for six when they sampled its
delights, they only get a very small amount each. It's too expensive to
give them the recommended dose and besides which they get a good enough diet
without the added vitamins etc.
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Most British ferrets would not survive in the 'wild' - they are far too
domesticated! Even a 'working' ferret would find to hard to make it. The
ferret is too trusting it will approach humans (the best predator of the
lot, and probably the most blood thirsty!), strange dogs who might kill the
ferret with one bite, a cat could also dispose of a ferret without too much
trouble - now there's the animal that that the Californian Fish & Game Dept
ought to be worried about - their is no such animal as a domestic cat - OK
the cat is domesticated when it is with its human family but once outside it
becomes a 'tiger on the tiles' - more wild animals are killed by the
domestic cat in one day than a ferret could kill in a life time! I only
have figures for British fauna but the 'domestic' cat accounts for 79.4% and
the ferret used by a hunter 0.003% the remainder being accounted for by
shooting, gassing, poison, snaring, trapping, dogs, birds of prey etc.
Another thing against a ferret surviving in the wild is the 'sleeping not
dead' syndrome - we all know how deeply a ferret can sleep. You can pick
'em up carry them into another room before they wake up, a predator could
have killed a ferret before it had chance to wake up!!
The domestic ferret was thought to have been first introduced into the
British Isles by the Romans who also brought the rabbit with them. After
the Romans left Brita= in the rabbit population died out, the ferret
probably as well. Both animals were then re-introduced by the Normans -
1066 and all that and we've been stuck with them eversince. I guess the
ferret has been domesticated at least 2,500 years. End of history lesson!
--------
Nice to see you back Paw Paw - how about we send Spock over to your people
vet. - her poor back legs could do with some support, still she seems to be
getting on although she can no longer jump but has to scramble up onto the
bed using her front paws.
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the
National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK
The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS
[Posted in FML issue 1678]
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