Some of you may remember my posts about my newest arrival, Diva, a lovely beginning-to-be-pear-shaped little sable-n-gold lass. I was worried about her activity level being low. She had been through several homes (including two different sets of my friends) before arriving at my house (to stay!), but no one ever apparently noticed that she was, well, too quiet to be a ferret! Well, I happened on a revelation this weekend about that 'problem'. All of a sudden I wondered if she might be blind. I got her out and watched her, moving my fingers in front of her face numerous times. Ne'er once did she ever follow my movements. We got the other ferrets out and tried them-- they all followed avidly. Picked her up again, tried again-- no response whatsoever. So then I put her down and followed her everywhere for a while. I noticed that she uses her nose constantly-- her head never comes up off the floor. And, she frequently ran into things with her nose, bounced back, and continued on. She also follows the walls and furniture rather than venturing out into the middle of the floor. And she never, ever, runs. Or wardances, or plays with the other ferrets. Ever. Eventually (after about fifteen minutes) she made her way back to her cage, climbed in and went to sleep. She usually never wants to stay out much longer than that. Her behavior had puzzled me ever since we got her. I had wondered if she was sick, but she looks great! Pleasantly plump but not fat, little square-built fert, luxurious glossy fur, eats great, poops great, and very loving-- she is the only one that will curl up on you for ages, undistracted by anything around her, and will lick and lick and lick. So what do you experts think-- do you think I might be right about her being blind??? It's pretty sad to me that, if she is, no one in all her life (she's something like 3 & 1/2 years old), nobody ever paid enough attention to her to notice. Vickie Diva ("What's all the fuss about?") Pandora ("Yeah, what's all the fuss about HER and not me?") Flower ("Who cares, I'm busy gloating over the fact that I escaped from my cage four more times this week.") Tank ("Maybe she IS blind! And I'm deaf... maybe we can be friends.") Moogie (""Luxurious fur", my butt! Have a look at MY lovely new coat... what there is of it, anyway.") [Posted in FML issue 2574]