Peanut was a tiny little thing, the last of the batch in a pet shop we were
visiting in PA.  He ran to the side of the cage and stood on his hind legs
looking at us and barking "PICK ME UP.... NOW!!" I picked him up and he
immediately began kissing my cheek.  I handed him to Don (my other half) and
Peanut began licking his ear.  Don handed him back to me and commented
"Cute.." Well, Peanut continued to snuggle and lick and I just couldn't walk
away from him.  Don said..  "not right now...we really can't afford it.  I
gave him my best "oh,,,pleeeeeeeeese" look and he caved in.. <g>   On the
hour's drive home, Peanut road in my lap and then began to explore the seat
and found a package of peanut butter girl scout cookies... Thus the name!
 
I felt so strongly that we had to rescue this little critter.  He was in a
cage by himself..  had a prolapsed colon and no heft at all.  The person
running the pet shop had opened a can of cat food chicken and had just
placed it in the cage ..had not chopped it up or anything.  We brought home
6 lbs of ferret chow (which he absolutely HATED!).  The next day I went to
the store and got two bags of Nutramax and Natural Choice Kitten Chow and
brought it home, mixed a quarter cup of it with a little fancy feast chicken
and spring water (no faucet water foir this baby!).  We had to remove it
after he had scarfed down half of it.  He acted like he hadn't eaten in
days.  Within 48 hours of changing his diet, his prolapsed colon had
completely healed, his stools were well formed and he was having no trouble
passing them..  and he began to have some heft when we picked him up.  I
really feel that if we hadn't brought him home, he would have died.
 
Don, although a critter person, had never been owned by a ferret (I've had
two others over the years).  It didn't take 24 hours for him to fall
helplessly in love with the little guy and now every night and on weekends,
he gets down on the floor to play with our "child."
 
Peanut outgrew the three level cage we got initially so now we have a large
rabbit cage with the other cage attached on top.  We snipped the bars to
provide access to the upper levels of his "condo".  His sleeping quarters
are in the upper level and his bathroom and feeding quarters are on the
lower level.  He lives in our computer room and has the run of it when we
are home.  He has grown into quite a handsome young man and now we are
living for the day that we move from the apartment into our house so that we
can add to our family.  We want at least two or three more!  :-))
 
We had quite a scare last week.  Peanut had followed me to the living room
and had biurrowed into an overstuffed chair.  He had done this a couple of
times before so I immediately turned the cahir over before he could get into
it.  He crawled under the seat cushion and didn't want to come out.  I
started to lift it and apparently caught either his foot or his body.  He
screamed and I screamed and grabbed him and cuddled him.  Every hair on his
body was standing straight up.  He wouldn't calm down.  He clawed his way
out of my arms and ran around the computer room in a frenzy..obviously
highly upset.  Don caught him and held him while I examined him.  We finally
determined that I must have caught his nose as it was quite swollen and red
(but not bleeding).  He continued to run around in a frenzy for a few more
minutes and then I picked him up and he just collapsed in my arms.  Talk
about scared!  His fur had begun to settle somewhat and I think he just
maxed out his adrenaline.  He crashed big time and we put him in his cage.
He wasn't moving much but did lean over and drink a huge quantity of water
from his bottle.  I sat there and watched him for over two hours as he slept
and took him out of the cage a couple of time to check him again to make
sure he was just sleeping and not unconscious.  He awakened about two and a
half hours later and we watched his activity closely.  He seemed ok and
played well and was almost too calm.  By evening he was playing carpet shark
again and was fine.  We were lucky..But it taught us a very valuable lesson
about ferret proofing.
 
This little critter has totally captured us and we are anxiously
anticipating his introduction to the dogs once we are relocated.  Should be
interesting.  I'm hoping that they will learn to live together.
Introductions will have to be made slowly....
 
Thanks to all who have shared information.  We have learned a lot over the
past few days as new subscribers.. It helps to know that there are others
rowing the same boat.
 
In response to the question of ferrets not being litter trained.  Ours was
until we went to the larger cage.  Then he went in the opposite corner from
his litter pan.  When I moved the pan, he moved his bathroom.  About the
same time, I also changed the type of litter we were using..  I still have
some of the old type (both are paper based) so have mixed the two to see if
this makes a difference..  will let you know.
 
Happy ferreting..
 
Don and Judi
[Posted in FML issue 1588]