I've now gotten all the back issues, and can catch up.
 
Organizations & Cute Stuffed Animal Ferret
 
The first thing I noticed is a lack of info about what nationwide organizations
there are (addresses!) and ferret-owning magazines. I can't very well find out
here, so I hope some people on the list will tell!
 
Ferret World (6 Water St, Box 555, Assonet, MA 02702 (508)644-2728) has just
come out with a stuffed animal ferret, the ad looks adorable. It costs 39.95 +
2.75 s&h. It says it's 20" long (seems like life size then). I'm a seamstress
and have considered making no-maintence legal-in-all-states ferrets for some
time... I still might try my hand at it sometime soon.
 
Membership
 
How many members do we have on the list right now? Has our existance been
made known to rec.pets recently? I think this can be a valuable source of
information in addition to sharing our favorite ferret anecdotes.
 
Kang (The once Furless)
 
I guess I should have identified the animal by name... Kang is the one who
was missing half his fur. I *think* the blood test *might* have checked for
cancer, but I'm not sure... of course it would have to be in the blood. They
did an xray, but couldn't find anything either, and he's got no other strange
lumps that we noticed. That ferret spleens are larger than 'normal' is nice to
know, but I've always had 4 in for a visit at a time, and not had them all
diagnosed that way. I used to feed them Purina, but that's a high ash dry food,
so I switched to Crave (lower ash). I would also feed them a mixture of moist
and wet from time to time. Kang is a fixed male, so it wasn't heat. The vet
was concerned about Kang and the strange symptom, and he called his friends
who have worked a lot with ferrets, with no clues, other than the guess it
could be an adrenal problem. The only option he came up with was exploratory
surgery - remove the spleen if there was nothing else visibly wrong. I put
it off due to finances, and then his fur grew back, and he seems fine... a bit
quieter than the younger ones, but fine. I've decided to just let him be -
is lymphosarcoma treatable if they open him up?
 
[Unlikely unless caught *very* early]
 
Diet
 
I've been told by several vets that varying the ferrets diet is a good idea -
to feed them at least 50% Cat Science Diet and then supplement with fruit,
pasta, veggies, and anything they want to eat that doesn't give them
tummyaches/digestive problems. Dairy and chocolate (mine LOVE M&M's too, and
Rikki shocked some guests of mine by licking out the bottom of their champagne
glasses) isn't recommended... but Raisins should be a fine and healthy treat.
My guys each had their own tastes, and Rikki also loved lasagne...
 
Housing
 
Rikki Tikki (who died recently of old age) was a scrawny runt who had a sort
of dull coat, especially compared to Kang, who was solidly built, larger, and
had a *beautiful* thick shiny coat. They used to have a large (multi-story)
cage on an inside wall of my bedroom. When we moved, there was a 6x6 'room'
with a window (over a double wide stairway/hallway) off my bedroom, which
became their new home. The window had a thin cloth curtain put up, and we
installed weatherproof vents in the top and bottom of the window. (This is
in NJ, with hot humid summers and *cold* winters). In the winter, the vents
were removed and the window closed, although there was NO heat in the room,
and the old window didn't seal all to well. The most amazing thing happened -
Rikki put on weight, and his coat filled in some and became *shiny* and
healthy looking. Since then I have tried to give them fresh air and natural
lighting as much as possible. They currently have a cage in the backyard
outside my bedroom door (yes, my bedroom has a door into the backyard!) and
the CA weather is nice to them. The cage is large (6x3) and they seem to have
enough room to run about, wrestle, and watch the birds. They have their
distemper shots and rabies shots (has anyone proved it doesn't work?).
Anyway, I highly recommend fresh air, some sunshine and natural lighting for
their health, it had very visible effects on the least healthy of the bunch.
 
 
My Ferrets
 
I might as well identify the whole crew: Rikki Tikki, died at the age of
seven, a runty ferret, always gentle. Kang (the Klingon, who was nameless
and clung to a chain mail vest, wouldn't let go, and was named) who is about
5(?) who was a biter for about the first two years if upset. He also had a
*high* tendency to bite MALES... has anyone else has possesive ferrets? :-)
Nose (the albino, ^3) who was playfully tossed around a lot as a kit, sits on
shoulders and *climbs* up almost anything. One day I found him on the top of
a six foot bookshelf. He also dug up my mom's african violets on a visit
(gee, aren't ferrets *wonderful*). Impulse (Imp for short, ^2) who was named
that to remind us to stop impulsively buying ferrets! He is much slower than
Nose in learning, but eventually learned to climb up the side of the cage from
Nose, and has slowly spread this climbing ability to other areas. Kang is
kinda big and *slow*. Rikki was smart and persistant, but not as hyper as
Nose.
 
Recommended Hospital in NJ
 
I took Rikki near dead (twice in two weeks) to the Raritan Animal Hospital
in Edison NJ. The first time he was not maintaining his temperature, and they
think he got sick, got too weak to eat, and then we noticed... They somehow
got an IV in him to rehydrate him, had him for about a week, and sent home a
skeleton who was kinda eating. Then his fever kicked up, and I doused him in
ferret temperature water in desperation, and we both fell asleep exhausted
with him on my tummy. After than he was disoriented, and had to be handfed,
and we did so, every few hours, as much as we could get him to eat. He started
to pick up (about 2 weeks later, and was eating on his own, mostly at least),
and my roommate let them out for a run, and I took them to a vet
appointment later that day to be checked over, and the strain was too much for
him and he had a relapse. Back to the hospital. Both times the staff thought
he wouldn't pull through, and both times they handed me a miracle. He then
gave us another 3.5+ years of pleasure. (This craziness also cost $500 for
the two major stays, each 5 days long, and xrays and IV's and such, but I
wanted *that* ferret, damn it). Anyways, the people there work to keep up to
date, and are good. They also fixed Imp with no complications, and do all
the regular office visit stuff, too. They also know which vaccines to give.
 
Fixing and Descenting
 
The first three ferrets I got were from the pet shop, Rikki and Kang were
from Wendy Winsted, we got certificates, Nose's breeder is unknown. They were
all already fixed and descented. We got Imp at exactly 8 weeks old from the
people who bred him (they had Mom, Dad, and the litter at Pennsic). He was
so small that my three others kept picking him up and carrying him to their
favorite corner... he didn't like it, so we kept them seperated except for
supervised play until they stopped picking him up. His scent over those two
months grew and grew, and he started spraying whenever he'd get excited, and
marking the room. It was really *bad* and no one wanted to play with the cute
little *stinky* ferret, they kept picking up the other ones. We got him fixed
and descented, and after a month or so he started to smell like the others,
which is a very faint ferret odor if they're given baths every 1-2 weeks. I've
also heard that giving baths shouldn't be done more than once a week, with
mild stuff.
 
Baths
 
I noticed several owners all saying how they couldn't give their ferrets
*baths* (like in the bathtub). Amq (my former roommate in NJ, of many years
who now has her own ferrets) reported to me when I visited that hers *hate*
baths... I volunteered to bathe them, as it was before her wedding and they
were going nuts there. I gave them a bath (wet down with showerhead, soap down,
rinse, then fill tub for a soak/final rinse) and they weren't overjoyed, but
they didn't fuss, throw a fit, or jump out of the tub... I called her to come
see, and she was amazed... She's tried again since I've left, and no luck.
We have no clue what I do differently. Sometimes Nose tries to climb out of
the tub on me, but I am firm, and push him back in, and I will hold my hand
to him, or hold his front paws (so he is standing on his back paws) but don't
let him climb.
 
Ferret Hammocks, T-Shirts
 
Could this contraption be described to me, dimensions, general construction.
(I'll be sending away for the RMRS catalog). I am a seamstress, and might
just make one on my own, especially depending on the price. I have also been
considering making personalized, personal colored (with photo) handpainted
Ferret T-Shirts (Machine Wash, the stuff doesn't even bleach out). I probably
won't be investigating that for a couple of months, though, it's been a while
since I've done handpainted T-Shirts as a business, right now I'm focused on
Medieval/Renaissance/Ethnic clothing.
 
Hope this didn't blow anyone's diskquota  :-)
 
                                                *Tigger*
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0053]