Hello, and Happy Holidays to you all. My name is Sue Harding and I live in Acton, Ma and am happily owned by my crew, The Fuzzybutt 5. I adopted my first two ferrets in November of 1998. Some of you might remember that I posted to the FML about their love story. Since then Abigail and Caleb have been joined by Robbie, Jojo and Kemo Sabe. Before ferrets I was a die hard cat lover, but now I can't imagine my life without my children. Caleb is a 2 1/2 year old chocolate sable who just wants to be loved. He won't scratch or bite me for attention, instead he tries to climb to the highest point in the room so that he can hopefully make eye contact with me. Somehow with Caleb, I always know when he is looking at me for attention, even if I can't see him. Abigail is a very beautiful, but petite albino female. She is 1 1/2 years old now and still a sweet, but wired weasle! This is a child who can find the smallest places and crawl into them and go exploring. My saving grace is that she comes when called! She is the youngest and the proverbial little sister, but the others all love her to death, otherwise they wouldn't put up with her antics! Jojo, is one huge white face and chested sable male. He is about 3 years old. I call him my lovebug. He just wants to be held and scratched and kissed. His favorite way of getting attention, and boy does it work, is to lie flat on his back and show me his huge belly. Jojo, with his winter weight weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 pounds, compared to Abigail's 1 .25 pounds he's huge! Jojo was operated on for adrenal diease this summer and he is currently drug free, so I am thankful for that this Christmas. Robbie, Jojo's bonded mate, is a 3 1/2 year old wanna be blaze mitt. He is a very sweet ferret who has finally grown the fur back on his tail after his adrenal surgery this past summer. His vet and I have finally found the right dose of pred. for him. I'm glad that he is feeling better, because his stress behaviors have gone away. Out of all my five, Robbie is the only one who hasn't gotten over the trauma of his abandonment from before I adopted him. He still won't sleep on me like the others will. I am hoping that with time this will change. I must say that he is one of the most gentle and focused kissers I've ever met. He kisses the same spot at the base of my nose with the most gentlest of tongues. It's very sweet to watch him do it. Kemo Sabe is the latest addition to my crew. He seems to be about 2 to 2 1/2 years old. He is a beautiful medium silver blaze mitt with garnet colored eyes. He came home with me from the shelter after he crawled into the cage where my other four were sleeping. (I had been boarding my four at the shelter while I was away.) How could I turn away an animal that so clearly wanted to be with us? He obviously knew a good thing when he saw it. So Kemo makes five and we are all one very big and happy family. This spring I will begin to take my crew out to do some educational talks about pet care and animal behavior and adaptation. My happy go lucky group will make great ferret ambassadors I think. Best wishes for a safe, happy and healthy new year. Sue Harding and the Fuzzybutt 5. [Posted in FML issue 2905]