Hi to everyone out there.  My first comment is for Shari Gunter - you asked
me to email you to find another vet - right adrenal inoperable - I am having
problems emailing, so I am sending it through the FML.  Thelma has been
under surgery twice - the first time with my regular vet and the second time
with an experienced vet as well as my regular vet - to no avail.  At first
we thought it was on the right side, however, now we do not even know where
it is.  I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and there are not alot of vets
around here who know ferrets.
 
My other comment is for SP who owns DEW.  You mentioned that he hates
ferrets!!  Well, in my experience I wish you alot of luck.  Thelma and
Louise are sisters, and when I first got them they were inseparable and a
riot to watch bopping around the house!  Anyways, Louise had to go in for
surgery and have her anal glands removed (they burst - I can't remember the
"proper" word).  When I brought her back from the vet, I let her have the
rest of the day, that night and the next day by herself to recuperate.
From that point on Thelma wants NOTHING to do with her, and I mean NOTHING.
She will attack and attack until I separate them.  I have tried for 7
months to get them to get along and they DON'T!  I have tried switching
bedding, bathing them and letting the sniff each other out.  It is quite
easy - Thelma wants nothing to do with any other ferret!!  Now Louise on
the other hand, I was feeling sorry for.  So, I am fostering two boys -
Bartles and Jaymes - (yes, I will 99.9% be keeping them!!).  My hope is to
have the boys get along with Louise and then at least she will have company.
Thelma doesn't want company, so she is stuck with just me as her plaything!!
Well, what has happened now is that Louise is now terrified of any other
ferret.  These boys are gentle, non-aggressive big fuzzbutts.  I let them
smell each other and they were licking her and just dooking away, so happy
to have a new friend.  I put Louise down when I realized the boys would not
hurt her and she turned around and attacked.  Now, I don't know if she
learned this from Thelma or is she hates ferrets too!  But, there is one big
difference: I have a room for the ferts with lots of toys, blankets, boxes,
tubes, etc... (the playroom from heaven for ferrets - if it's in the stores
I have bought it!!  - and naturally they prefer the "free" toys better!) The
boys came with a long cage (about 4 feet by 2 feet high).  What I can do
with the boys and Louise is this: have the boys caged and let Louise bop
around the room and check out the boys at her will.  And then I can reverse
them.  I put the cage against the corner so that they never feel "trapped"
by ferrets - they at least have a corner to back into where no ferts can
check out their bums!!
 
This works very well.  No freak shows, no attacking against the cage or
anything like that at all.  However, if I put Thelma in the room with the
boys in the cage, she goes nuts.  She will not leave them alone and she is
constantly trying to get through the cage at the boys.  The funniest thing
is this: If I put Louise in the cage, and Thelma in the room, she ignores
Louise!!
 
Well, there are my comments and my update on my fuzzies.  I hope all is
going well with everyone, and I wish you lots of luck with DEW.
 
Take care,
 
Marion
Thelma and Louise
Bartles and Jaymes
Oscar and JD (minous!!)
[Posted in FML issue 2264]