Cassie the Cassinator

Cassie has become known as the Cassinator. I never expected what has come to surface. She has a bad biting problem and sometimes just lunges at you and takes a chunk and other times she runs by bites and keeps going (we call this a drive by biting.) We are making some headway with her but today I have the blues from working with her. We were having a nice play session and when she would come after my arm a "no bite" was sufficient and play would continue. Well as I said things were going well when all of a sudden that switch went off in her head and she lunged at me and bit and bit and bit. I would scruff, drag say no bite and release and she would come back with a vengeance. I finally did a scruff and drag turned out the light and left her in her cage in the dark. A long time out...... I felt so depressed, not because I feel like I am failing at teaching her not to bite..... hell I expect it to take a while, Tauvi was a good 6 to 8 months..... I got depressed because I was trying to imagine what happened to her to put the anger in her. What is the motion or action that makes that switch flip and get the rage going? Are there that many cruel people out there, or is it just ignorance at purchasing a pet we know nothing about? I have seen Cassies sweet gentle side....... kisses galore, happy weasel war dancing .... tug of war and falling asleep in my arms. But she has another side and we can't figure out what trips it. It makes me cry when she gets like that. What did someone do to her? What horrible things can cause so much anger or fear in such a small creature? And then this leads me to think of all the other ferrets that are mistreated, neglected and dumped. Are we as a human race that cruel? Are those of us that have compassion for animals and other humans a dying breed? I know that when we adopt animals from shelters there are always ones that are damaged goods...... Tauvi was damaged and in many ways still is. She will bite strangers and and strange loud noises will still sometimes startle her and send her into the shakes. I am sure Cassie will be the same. I can only hope that one day she can dump the old suitcases filled with fear and replace the contents with the hugs and kisses that we constantly shower her with.

Ping and Puma Discusion

By Alexandra in MA

It is a beautiful raw fall night in Central Massachusetts. The day's bone-cold rain had made the ground give up its rich scents of earth and moss, and the wind blew drifts of crimson and gold leaves along the grass with every gust. They tumble weeded across the hoomin's back yard,and came to rest tangled in the line of blueberry and mountain laurel bushes that ringed the lawn, the wide expanse open to the stars, now that all the clouds had gone. Two small ferrets sat on the wooden planking of the back deck facing that lawn and in full view of those stars, huddled together in a warm fleece sleepy sack, just their heads out and pointed up at the dark velvet night sky. Stars twinkled in that sky. Big red giants. Blazing blue white ones. Twinkling yellow ones.Ping said quietly to Puma "But what does it all *mean*? HSUS. Apis.S.O.S. And PETA.""And DMK," muttered Puma, darkly. Both shuddered a bit at the mention of those letters. The two weren't sure what that one, especially,meant but they knew they wouldn't like the reality, whatever it was.The two were quiet for a time, considering. And in that time particularly sharp gust of wind ruffled the fur of their faces, and each helped groom the other one back to their proper state--Ping grooming carefully around Puma's ears (she was ticklish there) and Puma spending extra time on the fur right on top of Ping's snout, which never quite lay flat the way she thought it ought to. Then the two went back to gazing up at the stars, comforted by the moist presence of one another's scents that the grooming had brought out.Finally Ping broke the silence by asking "Is this a Shelter?"Puma replied "This is a home."Ping continued "But what if our hoomins are hoarders?"Puma repeated "This is a home.""The cat hoards fur mice, you know that he does" said Ping. "He has maybe twenty under the sofa."Puma calmly replied "This is a home, Ping--our home. You, me, the cat, the dog and our hoomins. It's our forever home."Time passed. A sharply etched white star streaked across the sky,and fell on the other side of the world. Both ferrets murmured their pleasure and appreciation of the event.Finally Ping, his dark bandit mask tight with concentration asked more than a little fearfully "We're not going to get rescued, are we? I don't want to be rescued.""No," answered Puma. "This is a good home."Time passed, quietly.Finally Ping turned halfway around in the sleepy sack to face Puma and asked "Are there stars in Ohio?""I'm sure of it," answered Puma."Wishing stars?" he continued."Wishing stars," said Puma "lots of wishing stars just like here."Ping turned around to look back up at the sky once again. "I bet they wished hard in that...place.""Very hard," said Puma."Very hard," said Ping. "And one finally listened."

McKay Ferrets

So 10 McKay ferrets arrived in Florida last night up in Jacksonville, another 10 went to Broward county. I am pleased that Florida has done their part. The ones in Jacksonville have homes for the most part 1 maybe 2 have a home with me. I am pleased with the way everyone has worked on this project. No ferret was left behind.

McKay Ferrets

I have spent many hours e-mailing and speaking with shelters in regards to the McKay ferrets. The lack of response and I can'ts is depressing. If you take the lower 48 and remove CA for their stupidity, that leaves us with 47 states. 850 ferrets divided by 47 states. Each state would only need to take in 18 ferrets. That could be 1 or 2 ferrets per shelter. I can get maybe 7 homes right now. If I could take them all in I would.....but that is unrealistic. I guess I will keep plugging away and hope that some more Floridians will step up.

Sweet Dreams Sapphire

I was all ready to write about the ferrets vacation in VA, then I got back opened my link to Ferret Universe and read the sad news. HRH Sapphire has gone to Rainbow Bridge. I wish I knew a way to comfort Anita's heart. I know it is breaking. I know the guilt that fills the soul when an accident happens. We can not think about the what ifs. They only tear us apart and make the sadness deepen more. We can only take the harsh lesson and learn. God has a reason for calling his creatures home, whether they be human or four legged. We can only mourn the loss and wonder why.



Sweet dreams Sapphire. Find Max and dance and dook together.

A Major Scare

Everyone went to the vets last Tuesday for a well exam and to get rabies and distemper boosters. All went well and I went to the waiting room to let at least 30 minutes pass from the last shot. I was worried about Qiuzzy and Parker as it would be their first shots. I was checking on them and there was a bit of a ruckus in the other carrier containing the fearsome foursome. I peaked in and there was blood everywhere. I started pulling ferrets out while calling, more like yelling for a nurse. One came around and grabbed Pheelia and Woozle as we could not tell who it was as both were covered in blood. 5 minutes later Dr Sheppard told me it was Woozle and that they were cleaning Pheelia off and Dr Scribano was working with Woozle. They gave him a antihistamine shot, a steroidal shot, and some oxygen. After about another hour they brought him out to me and said they would feel better having me take him home because the Largo Emergency Clinic is much better suited to take care of him if he continues to have problems. So I sat at home, with him in the small playpen watching him ever so closely. He has decided water was good and he urinated once with no blood. Vomiting stopped before we left the vets. He contemplated the food but kept turning away. I sat and waited to see if the next poo was bloody or is clean. He seemed a little disoriented and restless. I kept hoping he would settle down and rest for a bit. They had done a sonogram to see if they could see anything that would be ruptured or out of place and did not see any obvious signs of internal bleeding. No soreness or bruising of skin, so all I could do is sit next to him and be ready to fly to the E clinic at any slight sign or hint of trouble. Well at 9 PM he had another explosive poo made up up seedy poo, mucus and blood so off we went to the E-clinic Testing was PCV= 63., TP= 7.0 (can someone tell me what that is?) and BG was 143. She said to have it rechecked in the morning in case his stress was causing it to be high. He was given Sub Q fluids, liquid flagyl with chicken flavor and famotidine to settle the tummy and intestines. He has to get checked for liver failure, gastro-intestinal problems and ulcers. So after a restless night of sleep and Woozle in a small playpen next to my bed, he had improved a little. He had one more bloody poo during the night and the last two were firmer and no blood. He was drinking, but not eating. I gave him some more meds for his tummy and hopefully he would start eating. I was cleaning out the liter box, which due to the circumstances had not gotten cleaned out yesterday and found a poo in it that was tinged with blood as well as one on the paper that was also tinged. It may be that the distemper shot irritated a newly emerging health issue and brought it to light a little sooner. He went to work with me so I could keep an eye on him and I made the call to the vets to get him checked for previous listed ailments. Well after another visit with the vet, all blood levels were at normal levels, they did a sonogram and some x-rays, no rupture or injured organs. Liver function is good. His poo is getting better and there has been no further blood in his poo. He has willingly taken soup and ate a few pieces of kibble. Dr feels this was a reaction to the shot, but wants to give him a week before any other tests are done. It is great that work is pet friendly, otherwise I would have had to miss a day at work. We are a small company but their philosophy is that animals are important to people so if they are quiet and non threatening, it is better to have the employee here being productive than at home. I have been reading a lot about the pros and cons about shots. After this I may not do the distemper any more. Most states only require rabies and I do those because we travel with the ferrets. However I read an interesting article, and was desperately trying to refind it, that there is no record of ferrets, who have gotten at least one distemper shot, ever contracting distemper. Now yes I know that no scientific research has been done on this but after that reaction, I don't want it to ever happen again. I cried and cried and trying to keep myself together to drive and deal with the situation at hand was very hard. Hey everyone, thanks for all your support and prayers. Woozle still has a ways to go before being his old self again, but he seem to be well on his way. Today he ate his soup...several helpings through the day and went to the food bowl and nibbled on kibble. He is still quite lethargic but he did manage to at least attempt a protest on the flagyl today. Pheelia is keeping watch over him. She has always been the mothering type and she follows him everywhere and lays next to him giving him support. Who says animals can't sense distress or pain or feel emotions! So hopefully the improvements in health will continue and God will see fit to let me enjoy his company for a good while longer.

One Ferret Quieter

So Lilith is gone. I took her to Leesburg Saturday and turned her over to her new mom. I believe she will be happy there. Jess in person seemed like the kind and caring person I know from the ferret forum. Jess tells me that Lilith and Knight are getting along great. This is good to know because as we pulled out of her driveway, there was a bit of moisture in my eyes.

Romping under the bed..............

A quick smooch.................

So here is the low down on a ferret that was going to be disposed of in a not so nice way. At a friends request I went over to Apollo Beach to pick up the cutie black sable ferret. This is the story I got. Mrs X had brought the ferret home and Mr X had agreed cause he had had a ferret when he was younger. She had Lilith for about 5 weeks and the people she got her from had not socialized her much. She had a cage and one hammy. No toys. Mrs X wanted to give her a happy home and teach her to play and interact. Well for some reason Lilith kept attacking Mr X. Would run right at him and bite his ankle, leg foot, what ever she could get her teeth on. It seems when the children took her out to play she would get excited because the children were loud and then in turn bite them. They became afraid of her. (I would imagine that this was play biting.)But it seems the toddler got into the girls room and opened the cage and the ferret bite her in the face. The questions running through my head were:

1. If the ferret was known to bite or be nippy why was the cage door not secured?
2. How did the toddler grab the ferret to pick it up?

I would imagine by whatever was the closet body part..... tail, leg, head, neck??? I can understand Mr X being upset, but we can not put all the blame on the ferret here now can we? I think Mrs X would have been a kind and generous mom to Lilith, after all she does volunteer work with Cat Call and was currently fostering one 10 week old kitten, 2 two week old kittens and seven 5 week old kittens. All required bottle feeding as the mothers were not present. Whether or not Mr X would have carried out his threats....I don't know, but it was obvious that it was probably not a good home to be in under the circumstances. I can say that she traveled well in the car. She has a sweet and playful personality. After we got home, I let her get settled and use to the new smells.I took her out to run after about 3 hours. She never once tried to bite my BF. She even crawled up on the couch, sniffed him crawled over him and up his shoulder and down the other side of him. Nothing..... She played with the cats and I figured since Parker was my most laid back ferret I let him out with her. They had a ball together. I played with her for a bit...a little chase the ferret, and tickle the tummy, she only nipped me once and while it was a little hard it wasn't painful. I believe she only did it to get me to chase her some more. All she wants to do is investigate and play.

Her new owner is naming her Lilith............................

Introducing the Ferret Family

Welcome to Polecat Parlour

Lielah

Pheelia

Tauvi
Sir Woozle




Parker

Quizzy