Wow,
 
The text here is jumbled as I've been running a play-by-play.
 --------------------
Talk about your wiped out grandparents.  Our first experience with ferret
birth.  Phoebe gave birth to her first kit at 11:30 tonight, and the next
one at 12:30 am.  Third one was just born as I am typing here.  That makes
it 1:30 am for this one.
 
I had just finished making Phoebe's bed in her cage, when Kate and I heard
Phoebe start to complain every 1/2 minute or so.  Didn't know what was going
on until she came out from underneath the sweater.  Kit coming out!  Kit is
the term used for baby ferrets.  It started squeaking.  First one born!
 
After the second one was born, Phoebe did something strange.  She picked the
kit up and moved it out of the sweater to another part of the cage.  It
appeared to be inhaling every 10 seconds or so after she left it.  The
umbilical cord spot bled a bit.  We thought she had bit the kid to kill it.
It's normal if the mother feels threatened by any presence, but she didn't
kill the first one.  She went and drank some water and returned to the other
kit leaving this one out in the open.
 
Kate couldn't wait after a couple of minutes, so she used a towel and picked
the kit up, and cleaned the remaining goop off the kit and rubbed it gently
with the towel.  Still breathing, then finally, a squeak.... what to do.
Kate was a bit frantic and wanted to put the kid back in front of Phoebe,
but Phoebe didn't seem interested.  Finally, I picked the kit up with the
towel, opened up the sweater and put the kit down right in front of her
nose.  Thank goodness!  She took the kit in.
 
She's had a fair amount of energy after giving birth to the first two.  She
took a poop in the litter box and drank some water.  The third birth just
now was kindah painful to Phoebe.  Major contractions that made her jump,
but quicker than the other two births.  She's starting to look tired after
this one.  One more?  I'll have to wait another hour.  Kate couldn't hold
out anymore.  She's a snorin' <vbg>.
 
It's peaceful in our apartment tonight.  Only the sound of my keyboarding
and little squeaks from the cage behind me.  Phoebe was one of the ferrets
that we were transporting from Brantford to Ottawa.  I can only wonder about
the other two girls out there now.  Idiot breeders.  Selling these ferrets
for $1 each.  We have a large vet bill down the road to take care of this
new family responsibly.  We also sustained nasty bites from the protective
mother.  This too is normal in the last week before birth.  Like anyone who
purchased a ferret for $1 would have known how to handle all this.  We
certainly hadn't a clue and we have 5 other ferrets already.
 
You know what was cool though?  Kate opened the sweater after the first
birth, and Phoebe lifted her leg up to show off her newborn.  That made Kate
and me very happy.
 
Pardon, just had to go help Phoebe with that last one.  The kit didn't quite
make it all the way out.  Just helped pull it out further so she could
complete the task.  Not sure if that was 3 or 4 just now.... hmmm... Well,
it was sqeaking while still coming out, so it might have been a stuck 3rd.
 
2:06 am. Still have to wait...
 
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 Rob and Kate Adlers
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[Posted in FML issue 2306]