Hi Karen, My name is Michele and the nine DMK guys that come to South
Shore Ferret Care in MA, have been quarantined at my house since we got
them (I believe we got them in one of the first waves leaving Lori)

I worked with them extensively for the first month and All of them had
obviously been through SOME trauma (although I doubt tot the extent
that Luthor was) the thing is, they all expressed it differently.

The Two most extreme cases were a viscous biter (on people) and an
EXTREMELY fearful (with everyone) boy, who would hide and then seek
out any ferret near him and viciously attack.

The way I worked with the biter was to just to try not to give him the
opportunity to bite me--fortunately, he is a 'tone whore (LOL) so all
I needed to do was to stick a bottle of tone in his face if I needed
to handle him. After almost losing a few toes, I NEVER have bare or
stocking feet around him (even now, he is still at my house and is
actually going to his forever home on Friday) When he was out in the
room, every 15 min or so, I would give him tone, pick him up kiss him,
pet him as best I could and put him back down to play more. My biggest
difficulty with him, is that I couldn't figure out why he was
biting--there was no rhyme or reason to it--he would be fine, and then
he would nail me out of the blue. I would also slather my hands with
ferretone and he would lick it off--I wanted to emphasize that hands
brought good things--and fortunately, he did not bite when he is
licking off ferretone. As I got to know him better and he calmed down
a bit, I started to notice that he would start getting fresh when he
wanted my attention... For example--I would be on the floor playing
with them when they first came out of the cage--when they started to
wind down, I would do "ferret chores" and that's when he would gear
up again--so, I would redirect him from biting and give him attention
(now, I have to say that I normally don't reward creepy behavior with
what they want, but as he had been through so much, at that point, it
was more important to give him positive interaction -without giving him
the added benefit of getting to bite me) I also got better at reading
him and can now tell when he is going to start "gearing up" and it's
usually when he wants to play--it would be fine if we could teach him
to inhibit his bite, but every time he's gotten me, he draws blood and
has gone down to the bone a couple of times...

Now I can handle him pretty much whenever I want (without tone) even
though, I have to add that just about everybody else is still afraid
to handle him. He is such a sweet boy and has the sweetest face. I can
pick him up, when he is wondering, give him kisses and he kisses me
back!! I can snuggle and pat him with no problem--This morning I
grabbed him when he was getting fresh with one of my oldies--and he
reached around and MOUTHED ME gently--that was the first time that
happened.

Now, the only time he really bites is when he is overstimulated or
trying to get me to play with him. I now do not play with him, when he
tries to initiate play by biting-as I do not want to "reward negative
behavior" and when he is already playing, I just make sure that I don't
present my hands to him and we are fine.

The extremely timid guy was harder to work with--just because I had
to have patience --the trick with him was getting him used to things,
helping him feel safe and letting him get comfortable on his own time.
All I did with him was hand feed him soupy twice a day--and give him
his out of cage time by himself. At first, I had to approach him to get
him to associate me with good things--so I did the "pick up, kiss,
tone, put down thing" but then I let him start coming to me on his own.
When he did, I did the pick up, kiss, tone, put down thing" When he got
comfortable, He would start to initiated play, but I always played with
him on his terms. I used to lay on the floor and read--and he would
come walk up my body and stick his nose in my hair. I still couldn't
let him out with other ferrets because whenever I tried, he got all
stressed out and attacked them. He became quite a little mama's boy!
About 2 weeks ago, he went to his forever home and is doing
wonderfully. He is now her Mama's boy--and he LOVES to play with her
cats and dog. At some point, when he really settles in, she is going to
introduce him to that "special ferret" so he can have a little weasel
friend of his own.

I'm sorry about this long post, but hopefully you will find it at least
a little bit helpful (and both boys have come a really long way!!)

Be well,
Michele P
South Shore Ferret Care

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing,
therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any
fellow travelor, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

[Posted in FML 5805]