Jude's Influence

   I was watching and playing with my baby, Milo, last night and couldn’t help but notice some of the habits he has picked up. I think for the first time I thought about what our ferrets teach each other. It gave me a smile. Jude, a sweet possum faced boy recently who recently passed away, was Milos mentor. When Milo first came, Jude disciplined him and taught him to behave. Jude did a very good job. Whenever Milo played too rough with an older ferret or smaller ferret, Jude jumped in and set him straight. He taught him the rules and order of the business. I noticed some other things Jude taught him, more on the personal trait side of things. Jude was a flipflop thief. All flipflops belonged to Jude and in Jude’s stash. He gathered them daily from the mud room and took them to a drawer in the kitchen. He lugged them to the back of the drawer and then up and over so they were behind it. I had noticed that Milo would on occasion go on these round ups with him. Milo would help him with the particular heavy ones that I often wore when doing the gardening. The two would work it through the kitty door (that went out to the mud room) with such coordination that it amazed me. They used the same teamwork to get it into and behind the drawer. I guess it was fun for Milo to be on the hunting spree with Jude, because after Jude passed the flipflop snatching stopped. That is until a week ago. Milo has set up his own stashing spot. To my joy it is much easier to get to….. Its under the dining table.

   Jude also had this habit of grabbing onto the twist crocks and trying to shake or pull them off. He always made such a racket doing this. Im not sure what his obsession was with those things. I was in the hallway putting away some towels in the linen closet and I suddenly heard this noise…so familiar...and so loud. Without thinking I walked into the ferret room to tell Jude to stop it and there was Milo….trying to shake the twist crock off its base. My eyes welled up.

   Milo was with Jude for about 5 months. In that time they were good buddies. Milo often slept with Jude and comforted him in his final days. It makes me happy to know Jude passed along a piece of himself….

Annoying Trait to Fond Routine

Tauvi
I know every day with her is borrowed time. She has always

been full of ferretude.
I think this is what keeps her going. .............Attitude like you

wouldn't believe. I expected her to have passed a while back, but just when I think her last breath will come any minute, she bounces back. Even at her worst she has kept her reputation as my ghetto girl. I'm sure if she spoke the human language you would hear the phrases.....
Oh nooo you di, nt
or
Girl don't be gettin all in my kool aid
or
I axe you one more times...yo! you gettin ma foods

or
You dis-in ma rat tail

She even has the head bob to go with it
Tauvi is the Queen and she knows it. She is never caged. The worst she is imprisoned (her words, not mine) is being confined to my room when I am away or at bedtime. There is a ramp next to the bed for her to use as often during the winter she will come and sleep on my chest or next to my side to keep warm. She is follicly challenged.
Due to her enlarged heart pressing on her esophagus, she has to eat soup or finely crushed kibble and to drink water she has to be able to lick it from droplets or shallow puddles otherwise it backs up in her throat causing her to gag and cough. Her water bowl is set up on a tray so she can splash the water out and drink it off the tray. On many occasions this way of having her water does not suit her. Her preference is to get it from the tub after I have taken a shower. Now, I don't take 5 or 6 showers a day so often I just splash down the tub and put her in it. She licks until her thirst has been quenched and uses a dampened towel hanging over the side to get out. Often at night....late at night ....when all good hoomins and ferrets should be in bed, she decides she wants water and not from her bowl. In these cases she will come up on the bed, find some vulnerable skin and give a nip. When I wake up (which is usually pretty damn quick) and scratch her head she runs down the ramp and to the baby gate where she starts to scratch indicating her Queenship wants FRESH water. She will scratch endlessly keeping a drowsey hoomin awake , so its just easier to get up, feed her demands and get back to bed in a timely fashion.

While this was annoying at first it has become a routine. Thank goodness not one of every night, but often enough. I will miss it when she is gone, just as I will miss her licking soup off my fingers and the gentle kisses this old girl with '

tude' give. I cherish each moment and ingrain these times in my brain so that the memories will always be there.

Tauvi and the Wild Ride of Emotions

What a roller coaster ride Tauvi has me on. I was ready to take her in last Friday and help her cross. Her eyes were tired but not telling me to let her go, at the same time she was not eating and had lost a lot of weight. I sat and had a chat with her, told her if she continued to starve herself she would leave me no choice. I told her I would give her the weekend to make up he mind. I guess she thought it over because she started eating soup again on Saturday night. I had to feed it to her off my finger, but she ate. I was the minimal amount of food, 5CCs but she ate. ...........and she ate some more before I went to bed. Sunday she ate 5 full meals and on Monday was up to 7 CCs each meal. Last night she woke me up at 2:30 Am for soup by nipping me on the arm. Damn it hurt and shot me out of bed. She hasn't nipped me like that in a long time. Today I put out some finely crushed kibble as I would not be able to make it home for lunch. I got home tonight and she had eaten some kibble as well as the 10 CCs of soup I just gave her. Her eyes are brighter and I can see me ghetto girl of attitude once again. (Don't let anyone tell you animals are stupid and don't understand. I once had a similar conversation with Emma when she first came here and was sick and very depressed. She too refused to eat and I made her the promise I make all my kids and asked her to give me a chance. She did) Tauvi has gained back 2 ounces and I am glad for the extra time I am being given with her. I know her time is limited.....but I will take what I can get.

Sweet Lielah

My sweet Lielah passed away in her sleep. This was so unexpected and caught me off guard. She and I had our normal pre-bedtime routine. When she got her last treat she asked to get down from my lap and with treat in mouth, scurried off under my bed to snuggle into the big blanket that was there for her and Tauvi. In the morning she did not come for soup when called so I set to looking for her. I found her.....on top of the blanket. She was still sleeping. Posed in one of those so often seen positions, lying on her back, head slighting curled to the side, one paw to her chest and the other reaching upward. Her sleep was an eternal sleep. Her little body was cold.

Somehow I think I expected her to go on forever. I'm not sure why. She was the picture of health outside, inside she was adrenal and on Lupron. Maybe I expected her to be here forever because I loved her so. She was my special one.......she was my sweet angel. There was never a bad or mean streak in her. She was just pure love and sweetness from day one. Maybe I thought she would be here forever because she was always so full of life.....and maybe....I thought...she would live forever, because I wanted her to.

I love all my furkids. Each for their very special and individual personality and each, for the silliness they bring into my life. Somehow...when Lielah was stealing a part of my heart, she managed to take a double serving. She was good at that. Her sweet face could always beg and extra soft treat....an extra N-bone.....and extra kiss .....and extra skritch. She was a pro. She could always play it just right.....lying on her back, looking up at you with front paws crossed........ climbing up to give a kiss on the cheek or the softest, and I mean softest touch of her paw on your foot or ankle. It never failed to work.

She will be missed and life around the house will never be the same....... but then it never is when one leaves.......maybe a tad more so with her.

Fly high and dance forever. I will one day meet you again to take you home to our Father above.

Polebean Massacre

Alexandra Sargent-Colburn is by far my favorite ferret writer. Her stories are always humorous whether they are her fictional stories or factual ones of her ferrets. I had to add this one to my blog. I laughed hysterically as I envisioned the events. I know those that have ferrets will understand......................

I've been on the road a lot over the last few days and that's unusual,I don't travel much anymore. This time of year my husband's work calls him up north to Bar Harbor, Maine. It's a beautiful place, and all the more beautiful this early into the tourist season. By mid-June, the crush is brutal. My husband's boss is happy to have the two of us go up in our camper, it doesn't interfere with my husband's work. Paying fora few nights at the Bar Harbour KOA is a lot cheaper than paying for my husband to stay in a hotel by himself. We bring the motorcycle, zip around. It's a good time. We go nearly every year.My excellent niece Sarah, now nineteen (how did THAT happen?) stayed at our house to look after the dog, the Noble Allis Chompers, Sterling the Silver Cat, the chickens, and the ferrets. Sarah is a fine ferret sitter, having been introduced to them as a little shaver when I brought my first two home. She gives them lots of out time, plays with them, and in general just uses good sense where the ferrets are concerned.Well, She has never dealt with the likes of Caff-Pow before. There isa reason I named him after the ultra-caffeinated beverage on the crimeshow NCIS. He is around ten, eleven weeks old and we all agree that he is a "Woodland Piranha." He is a mustelid buzz-saw, it's tiring just to watch him run around. Leap around. Climb around. Fly. Levitate. His daily routine makes me think of those aeronautic daredevils of the Roaring Twenties, the guys who would stand on airplane wings and hold on while the plane swooped and looped over an awe-struck crowd.Caff-Pow? Energy to burn. At this stage in his life he has no guile.Everything is right in your face, unapologetic. Immediate. If he wants it he does it. Or tries to.It was very *hot* today, up around ninety. Too hot for comfort when you are wearing a mink coat. We called Sarah (we were driving home) and asked for a special favor. Last year I grew a small crop of pole beans.I'd never tried them before. I set two wooden pole tripods on the edge of the garden, and the vines obligingly climbed up the poles. Long,dangly green beans followed. What I didn't understand was that you have to pick them young, or they are as tough as plywood. I got a great cropof plywood pole beans. I put them in Ziplocs and stored them in my deepfreeze out of Yankee guilt. Don't think we actually *ate* any.We spoke to Sarah and asked her to go get one of the icy bags of pole beans and wrap it tightly in a T-shirt with some duct tape, and slip it on top of the topmost shelf in the boy's cage, right below the top most hammie. That gives the boys a cool place to sleep, they really enjoy that on hot days. Apparently she could not find the duct tape. Shet hought that she could just make a few knots in the T-shirt and the one gallon Ziplock would be secure.

Hah.

Caff-Pow had *nothing* better to do this afternoon than untie the T-shirt, and wreak havoc. This is one of those telling events that separates the ferret lover from the ferret admirer. The author MarkTwain once tried to define what *experience* is. Experience is the difference between carrying a cat upside-down by the tail for a mile,or simply imagining doing so. Only one of these actions yields palpable experience. Sarah lacks some fundamental ferrret experience. There is abig difference between duct tape, and a few knots.We got home, and I went to check on the boys. Sarah had gone out. I could not help but notice the shredded, limp pole beans on *every*shelf in the cage, all seven plastic levels. Then there were the shredded, limp pole beans in the three hanging hammies. There were shredded, limp pole beans on the bottom of the cage, in the litterbox,just below the spout of the water bottle. There were shredded, limp pole beans in the round fleece bed. In the hanging sack. In front of the J-feeder. I don't think that much pole bean material had been consumed, it had simply been masticated. Great word, that. A fancy word for cheeeewed. Every one of those beans had been cheeeewed. And spat out, and left for dead.(Sigh.) It was the great Pole Bean Massacre of 2009. The horror, the horror.
Alexandra in MA

The Eyes Have it

Pheelia........my sweet Lady Pheelia.

Her body grows frail day by day. When I hold her, talk to her,or love on her, I hold back the tears. I have to be strong. Strong so that when she tells me it is time to go I can take her to the vets or hold her until that last breath slips away. My sadness is not just from know I will lose a family member soon but knowing what she was and what she has become. As recently as November she has gone from round, plump and dancing to frail thin and weak. Her will and spirit are so strong but her body so tired. I wonder if she feels trapped. I wonder if I am doing right by her in letting her continue on. I look into her eyes several times a day. They always say the same....not yet. I know the look. I have I have complied more times than I would like to. I wish for a peaceful passing, not just because it is easier on them, put because I am a coward and it is easier on me. I hate making that decision. I hate walking into the vets. I hate watching them being sedated and I hate watching the final injection. A fuzzy baby leaving rips out a part of my heart....the process at the vets, rips out a part of my soul. Woozles passing was on his terms. I held him as he took his final breath. He was in his home, a warm and loving place. He went quickly......he went painlessly. I hope for the same for Pheelia. ............ let her pass quietly in my arms in our home or with her cagemates snuggling up against her as she sleeps.

Pheelia.......my sweet Lady Pheelia....I am here to do your bidding

Life in the Ferret Lane

It has been such and up and down road......Pheelia still hangs in there. Her body is thin and frail, yet her eyes are still bright and alert. Pheelia is a little wobbly first thing in the morning but gains her footing quickly and goes about surveying her domain. A once around the room and she heads to the food bowl and eats her fill, still a hardy meal. She interacts with Lielah and Tauvi, giving little hops of happiness when one passes by with the other in hot pursuit. I almost expect those little spindly legs to break. Her dance is low key compared to her days of youth, you might even miss it if you didn't know her, but it is still a dance, and it is her dance. It lets me know she is still alive......still happy....still being a ferret. I know her time is limited. I try not to think about the end to much..... I pray that she will get to leave on her own terms like Sir Woozle did; in my arms, when he wanted to go and without pain. Until she is called away, each morning her sweet face greets me is another day to cram more hugs and kisses into her bags.

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Mayhem and Mischief, came to me in November (for those that have not been updates). They fit their names to a tee....... spit fires, always into trouble, rambunctious and always leaping on me when I walk into the room. My neighbor brought them to me when an employee of his could no longer care for them The are an added joy to my life. They gave Cassie some permanent companionship. My sweet Cassie Doodle Bug is no longer on her own. Watching her slip into a hammy with one or both of them makes me heave a heavy sigh on contentment. When my ferrets are happy, the world is at peace.

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Emma...oh Emma Bean...... I am so glad you have decided to hang out with me. My son brought Emma home. I thought we would lose her and I would have had my heart broken by a tiny little girl I only knew a week or so. She was sick, underweight and depressed. Her depression grew and whatever ailed her grew worse. The runs and an odor that would make a skunk run away. For what seemed like an eternity I force fed her and Sub Q'd her only for her to crawl back into her cage and curl up in her gator. Finally a morning came, her head was peeking out from the gators mouth. Was this a sign? Had she decided I wasn't so bad? She didn't fight me on the feedings that day and she actually took water on her own. Today, she eats on her own, drinks on her own and is letting her personality shine. Today she chased the cats. Today she played with Parker, my gentle giant. Today she dooked and clucked..................Welcome home Emma.

Another Blow

*SIGH*
Pheelia has been down and out since Sir Woozle passed away. It seems the bond they developed oveer the last 4 years has been quite strong. Some days she chooses to not come out of the condo and others she lays in the crinkle tube sleeping the day away. Pheelia has always been the sensitive ferret, both in personality and in internal tummy issues. I thought her mourning for Woozle had thrown her system all out of whack. She was having bouts of the runs and birdseed poo. I decided it was time to take her to the vets. The news I was not expecting.
Dr B thought her abdomen felt "thick" so she did an x-ray........Pheelia has a mass is her abdomen that is round and about the size of a quarter. It seems Lymphoma has taken over. Tests should be back in the morning. Pheelia is past the 6-1/2 year old mark and heading up to seven. They could do exploratory surgery to see what it is, but Dr B is afraid of her not making it and her leaving the earth without me nearby, or opening her up to find a big mess. She is about 4oz underweight at this time......and that plays a factor. Chemo is an option if it is Lymphoma, but what is the point in that if it only buys 6 or so months. That would purely be selfish on my part. We are taking the route of prednisone and carafate. We will hope the pred will shrink the tumor some and if need be there are some other stronger meds out there more aggressive than the pred. I guess it all turns into another "waiting" game.
This is not the news I was expecting to hear......and this really sucks.......... Angel, Sir Woozle and now how much time for Pheelia. How much time before another piece of my heart is ripped away? I knew this day was coming....I have dreaded it...you can't have four seniors and not know its coming.........I was just hoping it was further down the road a ways..... Guess not.

Sir Woozle....My Little Knight

Sir Woozle announced to me this morning that he is tired and would like peace. Woozle came to me as someone’s throw away, and when I say throw away, that what they basically had done. He and the late Nissmo were found in a woman’s garden shed, skin and bones, little hair and full of mites and fleas. The SPCA took them and when eventually put up for adoption were going to be let go separately. My son was volunteering at the SPCA at the time and called me….. “mom… we gotta help these two ferrets, they are bonded and they are gonna break them up” So in August of 2004 two more ferrets were added to our family. Woozle at the time was named Mr Woozle…. A week after coming to us he got sick……REALLY sick…. The flu turned in to an upper respiratory infection. He was still very thin from his ordeal outside and I just didn’t think he was going to make. We went to the vets got him on meds and every three to four hours I had to pat his chest, roll him over and pat his back to break up the congestion. The I had to be there when he coughed all of it up so he would not aspirate on it. To my relief he fought and made it. Once he was better he was integrated with the girls, Pheelia, Lielah and Tauvi. He was always kind and gentle with them, particularly Lielah, my little tiny girl. He played with her gently, but let her do almost anything she wanted to him. No mater how hard Lielah got, he was always soft and gentle. Two years later Nissmo would pass, his bud and comrade in arms. When I allowed them to sniff Nissmo’s body, he gently rest his head across Nissmo’s shoulders and let out a sigh. It was as if he were reflecting upon their time together. I saw in Woozle, dignity, courage and strength. That is when he became Sir Woozle. And so for another year life went on, then he became ill and we found that he had a kidney failing. He was wasting away and getting thin….weak….. and lethargic. The vet put him on sub-qs to sustain him. Instead it revived him. He gained weight, put on a lush fuzzy coat and was back to being his energetic self. All I could think of was what a fighter he is……my “Come Back Kid” Then recently his prostate issues arose….again I watched him fight all that was going on. Then came the news after his sonogram……. Adrenal………. The prostate was just a secondary issue. The right adrenal gland had invaded the vena cava…….ok another fight we can handle. He seemed to be doing well until the bruises showed up 2 weeks ago. It was a fast downhill slide from there………….anemia has taken its sucker punch and has adrenal to back it up………
Yesterday Sir Woozle did not scratch at the cage door to be let out…… this worried me. He was slower and slept more throughout the day. This morning when I took him out of his condo, he slowly made his way to the paper box to sleep. He didn’t really want to socialize…..when it was time for morning treats…… well he really didn’t care, something two days before he would still clamor for. I picked him up and looked at him. The pink half of his nose was white…. his gums the same. I looked into his eyes and he spoke to me………” mom……I love you…….but Im tired………..
I have made the arrangements. Tonight is love and cuddles….maybe a last lay in the grass… a look at the stars and I will tell him about the promise of rainbow bridge. Tomorrow morning he finds peace.

My heart is broken

Schoolyard Bully

Schoolyard Bully
That’s kinda how I see adrenal disease
I’ve lost one baby during surgery, another with side complications from liver disease, suspect 1 in the future will have it because she always has rat tail at shedding time, and currently have 2 on Lupron: 1 being in the later stages.
Adrenal is the bully and has his gang, prostate issues, liver disease, kidney disease, anemia and lots of other little cronies that get their licks in with the protection of the crowd and the School Yard bully. Adrenal’s cronies are there to add insult to injury many that hide behind the Bully’s punch, but could be beaten on their own. If you do nothing, the bully wins every time, taking a precious life way too soon. If you take a stand and fight back with lupron, pred, meletonin, sub-qs and such, many times you walk a way with a black eye, in the form of a thinner wallet, some tears, a few more grey hairs or your heart still in your stomach, but life is preserved a little longer. When we fight this bully, we know eventually we will lose. Death is inevitable……. but, if our little fuzzbutt lives to a normal life span of 7 to 10 years, in a way we have triumphed over adrenal. The more we, as ferrants, fight the disease, cry out and demand answers, the more the vet industry will do to find a cure. Maybe one day we can knock this particular schoolyard bully down to size.

Cassie the not so Cassinator

Cassie was brought home last November. She had her moments of "niceness" but wouldn't hesitate to rip your arm off if it was what she desired to do. I knew we had a long road ahead of us. Well she has made so much progress in the last 6 months. We stopped the attacks. We down graded to biting the wrist and making humans only say ouch with the occasional curse word. Now....... she only bites the wrist on occasion....a reminder she is still pissed about something and isn't ready to fully trust the human race. We can now play with her and are trying to teach her to have a soft play bite. Another big step made today was getting her to play with another ferret.....nicely...... Up until now we have kept her separate because she would attack other ferrets as well. She wanted nothing to do with them. Recently she has been showing an interest in the others....... sniffing through the gates, or poking her nose into the younger groups cage. I decided to see what would happen. I took Parker out of his cage. He is the big lug, the gentle giant and the clown. I sat on the floor with Cassie. I let them sniff noses.... she jerked back and stiffened a little but eventually relaxed and took another sniff. She sat and watched him. Eventually she wiggled to get down. I let her slip out of my hands , onto my lap and to the floor. She approached him........ they went to instant butt sniffing....... Cassie began to dook and the next thing I knew the two were bouncing, dancing, dooking and chattering away. It was like they were best buds all their lives. 45 minutes later I had 2 speed bumps on the floor. It was time to separate them so that one did not aggravate the other trying to instigate more play.
Now I know we still have work ahead of us....an intro to Quizzy and Liberty is another story all together..... baby steps....... but we have over come so much. An angry ferret that was out for blood, is turning into a sweet, playful happy girl...... See Cassie..... life can be good.........

Lielah

I took some pics of Lielah before she starts her Lupron shots. I will be glad to get her started.

Lielah with Adrenal

My worst nightmares have come true for my little half pint girl. She is adrenal.



We had a vet visit they other day. They palpated her and could not feel any noticeable tumors.... they did an ultra sound and saw 1 spot they felt surely was a small tumor. They do not feel Lielah is a good candidate for surgery because of her age (5) and her petite stature. 1 lb 4 oz. I don't think she has a lick of fat on her. She is a lean mean war dancing machine. She has no lethargy.... bright eyed and into everything. So we discussed lupron-depot and meletonin. Because we are catching it so early Dr B feels very confidant that she will have years ahead of her for a happy life as long as nothing else sneaks up. Dr B is checking on pricing. *double sigh*


I have decided to go the way of drugs vs surgery, because Dr Barkley and Dr Lightfoot agree her age and petite structure make her a greater risk, not just from the surgery aspect but from the anaesthesia aspect. I am surgery shy because I lost a 3 pound, 2 year old during adrenal surgery. I just can't take in my bouncing little girl only to bring her home in a box......I am confidant that this is the right choice for my wittle pwincess ferwet

Heartbreak-Goodbye Little Man Oscar

A friend today, lost one of her ferrets to adrenal disease.

Oscar was a special guy. He came to Toni a naked and starved skeleton. She fed him, loved him and nurtured him back to a happy, active, life loving character. She got him back in August, I think, of 2007. I watched his progress has he strengthened and grew hair. His personality bloomed and in November I had the pleasure to meet him in person....well in ferret. What a lovely little man he was.

I started to wonder why God brings these creatures into our lives, entwines them into our heart strings only to pluck them away so soon. How cruel, I thought. Our hearts fall so quickly and we give everything to them only to have our hearts broken.

It isn't fair!

It isn't right!

As tears filled my eyes and as I cried for my friend and the emptiness I knew she was feeling...... I realized I was looking at it the wrong way. I was looking at it the "all about me" way. This isn't about us, this is about the little fuzzbutts that are brought into our lives. ............. and its not just ferrets, but all animals............. I think that sometimes God knows he is taking a four legged child from the earth soon. God sees they have been mistreated, abused and neglected. So he drops them into our lives.... into the lives of special people who cherish animals, spoil them and understand them. He does this so that they can know what it is to be loved, wanted and needed before their time comes to an end. God gives them to us, to fulfil their needs, not ours. So we love them and give them happiness in their final days, months or last year, so that they can feel what God truly meant for them to have.

Fly high little one.......Dook and Dance at the bridge until mom and dad come for you.

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.