Linda wrote:
>What an indictment of our society, that an animal can be neglected
>to death without legal ramifications!
 
The ferret had food and shelter, but also was not prevented from going
into a screened porch that was too hot, did not have a full series of CD
vax, did not have rabies vax, and -- what I think may have killed her --
did not have heartworm meds despite living in a area full of heartworms.
I consider deprivation of important medical care to be neglect.  It kills
as surely as starvation does.  Heather was the ferret's name and she is
no less dead at her young age of a year and a half than she would have
been with other forms of neglect, folks.
 
If you are in an area where heartworm is common (Your vet will know.)
then, please, look into
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/message/13103 .
 
Ditto areas where fleas, ticks, etc. may prove a danger to your ferrets.
 
What got under my skin even more was when they called to find out what
supplies i want back they couldn't place where they had put the books I'd
sent to help the ferret get good care, and the 15 daughter was whining
about how she wants a new animal now -- Hey, they are down to a dog and
several cats.  I hope that they stick to what they can care for in terms
of attention spent, medical care provided, etc.  They have been counting
their "value" as an animal friendly home by numbers and variety for a
number of years rather than by actual care provided.
 
Relatives...
 
Sandee, she needs a snuggle.
----
 
> 2. Ferrets need to have an establish a pecking order: There will be an
>alpha ferret but it won't necessarily be male.
 
So true in both regards.  In 20 years we've actually always had female
alphas.
 
> 4. Biting that results in blood being drawn is natural: From what I
>understand, the mating of whole ferrets can be much worse than ferrets
>trying to get along.
 
I both agree and disagree.  We had a retired breeder who had an eye bitten
through by the canine of a mounting male so obviously it's sometimes very
bad that way.  She PREFERRED to not interact with adult ferrets after that
(some exceptions for certain females for short bouts), and, hey, it was
her life and they were her experiences so we respected that.  Steve and
I have taken in some incredible hard luck cases and one we took in was
incredibly malformed and very intellectually impaired.  Vets and folks
like Bob Church referred to her as "border-line survivable" though we
managed with tons of work and attention to give her 6 good years.  The
other ferrets knew that she was just plain "wrong" and there were attempts
by them to actually "cull" her.  For her sake she had to be separated.  I
think that among the standard ferrets what is encountered is almost always
just fear by the humans, but there can be extreme cases which take a lot
of time and observation by very ferret-knowledgeable people to access.
 
> 7. Age is an unrelated factor in the ability to defend oneself: I had a
>beautiful 11 year old female who could stand up to the bully we have in
> our home.
 
LOL!  8 year old Warp has insulinoma and adrenal neoplasia for which she
is on meds because she is not a surgical candidate due an autoimmune
problem she also has which causes a friable intestine.  She weighs about
half of what 2 year old Sherman weighs.  She is also the one who wins
their wrestling matches!  (Oh, and she is largely blind and has some
twistiness beginning with her hands and feet but she runs all over, too.)
She does need sugar after a wrestling match because her insulinoma meds
are pegged.
 
> 8. Do not set a time limit on how long the integration should take: It
>could be an hour, a day, a month or two years.  These ferrets are like
>people.  We need time to adjust to new people.... give them the same
>courtesy.
 
Beautiful!
[Posted in FML issue 3784]