You ask: do ferrets get attached to their owners and do they recognize
their names?  Yes, of course, on both counts.  When I had major surgery
Hjalmar would not leave my side for about 6 weeks and the others obeyed
me though they acted normally for Steve.  They react in similar ways for
each other.  Meltdown used to let us know when Hjalmar was having problems
during his final illness, a situation similar to that described here
recently by two others.  Plus, not only do they know their names but they
know their nicknames and they learn the names of each other and of you.
We sometimes have the bump-bump or tag game where we'll send one ferret
back and forth between us with instructions to nose bump and it gets done
several times till it becomes too boring.  Years ago when Hjalmar had
stashed some fruitcake I said to him, "Hjalmar, you stashed your
fruitcake!" and Fritter got up and checked Hjalmar's favorite stash places
(as opposed to her own) till she found the cake and ate it at the third
one.  Once we couldn't find Warp when she was little and Steve many times
repeated to Meltdown, "Meltdown get Warp then Meltdown get treat."  She
climbed under the bed, emerged dragging a sleeping Warp, deposited her on
Steve's foot, looked up and licked her chops!  Granted, Meltie and Fritter
were extreme examples in language recognition and we actually had the time
back them for slow and careful teaching, unlike recent years when 8 of our
12 remaining close elderly relatives have what are probably their final
health problems (Steve's dad, Evan, is in hospital today for a triple
by-pass and my dad is in for a specialized arterial test -- some day.) but
it gives an example of what may be the extreme end of what can be achieved
with slow, careful, gradual work over the years.
 
Have not seen that sort of behavior from PV, but it's been a few years
since we visited them so things might have worsened; I hope not.  They
have been up and down and up again in the past through the years.
 
I was glad to hear that MF gave toward Charlie Weiss's studies.  I notified
them by e-mail about the work early on, though they may have already known
about it or found out from others.  Right now I am wondering how much they
gave, but that's private information so not something for any of us to
actually know.  Certainly others, including Steve and I, gave toward this
work so it was most definitely not a 'Marshall only" situation.  I'm hoping
they gave big chunky check, though! ;-)
 
Let's, please, be careful about a tendency which sometimes rears its ugly
head here to go to extremes by demonizing or canonizing.  It causes
miserable problems after a while.  Just warning because that seems to
eventually happen whenever the topic of large breeders comes up.  Keep it
balanced and fair, please!
 
Fur re-growth: it might only be seasonal, but yes, if it was an early
neoplasia rather than a malignancy (perhaps even if it was a malignancy --
I just plain don't know) sometimes remission can possibly be seen,
according to what I've read here and from others I know.  The vet Judi Bell
achieved such remission for one of her's which was in early adrenal symptom
stages by providing 14 hours/day of total darkness in her basement and that
letter appeared in the FML.  There is some hypothetical possibility that
adrenal growths are among the types of hormonal tumors which are (again
hypothetically) positively affected by increases in the amount of times
spent in full darkness, i.e. they shrink.  You'll find references on some
experimental studies if you check back in past issues of the FML using the
search feature.  Science News had a large article with many references on
the topic in relation to humans in the Oct 17th, vol.  154, # 16 issue on
pages 248 through 250 if you want to have your local reference librarian
try to obtain a copy for you.
 
I don't know about you, but I was incredibly impressed by young Steven's
logical maturity in waiting till the time is right for getting a ferret; I
especially like the way he carefully considered the needs of the ferret.
He's got a good head on his shoulders!
 
Ela wrote:
>I can't think of a better name for a gentleman ferret than BIG, or maybe
>"Gruber", to honour our moderator.  If ever there's a person whom I
>thought of as a true gentleman, it would be him. :->
 
Wow, talking about getting something exactly right!  If the ferret likes
the word "Gentleman" then there are always "Gentleman Gruber", "Gentleman
Bill", or "Gentleman BIG".
 
Bill wrote:
>[Moderator's note: What can I say? -- I'm flattered.  Must have been the
>snide comment I made about Bob Church a couple of days ago which elevated
>me to gentleman status.  BIG]
 
More the fact that you never would have posted that if you had thought it
would hurt rather than make Bob laugh till he had to change shorts.
 
Neat, I just read that the ferret has become "BIG Gentleman"; that is so
perfect!
 
Sukie
Just a quick question: why are some folks using ' when they are creating
plural words, rather than when they are creating certain possessives or
contractions?  It seems a strange error so I am wondering what the origins
are.  Is it a form used in a different language, a slang form, what?  Have
seen it here for maybe 3/4 of a year to something over a year, primarily
from a few people.  Have caught myself doing it once and was shocked by
how easily such things propagate.
[Posted in FML issue 2829]