Visitors among us!

Well, I recently made a trip to see Dr. G with JJ and
Austin. The visit was for Austin, JJ went along for
moral support. The boys REALLY don't like being
in the carrier for too long. Unfortunately it is a half
hour trip down to the vets. So they were bouncing off
the walls by the time we got there. We were there for
a couple of reasons, one was to get a ferretonin chip
into Austin, he has thin hair, so it was time for the
melatonin. Another reason was that there was a spot
on his belly that would scab up and then heal. Turned
out to be a mast cell tumor, Dr. G figured the melatonin
would help to clear that up. Austin didn't like getting
his chip, he squawked quite loudly. We assured him it
really was for his own good, but he was having none of
it. The last reason was that every one has been
suspiciously scratching at their ears lately, so we
had a peek at Austins ear goo, and my suspicions were
confirmed, there were visitors, ear mites. So we have
Revolution to put on everybody, 3 or 4 drops. Usually
works quite good. Plus, all the bedding gets washed.
They ALL hate that. Doesn't smell right for a while
afterward.

That was the business end of the trip. The fun part
was in the exam room before the doctor got there.
A new place to explore! Both of the boys were bouncing
around doing their happy dance in the excitement of it
all. Austin found a wicked fun thing, it was a waste
bucket about 3 feet tall. He just had to find out what
was in there! I caught him up on the rim a couple of
times and took him off. This made it all the more
important that he get in. I finally put it up on the
counter out of his reach, what a kill joy! There was
still fun to be had, JJ and Austin rolled around and
played for all they were worth in this great new place
with a ll the different smells. They never slowed
down.

Dr. G came in and saw the basket on the counter and
guessed what happened. He took the bag out, which had
yucky stuff in it, which is why I didn't want Austin
in there, and put it back on the floor. Oh rapture!
Austin zeroed right in on it the next chance he got
and plop he was in! Day of fun complete, almost. At
the end Dr. G said goodbye and left, and both boys
shot right out the door! Fortunately they didn't
get far, distracted by more smells. They were
apprehended and we went home.

Adventures in melatonin implanting.

Last Saturday Maurice, ( He's the one with his eye's
crossed in the photo in the Ferretwise Holiday Party
entry ), consented to drop by and help me get the
melatonin chips stuck into Starlight, Lil, and, JJ.
It turned out to be a little bit of an adventure.
In my experience it can go easy or the ferret in
will not be happy about it. The needle to do this
is pretty large. I remember Elliot didn't like it
at all and would jump around and complain. He bit
Dr G. once, which was very out of character for him.
Then there are Lil and Starlight who don't even notice
it happening.
We did Starlight first, she is a a very old little
girl, she is pushing 8! ( Go Starlight! ). So she
is very mellow. Getting her implant in was a breeze,
she didn't even look up from the ferratone to
notice anything happened. I waited a little to long
for her, she dropped some weight. But happily she is
coming back, so I will have to be a little more
attentive about that.


Since we were on a roll, we went and got Lil. Now
she is a poster child for these things. Last October
when she got her first chip, her tail was just about
bald. Now she has the most beautiful winter coat,
see the picture: Lil. She has put a lot of weight back on too, she
is a very sturdy ferret. I wanted to get her all set
so she wouldn't lose any ground. For this particular
case however, thick fur was a liability. We set her
up with some feratone on a saucer and I held her
while Maurice went to work. As I said, when she got
her first chip, it was quick and she didn't notice,
but her fur was a lot thinner. This time We couldn't
seem to get past the fur. Maurice tried 3 times, and
it kept bunching up in the fur and popping back out.
Maurice tried 3 times, and finally we had to stop
for a bit and let Lil calm down, she started to
notice.

So I went and got JJ, who was fast asleep, actually
in what I like to call the sleep of the dead. The
only reason you can tell they are alive is you can
see them breathe, and they are warm. I thought, cool!
We will be able to do this and he won't know! We laid
him down and Maurice tried, unfortunately caught some
hair and it popped out! ARGH! JJ woke up at that point.
So I gave him some ferratone and we got it in on the
second try. Now back to Lil. I decided to go get my
electric clippers and we gave her a little shave in
the spot we were aiming for. That done we let her
settle down in her room again, the clippers are very
loud. So after about 20 minutes we tried again, and
had success! We were glad, and so was Lil!