The last week of March a couple ferret folks let me know that a neighboring county's humane shelter had a couple ferrets needing homes. So I went to pick them up. Like many humane shelters, they obviously meant well, but were a bit misinformed about how to house ferrets. They were in a guinea pig cage with wood shavings as a substrate, clumping kitty litter and a drip bottle for water. Their chow consisted of science diet cat kibble. O.K. in a pinch, I suppose, but not ideal. After filling out the paperwork, making a donation a worker handed both ferrets to me at one time. The boy was large and pudgy, the girl smaller and frail. But both friendly and interested in me. Being a natural feeder of course I had no kibbles at the house, so the return trip entailed two stops to pick up my preferred mix of kibble supplies: EVO cat poultry, EVO dog small red bites and wellness CORE cat (all grain free). Both ferrets had long claws, gunky ears and stank! Both had gray deposits on their carnassials as well as coarse coats. No fleas though. Observation of the female showed she moved with a definite limp on her forehand. Both arms seemed affected with the left being worse than the right. Her forelimbs were very atrophied and had practically no muscling starting from her clavical down through her wrists! She moved around mostly by keeping very hunched up, steadying herself briefly with her front paws and shuffling her hind feet forward. She didn't elicit any pain responses I just presumed she was a cripple and may have been the reason the shelter worker hurriedly foisted her into my arms. No matter, she needed a home. The boy was flabby, pudgy but otherwise seemed o.k. They both were set up in a FN with a crock for water and the new kibble mix. Ears were cleaned, nails trimmed and a weigh in was done. He weighed 42 oz., she was 26 oz. Pretty much within normal ferret parameters. They both chowed down on the new kibble mix. After a few days I added some raw minced and then gradually phased out the kibbles and increased the raw quantity and sizes. Within just a couple weeks they were no longer kibble crunchers but raw meaty bone munchers! Within just days the girl was building muscles and getting stronger on her forehand. Soon she was climbing sofa mountain hefting herself up with her front paws! The two of them integrated well with my regular crew, just a few squabbles. Their names got changed from "Bandit" & "MJ" to Hercules and Xena. I was hoping the better diet and more exercise would trim him down and beef her up. Well it worked as planned for Xena; in a month's time she gained 9 ounces! Hercules however has NOT trimmed down, although he HAS toned up and gained 6 ounces! So now he weighs in at a whopping even three pounds! And she weighs 2lbs 3 ounces! So much for small Marshalls ferrets! Their coats are softening and deepening in colors and there is no offensive odor (no bathing down either). Activity levels are increasing. The gray deposits on their teeth have disappeared. Both are devouring whole prey as well as raw. Hercules begged for his massage and Xena gave me kisses last night so guess they are happy here. Xena has begun two timing Hercules by snoozing with RC! So just a couple more get a chance to become real ferrets. Just a couple more know what it feels like to be loved. [Posted in FML 7422]