Hello again, has anyone ever had a ferret that would smile?  Smokey is
becoming more odd everyday.  Today we had a lap ferret session again but
this time he opened his mouth while I scratched him and I swear it looked
like he was smiling at me.  (I hold him on my lap head at my knee, tail
on my thigh and cradle his head and shoulders in my hands and scratch
from there all the way down to his bum.) Occationally both Skooder and
Smokey will stick their tongues out just enough to look like those smiley
faces with the tongues.
 
As I said in my previous post, and again here, Smokey is becoming a lap
ferret and I think it's because of the new girl (that he is jealous)
Daisy.  Has anyone had a ferret that was very independent, quite nippy
and bouncing off the walls constantly just change over night?  Part of
his new behaviour may be that they are no longer caged for most of the
day and can get energy out whenever needed.  (We moved to a house where
the ferrets have their own room.) Now he loves to be held and scratched
and has even fallen asleep while I was petting him.  He will still bite
once in a while but mostly when he doesn't like some thing, like taking
a toy etc.  I thought he might be sick but he will still play with me
and the other ferrets as usual, he just likes to be held now from what I
can tell.
 
OK so now they have their own room and have decided to poop where they
like.  They went from being 80% box to 20% box.  I try to spend as much
time in there with them as possible so I can monitor their bathroom
habits and encourage them to keep using the box.  I'm thinking I'm going
to have to start caging them again which I really don't want to do
because they seem much happier (no more digging to get out of the cage
etc.) having free range of that room.  I'm well aware of the fear factor
about free range ferrets even in a single room.  IE if they are caged you
can find them faster if there is a fire etc.  but there aren't many
places to hide in a room full of old boxes and a couple cages and they
all sleep in the same places so I know where to look.  Anyway, has anyone
had this problem and if so how did you solve it?  I've added several
litter boxes and they all get pushed aside, cuz that corner behind the
door is so much more private for bashfull ferrets, and the plastic runner
in between the door frame, and by that window, and ....
 
On depression/illness--My ferrets & dogs also, have acted differently to
different moods/illnesses.  I often will lay with the ferrets to let them
come to me.  It always leads to a new hairstyle and some flea biting/love
nips.  Daisy has only been here a week and she loves to come crawl all
over me.  She especially likes to climb my shirt and sit on my shoulder
above the others who boggle at how she got up there on her own.  It
always makes me feel better when the animal initiates the contact, makes
me feel like one of their buddies not just the food provider.
 
Are there any products out there that are safe to spray on the ferrets
cages to keep them from rusting?  Like I've said, they aren't 100% box
trained and the wire of the cage has places that have rust spots.  I'd
like to spray some sort of coating to protect the metal but I worry that
the ferrets will bite the cage wire, wearing off that coating and get
poisoned.  I had linolium (sp) on the upper floors held down with bind
clips but odor permiates the material regardless of cleaning.  I had tarp
cut to size on the bottom floor but it also holds odor and since Smokey
doesn't like the cage and will dig, holes spring up often.
 
On smoking--people will smoke around their kids, around their pets and
around others in general.  It is a bad thing that takes many lives & life
forms from this world.  Tavi has been with me 9 years now, in a smoking
home.  In the last year she has developed adrenal and insulinoma.  Jasper
was with me 2 years and his body was riddled with cancers.  I blame
myself every day for his death but I still smoke and I still have
ferrets.  I'm trying to minimize the ferret's exposure to the smoke by
having them in a different part of the house and by having an air
purifier in their room.  Hopefully some day I will find the strength to
end the addiction and the health risk to myself, my pets and those around
me.  Thousands of animals are cruely abused, neglected and killed every
day.  I'd rather be the animal that dies in a loving masters arms from
cancer then an animal that dies alone in a medical facility never knowing
what it is to be loved.  Leave the judgements to God if you believe there
is such a being and try to forgive those of us with weaknesses as we all
have them.
 
Dooks to all.
Laura
[Posted in FML issue 4272]