Latest news from the Funhouse

Last time I posted anything was when Picasso arrived and became JJ's roomie, that was the end of July. Since then things have gone on in a relatively
peaceful fashion. Picasso was a little shy when he first moved in, but
that changed as soon as he became accustomed to the place. He is now
what I would refer to as the biggest wise ass of a ferret I have seen in a
long while. When he and JJ come out to play, he is going 100 miles an hour
or so. He is a jumper, he pounces on my shoes, ankles, shins, whatever
he can get at. If I am wearing shorts, I have to put him away until I finish
the litter box cleaning or I won't get it done. He certainly keeps JJ active.
One thing I wish he would stop, is his decision that the rice bucket is a
litter box. Nobody has ever done that until he got here. I caught him red
handed at it a few times. He is very unapologetic about it. Oh well, what
are you going to do. He has definitely livened things up. I will post some
pictures later on.
We also saw a couple of birthdays, the matriarch of the crew, Lil, turned
8 years old in August, hooray! She is slowing down a bit, but still gets
around and has her treats and soup. She has her routine she goes
through every morning, because she is senior ferret of the crew, she gets
the daytimes out while I am at work. In the morning I get soup ready for all,
I have my own special recipe, which seems to be a hit with the crew. I heat
up bowls full in the microwave and serve. Lil is last because she eats out.
I bring Picasso and JJ their soup, which they tuck right into, then I grab
Ozzie and Sasha and put them in with theirs. Ozzie is awesome, you can
hear him drinking his soup from across the room like a dog in a water bowl.
Then I bring in Lil's and take her out, give her a hug and set her down for
her soup. She likes me to dip my finger in and let her sample a couple of
times, before she eats. After she eats she goes over to the tube and
crawls through, stopping in the middle a couple times for a few minutes
of grooming. After that she stops by the other guys houses to say hi, then
she goes in the playhouse for a nap. Again, some pictures will appear soon.

September was JJ's 7th birthday, he looks pretty darned good for such an old
fart. He still gives me a war dance every day when he comes out, and hates
to be held for too long. He and Picasso get time out from when I get home
until I go to bed. This is when I clean out the litter boxes, so they have great
fun staying as much under foot as possible. After that they get their cookies,
Totally Ferret treats, and then they play. JJ doesn't fit in the tube anymore,
so Picasso can hide there from him. This is because of the prednisone JJ
must take for his melanoma. Seems to be working so far, he doesn't know
he's sick. Maybe next time we do the Childrens Museum the 2 of them can go.
That would be fun.
Well, I have spent enough time for now. Those are the latest happenings
from the Ferret Fun House. If you want my Ferret soup recipe, send an email and I will type it up. It changes sometimes depending on what is on hand,
but the kids like it. Chow for now.

Picasso joins the funhouse!

Last Sunday I drove out to Ferretwise for a cookout and to pick up a
new friend who has moved into the "fun house". His name is Picasso,
he comes from down in Massachusetts somewhere. His human
couldn't care for him because he liked to dig into the couch and was
a rough player with the other ferrets. So he moved in with me and my
guys. He turns out to be a very sweet little guy. He is still unsure of
himself at the moment, but is getting used to things.

He was either going to move in with Ozzie and Sasha or JJ, I was
hoping JJ would accept him, he's starting to get a little funny all alone.
He had a 3 hour drive up to where I got him and got to hang around
in a playpen while we humans socialized. He had fun it seemed.
One of the funniest moments came when one of the people, I for
the life of me cannot remember her name, was visiting him and she
said, "He pooped and it is firm and well formed!", everyone let out
a cheer. Then we laughed at ourselves. We are an odd bunch for
sure. ( There were fears he had ingested some of the couch he had
liked to dig in, thus blocking things ).

Anyhow, after all the cookout fun, I collected Picasso and we had a 2
hour drive home, he slept the whole way. Now the fun could begin, but
it turned out not to be as bad as I thought. I brought Picasso in and
stuck him out with JJ and JJ did NOT tear right into him as he usually
does with other ferrets. A few minutes of obligatory butt sniffing went
on and then they went about their business! I was ecstatic! It seems
JJ had a new room-mate. There was a tense moment or two in the
playhouse when JJ did a little authority asserting, but other than that
things went smoothly. Huzzah! The only other problem happened
when I put them away so Ozzie and Sasha could come out. JJ tore
into Picasso for some reason, so I grabbed Picasso out and put
him down on the floor and had a few words with JJ. When I put Picasso
back in, JJ was sweet as pie, I even caught him grooming Picasso. They
share the hanging tent thing piled on top of each other. So all is well.
He hasn't acquired a taste for my soup yet, which is fine with JJ, more
for him!

So that is the latest fun from the fun house. With the new addition
the count is 5. Lil has her 8th birthday coming up in August, so we
will be celebrating a little. That is all for now.

Another Day at the BCM

Last Saturday, May 16th, I packed up JJ and some supplies, ( treats
and food for JJ, and paper towels, a plastic Market Basket bag,
and a scoop to clean up when necessary), and we headed into
the Boston Children's Museum to do a ferret "Critter Day". I
started off in good time, but at the bank discovered my ATM
card was broken so I had to run back home and get my checkbook
in order to get some cash, so that threw a wrench into the
works. For a while I kept the music down low so as not freak out
my little companion, but then I remembered he is deaf as a post,
so I got to listen to tunes on the way in. I still managed to get
there 10 minutes before we opened, but I had hoped to get
there at 10:30 to help with bringing everything up. Oh well.

Dino and I were on the second floor right next to the big chess set
with, JJ, Elrich, Destiny, Blossom, and Barney. Alicia and Skyla were
upstairs on the third floor with a bunch too, although I don't know
who was with them ferret wise. It didn't take long before the kids
found us and we were greeting them and letting them meet the
ferrets. We had a playpen set up for the ferrets to frolic in, and
so the kids could see the ferrets being ferrets. Dino's bunch was
out first, JJ couldn't be out with them because he doesn't get along
with other ferrets. We would pick up one of the ferrets and let the
kids meet them and touch them and answer any questions they
might have. JJ was resting up for his turn, which came soon enough,
after an hour or so, the ferretwise guys got tired, so Dino put them
in to nap and JJ got to come out.

He really liked the playpen and all the stuff that was in there to look
at and play with. He even used the litter box while he was there,
something he didn't do in his travel house, in there he just went
where ever he felt like. At one point on the trip in, he had his front
feet in the litter box, and was pooping on the floor beside it! He's an
independent ferret to the core. He liked to go into the little pup
tent that was there but never got to stay long because someone
would come by and want to meet him. He was such a good boy!
I was very proud of him, he put up with a lot that day and didn't
complain once! We met quite a few nice people and had a lot of
fun. We were there from 11am to 3pm, and afterwards, we
parked the ferrets and our stuff in a safe place and went to
eat. This gave JJ time to rest up so that on the way home he
could bounce off the walls of his travel house and generally
drive me nuts. Kept me alert though!

Spring cleaning at the "Fun House" and other things.

Well springtime means some cleaning up is going to get done around the
house, specifically the room where my little buddies spend their time. It
wouldn't be so bad if they could hit the litter box a little more accurately.
Tends to get smelly after a while, then one day a couple weeks ago, while
I was tending LizBeth, I noticed on the second floor of the kids condo,
that is what I call the group of Ozzie, Sasha, and the late LizBeth since
they are all relative youngsters, a curious big ball of something right at
the bottom of the ramp up to the 3rd floor. Closer inspection showed
it to be something like people find dropped from airliners, except NOT
frozen. Well this was pretty gross. someone was being very lazy. So,
I am going to have to take their home outside on a warm day and take
the power washer with some bleach to it. JJ isn't exactly mister clean
either. His mess is caused by slopping his morning soup all over
creation. For good measure I will probably do Lil's too, while I have
the power washer.

A few days ago, Maurice came by to implant melatonin chips in Lil and JJ,
and pick up some implants I had for his kids. Fortunately it all went
smoothly this time around, the last few times getting the implant
into Lil has been a problem because her hair is so thick the implant
would get caught in it and pop back out. This time we had good luck
and he got it in her first try.

Well, I will keep this one short, as I can think of nothing else. On
May 16th, JJ and I will be at the Boston Children's Museum with
the Ferretwise crew meeting and greeting all the kids that want
to stop by. We always have fun there. I think we will be there
between 10am and 2pm, Alicia will leave a comment if I am
wrong. Come by and say hi to the J-man, the handsomest
ferret boy around. He told me so! :-)

Fairwell Lizbeth

This past Monday April 30, 2009 at approximatelt 8 am one
of my charges, LizBeth, passed away, which made Monday
a pretty sad day for me. LizBeth was a ferret with an attitude.
She had teeth and new how to use them. I like to think she
held back for me because after a while living at my house,
she would let me give her nutrical on my fingertip without
taking a nip. She was my only ferret that had a warning label
on her file at the vets office. I was kinda proud of that for her.

A few weeks ago I had noticed she had lost a bunch of weight
even though she ate a lot, and she was having trouble with
her hind end. So we went off to see Dr G. He knows LizBeth
and was concerned she was so easy to do things too now,
that had never been the case before. So we took a blood
sample and sent it out, but that came back pretty normal. He
did an x-ray and it showed she had white stuff in her lungs,
so we decided to put her on a course of antibiotics cause he
thought it may be pneumonia. So we did that for a 14 day
course, but there was no change, and when x-rayed again
she looked the same. So he knocked her out and took a
sample to send off. It came back that it was a
pyogranulomatous inflammation. This could be caused by
a foreign body. There were no cancerous cells in the stuff
in her lungs, but it could be anywhere.  So the treatment we
decided on was to really hit it with a bunch of antibiotics.
Amoxicillin, marboflaxin, and metacam.

During this whole thing she never lost her appetite. She would
have her soup in the morning, and all the Totally Ferret treats
she could eat. But she was always tired. She would sit on my
lap in a sleep sack and watch tv with me, and eat treats. The
last morning, I got up as usual and made everyones soup.
LizBeth didn't want any. I put some on my finger and she
licked it off a couple of times. Then she bit me, just a nip.
So I let her be and wrapped her in a blanket in her bed.
I had a physical therapy appointment, so I went to that. When
I got back an hour later, she must have just gone. So I
wrapped her in a blanket, and said goodbye. Fairwell
LizBeth Ozzie, Sasha, and I will miss you.

Some Awesome JJ news and other things

Well, the last Saturday in January, which was also the last day in January,
JJ and I went for a checkup with Dr G, Just to see how the lymphoma was
doing. The appointment was for 8 am in the morning, ( I say it like that,
cuz for me to get up early enough to get dressed and wake up, and
assemble the ferret in his carrier to get there on time, not to mention
dispense morning soup all around, I have to get up WAY earlier than
I want to on a Saturday! Thus the double emphasis). To continue, we
got there in good style, even having enough time for me to get a DD
coffee. 8 am is like the first appointment slot, and we actually got there
10 minutes early, so we had to hang out and listen to the radio a bit.
We went inside and they put us in a room to await the doctor, I let JJ
out for some quality exploring time, a ferret can not go to a different
room and not check out every corner, and also go to the bathroom in
one or two. We played a bit too, by the time the doctor got there, JJ was
pretty wound up and ready to go. Some poking and prodding later, JJ was
declared in remarkably good shape for a senior citizen, and surprisingly
energetic! ( I failed to mention to him that I had wound JJ up, but that's
ok ). The tumor on his next was soft and a little smaller, his weight was
about the same as last time we were there, so all in all things look good,
JJ should be able to make the trip to the Children's Museum in May.

About 5 years ago, Alicia at ferretwise gave me an old kitten playhouse
to clean and fix up for my ferrets. I promptly brought it home and put it
in the basement with the well meaning intention of fixing it up right away.
Well, last week I finally got it done! I cleaned it up, put new rug in it, and
made a ramp so the kids could access the second floor. Better late than
never I guess. They love it of course, I put a big fleece blanket, one of
JJ's secret Santa gifts, thank you secret santa! You know who you are.
They spend alot of time in there. LizBeth likes it best. I can always find
her napping in there.

I will now digress from ferrets to a fun cat story. My almost 5 year old
mackeral stripe tabby cat, Igor, ( pronounced eye-gore ), had himself
a little adventure a couple of weekends ago. It was during a pretty cold
snap of weather, I think it was like 5 degrees out at the time. I had gone
down to the basement to put some wood on the fire, and he ran down
the stairs between my legs, it has to be between my legs otherwise he
won't almost trip me up. It's a game he plays. Igor is an indoor cat, too
many things around my house that would take him for a snack, coyotes,
fisher cats and the like. He is always a little curious about what is on the
other side of the door, but has never made a break for it. I went out and
got some wood, and came back in. Stoked up the wood stove and went
back upstairs for coffee. About a half hour later I went down to get
something and I heard him meowing. This is no big deal, he is a very
talkative kitty, but I couldn't find him. It almost sounded like he was in
the wall. I went back upstairs thinking he might have got into the
bathroom closet, no dice. I went back downstairs and could still hear
his muffled meow. I went to the door and opened it and looked out in
the direction I heard the meowing from. There was my little bundle of
joy sitting in the snow in the 5 dgree weather. I asked, "Did we learn a
lesson today?". I went out and he let me pick him up and bring him in.
He stayed away from the door for a few days after that.

Ho Ho Ho!

  Last Saturday, Dec 13th, I trucked myself, ( literally, I drove
my 2002 Ford Ranger), out to the Keene, NH Petco so that I
could put on the Santa suit and pose for pictures with peoples
pets. All in the spirit of Christmas and raising money for the
Ferretwise shelter. There was supposed to be several of us
there, I volunteered to be Santa, and I was supposed to have
2 or 3 elves, but due to the nasty ice storm the previous day,
some helpers had to stay home. It ended up being, Dino,
Alicia, and I and a petco employee to man the printer.

  There were actually people lined up and waiting with their
pets when I came out of the changing room so we got right
to business. I haven't got a final count from Alicia, but we
must have taken at least 30 photo's. There were a whole
bunch of dogs of various breeds, 3 cats, and a bunny. There
were also a couple of children thrown in for good measure.
A couple of families did family photo's with their pet and
Santa. Alicia got to be a better photographer as the day went
on. We were there from 11 am until 5 pm. I took the beard
off in between, with Alicia keeping a watch out for children
going by. I wasn't going to be the one to dash beliefs about
Santa.
  I really enjoyed the day being the big man. I know it
was to take pet pictures, but the smiles I got from little
children when they walked by made me feel really good. One
little guy kept steering his father around the store to come by
me again, and he had a big smile on his face. I really liked
that. One nice lady told me I was too young and too skinny
to be Santa, I thanked her. I am happy I was able to make
a few peoples day and maybe Christmas a little brighter.

In which JJ gets better

  When we were at the Children's Museum in October, I found
fairly good sized lump on JJ's neck that I hadn't noticed
before. It most definitely was not a good thing. So after
the day of fun, ( read previous post ), we went home and
I made an appointment to see Dr Guerino. Actually, it was
an appointment I had for Ozzie and Lizbeth that I switched
to JJ. They couldn't all go together cuz JJ is a ferret that
only likes people, with a very select few ferret exceptions.
We went on down at the assigned time and JJ got a strange
room to explore, rapture! He was so excited he was war
dancing all over the room, stopping in a corner to leave
the requisite present. I never have to bring a stool sample
in a bag, I just bring it in the ferret, it's easier that way.

  After a while Dr G came in and we got down to business
after the obligatory hello's. JJ was pocked, prodded, and
examined for a while. The doctor did not like the look or
feel of the new addition to JJ's neck. He took JJ to get a
sample for biopsy. So a few days needed to be waited for
to get the results, in the meantime we had JJ on some
antibiotics just in case. When the results came back,
they were of course bad, it was lymphoma, which was
not really a surprise, but I had hoped not.

  This left a couple of options open, chemo therapy, which
I didn't really like the idea of. It would just make his
quality of life not to good and for the moment, JJ didn't
know he was sick. He was the same happy boy he had
always been. The other option was a course of prednisone,
Which would possibly give him ulcers after a while if
He got some on an empty stomach. But I had talked to a
couple of people who had had luck with it. The other
option was to do nothing, but I went for the prednisone.
I just make sure he has eaten something before he gets
it. He loves the fact he gets all the stuff to eat. The
easiest is right after the morning soup. It is also made
easy by the fact that they compound the medicine with
a watermelon flavor that JJ loves, so getting it in him is
no chore.

  The dosage was .5ml twice a day for 2 weeks, then .5ml
once a day for 2 weeks. I was so pleased when after just
4 or 5 days the lump was mostly gone! Now after 4 weeks
it's like it was never there. I know the cancer is still in there
somewhere, but I think it is in recession for a while at least.
So with any luck JJ will be around for a good long while,
war dancing, eating treats and Greg's special blend soup!

Another day at the BCM ( 10/18/08 )

Last Saturday, JJ and I travelled to Boston and the
Childrens Museum for "Critter Day" with the Ferretwise
folks. Austin went with us last year, but he sadly passed
away from bone cancer this past spring. First, he got
his daily serving of soup, which he loves, then we were off.
We got there around about 10:30am and Dino met us
at the back door loading dock to let us in. Things were
already in swing, and we didn't open until 11:00! Turns
out there was a PBS camera crew running around the
museum and they decided to do a piece on us for a kids
show. I didn't get to make my TV debut, but they did
a spot with Alicia and talked about our furry friends.
After that we got things set up and were ready for the
business of introducing ferrets to any children that
came by, and they did.

This year there were 4 of us there showing off the
ferrets, Alicia and Dino, Susan and I. They brought 4 ,
Elrich, Barney, Destiny, and Blossom. We had a playpen
set up for who ever was on show at the time with a tent,
a sleep sack or two, food, water, and a litter box. And of
course treats! JJ had to take a back seat for a while
since he doesn't get along with other ferrets, just people.
So we set about the business of introducing and answering
questions. One little 2 or 3 year old guy thought Blossom was a
stuffed toy and tried to grab her from me at one point,
fortunately his father saw it and stopped him, then he
started crying because he wanted the toy. He just
didn't understand Blossom wasn't a toy. She was a stuffed
animal though! Wow, did those guys eat a lot of
treats! N-bones, cheweasles, foamy fries, cheerios,
you name it.

Once the 4 got tired, they went in for a nap, and JJ
got to come out and say hi, boy was he happy, he had
his share of treats, and got to look around the play
pen wondering where the ferrets that matched the smells
in there were. He didn't get to stay down long, I kept
picking him up to introduce him to children that came
by. Everybody loved him of course and he was very
patient with them. JJ didn't seem to get tired, even
when we put him in, and took out the 4 after their nap,
he was awake and bouncing around! We were there from
11 am to 2 pm, then we packed our stuff up and headed
for home, We were sorry to say goodbye, because
the kids were still coming, but our time was up and the
ferrets were pooped.

On the drive home JJ slowly, VERY slowly settled
down. He was still excited from all the new sights
and sounds he had been through. He was up until we
got home and I settled him back down in the room with his
brothers and sisters, Lil, Ozzie, LizBeth, and Sasha. Back
in his room with all the familiar smells, his poop was
finally popped, he crashed until after the Red Sox game,
when it was his turn to come out and run around.

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!

Can't we all just get along!?

In an attempt to make things easier on myself, I wanted
to try and integrate 2 of the groups I have. Right now
there are 3 separate groups who have their own run times.
Lil and Starlight are what is left of the original bunch
from when I moved into my house 7 years ago. Having
seniority in the house as it were, they get to have
during the day while I am at work for their run time.
The next group is JJ and Austin. They get to be out
from when I get home around 5:30 pm until I go to bed.
Now to try and make things fair I try to stay up until
midnight so they have equal time out. Then just before
I turn in I put the boys to bed and let out the kids.
These are Sasha, LizBeth, and Ozzie. LizBeth is barely
a year old and Sasha is 2 and half or so. I think
Alicia said Ozzie is 5, so he isn't technically a kid,
but who's counting? These guys stay out until I wake
up around 5 am. Sometimes I get home late if I am doing
something after work, so somebody gets cheated out of
their play time. So I make up for it on the weekends
if I can and leave that group out a little longer.

I have these groupings because nobody has tolerated
anybody from outside their own group. The drawback to
this all is I don't end up getting a lot of sleep during
the week and have to try and make up for it on the weekend
myself, which means I don't get a lot done around the
house, and I am pretty run down most of the time. So I
thought, these guys have all been in the same room with
each other for a year or so, they must be used to each
other by now. So I tried a little experimentation to
see if I could cut down to 2 run times. Lil pretty much
has disliked everyone except for Starlight since her
brother Phil and Sinbad passed away. I was hoping that
the melatonin chip would have mellowed her a little. It
did such a great job otherwise, she has a wonderful winter
coat this year! ( Her tail was nearly bald back in October).
So I put her out with Austin figuring that he is about
as mellow a guy as you can get. No go, she went right for
him and wouldn't let go. I didn't even want to think what
would happen with JJ. I waited a day, and then tried to
see what she would do with Sasha, who is the definite
dominant one in her group. No go there either. Lil likes
who she likes.

So I waited a week and thought I would try and see if JJ
wanted make nice with another ferret. So I put him and
Ozzie out. JJ is a ferret who likes people, not ferrets.
He thinks he is a person. He likes Austin and that's
about it. JJ pounced right on Ozzie and got him by the scruff
and wouldn't let go. It took a couple of minutes to get him
to let go. So much for that experiment. I felt bad for Ozzie,
he didn't do anything! So he came out and watched TV with me
for a while. Which wasn't long, there isn't a ferret around
that will sit still for more than 5 minutes when in a new
place. I couldn't let him roam out where we were though, it
is not ferret proofed, and the cat doesn't seem to like
ferrets. But he seemed to have gotten over the ordeal. I gave
him a chicken N-bone, and he was content. (This meant I
had to give Sasha and Lizbeth one as well. Fairs fair.).
SO the integration of groups is not to be. I think I am going
try and make some kind of room divider so I can let the
boys and the kids out at the same time. We'll see.

I have to add that this is in no way a complain post about the
ferrets. I love my kids to death. It is just me rambling on
about the latest madness going on around here. peace.

Ferretwise Holiday Party

Well, on December 1st, we held our little Christmas
get together with all the people that are involved
with Ferretwise. People in attendance were, Marilyn,
Skyla, Susan, Maurice, Dino, Alicia, and of course,
me. Ferrets in attendance in this case were, Nestle,
since we were in his domain. He suffers Alicia to
have her art studio there too. We started off in the
studio for snacks and chatting, was also open house
time for Alicia's studio, http://www.earlysunrisefineart.com/

It was good to have time to chat and get caught up with
people. We then adjourned to Lee & Mt Fuji restaurant
for dinner and the traditional Yankee Swap. I will
attempt to attach a photo of the group, haven't done
this before, so I hope it works. I ended up with what
I brought for the swap, but that's ok. I purchased
something I would like to get, what planning! When we
first arrived, Marilyn pointed out to me that my
shirt was on inside out. She thought maybe it was some
new style, and I briefly thought of going with that,
but decided that I would just be truthful and then point
out that it was like that the whole time back at the
studio, and nobody noticed. If it isn't weasel like
and furry, we are a pretty unobservant bunch.

Back Row: Me, Susan, and Dino
Front Row: Skyla, Alicia, and Maurice
Not pictured: Marilyn (She's taking the picture)

After that some of us went back to the studio for
some coffee and more socializing. Plus we had to
play with Nestle a little bit. There were 2
packages there for me to grab, one for Ozzie and
LizBeth, and another for JJ and Austin. These were
their Christmas gifts from their secret Santa's. They
also helped me out a bunch as they had a bunch of supplies
that get used by everybody. So it was great all around.
Thank you to the secret Santa, you know who you are. I
don't, that's why they are Secret Santa's. After
coffee and more snackie things than I needed, it was time
to go. I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me, it was a fun time
altogether.

LAUNDRY DAY

Last weekend, I had decided it was time all the
bedding for the kids needed to be washed. This
is a semi annual event. These guys REALLY hate
it when I do the laundry. They like things just the
way they are. Lil was the only one that seemed to
think it was a fun time. I did it one house at a
time, starting with the 2 boys, JJ and Austin. I
started removing the dirty stuff, hammocks, sleep
sacks, and so on. Now the boys were occupying the
place at the time. It was Lil and Starlights time
out. Austin did not want me doing this, he, to my
surprise, very uncharacteristically nipped at my
hand a few times during the process. Austin never
does this! JJ will do it in the excitement of play,
but Austin seems so mild mannered. I got the job
done despite the protests.

As I pulled stuff out I dumped it in a pile on the
floor. This led to lot's of entertainment for Lil.
She had been asleep in the carrier in the corner
but came out when she heard me rustling around.
All this stuff on the floor to crawl through!
And it smelled like all those other guys she
wished she could get at to show them who is
the boss! She was crawling around frantically
doing the cluck sound ferrets do when they get
really excited. Her tail was totally bottle
brushed too. Lil spent the whole time I was
in there rummaging through all the dirty
laundry. I had to give her a foamy fry to
distract her so I could pick it up and take
it to the washing machine. Of course everyone
saw me do that and it meant treats all around.
I am such a soft touch.

Boston Children's Museum and other things.

Hi, It's been a good long time since I wrote anything, so I figured

I ought to. Alicia needs more material for the news letter anyhow.
On September 15th, JJ, Austin, and I went into the Boston Children's
Museum for a Critter Day. We had a little section of the museum to
set up a play pen and introduce the ferrets to any kids that wanted
to meet them. We were there with some of the shelter folks, Alicia
and Dino, Susan and Skyla were there too. As well as some of the
shelter occupants. I for the life of me can't remember which one's,
but JJ and Austin were there, so that is all that matters!

It was a very fun day, we met quite a few people and introduced them
to the ferrets. JJ and Austin also got to get re-aquainted with some
of their pals from when they lived in the shelter. They enjoyed
themselves as much as we humans did. All that unsolicited attention!
Finally they got the limelight they deserved. On the drive into Boston,
My 2 boys were incredibly antsy, I took them in the detachable top
floor of their condo. I had it all neatly arranged. Corner litterbox
in place, food here, bed there, mat under all. By the time we got
there, the litter box and food had been spilled a couple of times,
and the bedding was everywhere! So they were full of energy for
the day. The trip home was the complete opposite. Once we got out
of the building and into the car and traveling, they settled
right down and went straight into what I like to call the ferret
sleep of the dead. In this state it takes an atomic bomb blast
to get a ferret to stir. Even when you get their attention, they
will open up one eye and say, what? The first time I encountered
this phenomenon was with my first ferret, Mishka. I cam home
found her curled up and unresponsive and was really sad because
I thought she had passed on. When they get like that, they are
limp as a wet noodle, and will usually have a tongue hanging out.
Then I realized, wait a minute! She's very warm, and breathing!
I was tapping her on the forehead for a minute or so before
she stirred and opened one eye with the attitude of, what
do you want?

Other things going on at home, I have instituted some tooth
brushing. Starting with Starlight and Ozzie who had some
gross things growin in their mouths. Now Starlight is a tiny
little thing, we just weighed her last week at the vets and
she was at 640 grams, which is a good weight for her. I bought
a couple of children's ultra soft tooth brushes and some kitten
tooth paste and started out. When I scruff her, she can make
it with her neck, so there is nothing to grab. I will eventually
get a hold on her. But when I start brushing, then the fun begins!
She will thrash about like a little devil. I can't keep a grip
on her. She spins her bottom around like a top. She spends
most of the day sleeping and resting, she is almost 8, so
she has plenty of energy to spare. I will eventually get the
deed done, but we are both usually covered in tooth paste!
After that it's Ozzie's turn. He lets me scruff him and brush
away for as long as I want. Go figure. This is the one that
Alicia sent with me because he chomped on too many people.
He is fine with me. Hasn't tried in a while. I think he is
content. Well, that is all for now. Life goes on, there
are always plenty of N-bones and other treats, who could
ask for more?

Awesome Austin and the J Man

Last Saturday we had our monthly get together of Ferretwise
people. We met at the shelter instead of the Colony Mill
Marketplace so we could do some clean up work and have a
barbecue. JJ went for a ride with me to visit with Austin.
They were roommates when JJ lived at the shelter. Austin
is the only ferret that JJ likes, any other ferret he
tries to beat up. Austin was supposed to go with some
other people who ended up not being able to take him,
so he came home with JJ and I so they could be roomies
again. We just had to make sure JJ remembered Austin,
fortunately he did. So while I cleaned carriers and
ate barbecue, they got reacquainted and played.

On the trip out, JJ was all full of energy
for some reason, usually when I travel with any of the
kids, they just hang out in a hammock and sleep. Not
JJ, he was bouncing off the walls, kept trying to
turn the litter box over and generally messed his
carrier up. Fortunately on the trip home, with
Austin in there with him, he was calmer and napped.
I think he had played pretty hard and was worn out.

Austin has moved right in and is getting used to
his new home. I discovered he is a door charger, the
first time they were out to play, I opened the door
to go in and he zipped out right between my feet.
He didn't get far though, I think he was confused
because he didn't recognize the place. I was told
by Alicia that he got out last week and was in her
fabric room having a grand old time. I think he
was looking for that. I was able to nab him while
he was standing there. His befuddlement didn't
last long though, he goes at the door every time
I open it when he is out. Even if he is across the
room. I am ready for him now though. So now I have 2
of them, Lil likes to do that too. Keeps me on my
toes.
JJ is now a happier boy than he was before, if
that is possible. He has his roommate back to
help in any shenanigans he might want to get into.
He is so funny when I let them out for their play
time. They won't come out on their own, I have to
lift them out and give a hug. But when I put JJ
down, he never lands on his feet. He is so
excited to get going he is squirming all over the
place, so he ends up falling over on his side
usually. He will then run around in a circle a
couple of times. After that he makes a dash for
under the chest of drawers I have in there to hold
bedding and stuff for them. This is the funniest
part because JJ is a large boy, so he has to squash
down with his hind legs spread eagle to get under
there. He does this at top speed though, which is
why it is kind of comical to watch. After he gets
under he sticks his nose out to see if I am still
there, because he wants to play some more. I always
oblige him. The sack game is his favorite.( See
the airport post for the description of this.).

While at the airport

While I sit at the Manchester NH airport waiting for my delayed flight,
I thought I would write a post. Try to catch up on what has been going on.
I am flying down to Atlanta to do a face to face interview with a company
called Danger. The job is up here, but the guy I will work for is located in
Duluth Ga. So I get a trip on them down there. Fun, huh? The flight is
delayed by 3.5 hours or so, thus the wait.
Well, there is a new face at the ferret fun house. JJ a.k.a. Jeremiah Jr.
has moved in to the empty house in the ferret room. He is a real sweet
heart of a ferret. His problem is, he doesn't like other ferrets, just people.
So he hangs out alone, until I get home from work to play with him. Then
he is all energy. He loves playing with his Rikki Tikki Snake toy. I think
he likes the rattle in it. He can jump up as high as my knee, which is
pretty good considering his size. He likes to play the jump in the sack
game too. I hold a sleep sack open in front of him and shake it around
in the air and he will jump into it. He enjoys that a lot. He likes his
soup too. Every morning he gets a bowl and finishes the whole thing.
I caught red handed LizBeth sleeping in the litter box on the first
floor of the youngsters house. Alicia put it beautifully when she said,
"Oh for pete's sake!". This explains why it's always such a
mess in there! ;-) When they are out to play they poop all over the
floor too. Kids, I go through a lot of paper towels because of them,
but that's ok, I shop at BJ's and buy in bulk. I have noticed they get
better as they get older. We will see if that holds true. At least LizBeth
lets me trim her nails now. Time was she didn't want the ferrettone
and would just bite away at my fingers. She is learning.
Oh well my flight is getting ready to board so I will publish this and
get ready to hit the skies.

Making a fun toy funnier!

The other day I was in a pet store picking up some of the necessities.
Things like N-bones, Totally ferret senior, and oh yeah, some cat food.
Yeah I have a cat too, a mackerel striped tabby cat named Igor,
pronounced eye-gore. Straight out of Young Frankenstein. If you don't
get the reference, I suggest you rent the movie. Anyhow, while I was
there, I decided to pick up a new tube for the guys to use. They
shredded their last one some time ago.
I came home all proud of myself for being such a good dad and
took the tube out and attached it to the big ball thing made for this
purpose. The first thing I noticed was that the tube wouldn't stay
stretched out, the spring would pull it back together. I pulled it
way out and held it there for a bit, but it would slowly pull itself
back together. I stretched it out and left it. The kids showed it
sporadic interest at best. Whenever I went in I would stretch it
out for them. It was clear that it wasn't as much fun to run down
a short little thing as it was when it was stretched out.

We went on for a few days doing things that way. I would
stretch it out whenever I went in, which is frequently. When
I did this there would be about 10 minutes of high intensity
play and then they would stand around waiting for me to
do it again. This was all the youngsters playing, Sasha,
Ozzie, and Lizbeth. Lil and Starlight are much to refined for
any such shenanigans. Anyhow, one day I had an epiphany,
what if I stretched out the tube and tied it into a knot like a
pretzel? Brilliant I thought and enacted this plan as soon as I
got home.

The 3 kids were having their playtime when I went to
implement plan. Ozzie always flips out ecstatically when
I come in the room while he is out, and this occasion was
no exception. This always transfers to the other 2 as well,
making it a little difficult to get the tube picked up, stretched
out and pretzel-ized with 3 ferrets jumping on you. I
accomplished my task though, and the 3 of them went to
town with it. It was the coolest flurry of frenetic ferret frenzy
I have seen in a long while. It is a riot with all 3 of them in there
at once! The down side of it is that they go at it with such gusto
that within 10 minutes, the tube is lying out straight again.
Then they come at me, jumping up on my legs to get me to do
it again. I think it is good that it won't stay knotted up, because
then it would become just the same old toy and wouldn't get
used as much.

Yuck! Bad breath!

Well, Since the last time I wrote anything not much exciting has
happened around here. Last week I took Lil and Star in for their
annual poking and prodding, which is twice a year now since they
are officially into old lady status. Everything looked pretty good.
The only problem being Lil's teeth. Even though I have been
brushing her teeth once a day, not a venture for the faint of heart,
she still has gross-ness going on in there. So next week she is going
in to get her teeth and gums cleaned up. Starlight is pushing 7 years
old, but doing pretty good. She has had her teeth done and a lump
taken off of her belly, which was almost but not quite cancerous. No
other lumps have shown up since, so we are keeping our fingers
crossed. She go a melatonin chip installed, which will hopefully help
her out some. She was very good about it, she didn't even squirm.
Elliot used to freak out when we did it to him.

We did have a bit of a miracle a couple of weeks ago. When I am
home I go in and check on the kids frequently. At night, the cage
of youngsters are out to play and Lil and Star are in their house.
They need to separated because Lil and Ozzie will start to go at
it. It was dislike at first sight when Lil met him. Anyway, One
time I went in to check, and said hi to Lil and Star, and forgot
to shut the top door after I was done! Now I have ferrets that
are part Monkey, they will all climb up the sides of the cages.
Usually when I do this, it is followed in short order by a lot of
screeching and fighting as Lil and Ozzie go at it. But they
didn't this time. I went back in before going to bed, about an
hour or so later and saw it open and almost freaked out. Lil
and Star were still sleeping soundly. I looked around the room
and Ozzie was in his usual hidey hole, in the cloth tube he pulled
under the chest. Lizbeth was in there with him, but I couldn't
find Sasha. Turns out she climbed up into Lil and Stars cage
and went down to the second floor and into the big sock there
and was sleeping there. No fighting at all, I was amazed. Maybe
there is hope they will all get along and we can have only one
play time? I will have to experiment and see if Lil still hates
Ozzie, maybe just by being in the same room, they are getting
used to each others scent?

As for the youngsters, they are all fine, boisterous as ever. I
am still trying to get the idea across to Lizbeth that biting is
not a good thing. She is an incredibly cute and cuddly looking
sable ferret with white mitts, but you have to be careful if
you pick her up. She will pretty quickly start to show an interest
in your hand, and if you let her look to close, the teeth will come
out! She has only gotten me good once. Lately she has just been
grabbing, but I don't let her do it if I can avoid it. Ozzie hasn't
tried for me in a while, so maybe he is getting past it. Although
I don't offer him my nose! Lizbeth has a fun task she performs.
If the food in their bowl gets a little to old for her, she will
evacuate from the bowl all over the floor for me, that way I know to
fill it up again! We are still working on litter box etiquette with the
youngun's, They use the one on the 2nd floor of their house no
problem. It was hard to get a box with a high back in there.
They wouldn't use the corner pan because it was too small, they
like to be in it when they go. The tray I tried for there was big
enough, but they would hike their butts up so that they would
poop right out of the box half of the time. So with the help of a
utility knife and some goop glue, I combined the two so that I
have a high backed pan they can stand in to go, ( Oh, the
cleverness of me! ). There weren't any to buy that fit the
space I needed it in, and if you know ferrets, you know you
put the litter box where the ferret goes or they will just go
there anyhow! There is a big litter box on the first floor that
goes unused, except to play in. They will go beside it, but
otherwise just play in it. Fortunately that doesn't happen often.
Well, that's it for now, for anyone that may read this, thanks!
Sign my guest book, I will get some new pics up on the site
soon, I hope.....! Sign my guest book! ;-)

Caffine? We don't need no stinkin' caffine!

Well, life in our little neck of the woods has slowed down to a
thankfully dull routine. Everybody seems to be healthy, Sasha
has gotten over the nasty infection she got back in October. It
was an ugly one. Greenish white puss was building up in her
sinuses and would make her face look all swollen until I pushed
all the goop out and cleaned her up. This didn't seem to bother
her all that much, and the twice daily personal attention she would
get didn't hurt either! She wasn't fond of getting the area cleaned
with peroxide. It did give her that sexy peroxide blond look for a
while. Finally Dr. Guerino figured things out and she had to take
clindamycin twice a day for a month and that cleared things up and
she is back to her beautiful sable self again.

Ozzie has most definitely come out of his shell since he has been
here. Time was when I would let the youngsters out for their
playtime, he would hang back waiting for me to reach in and
pick him up for a hug or two. Now when I open the door, he
bursts out all energy and excitement and runs around in
circles and does his happy dance. It matters not a wit to him
if he runs into things, actually it seems he feels that's half the
fun of it. He'll be trying to go so fast that he won't have traction
for some of the romp, and his bum will slide out from under
him and beat his front end to where ever he was going. A pretty
funny thing to see, and I get a kick out of it every night. Every
once in a while I will pick him up in mid run and give him a hug
and a scratch. He calms down and enjoys this, he likes it when I
do the dual scratch on his head and neck, three fingers under the
chin, three on the back of his head, scratch liberally. This will
cause closed eyes and a big yawn every time! Then I'll put him
down and the motor will be revved up before he hits the floor again.
How can you not love someone who is so happy to see you all the
time?He has come a long way from the biter I took in. Not that
he doesn't try, ( and sometimes succeed ), to take a taste every
now and then, just to keep in practice you understand.

Lizbeth is the newest member of the family here. She at fist was
shy, and Sasha didn't like her a lot. But they resolved their
differences and seem to get along pretty good. One of my favorite
things is to look in their house and see all three of them crammed
into that one bed. She has taken over Ozzie's old predilection
of wanting to be picked up and held before she comes out to play.
This is fine, it gives her a sense of security. Then I put her down
and she is off to play with her buds. I recently introduced them
to the treat ball. This is a round ball with an opening on one end
that has a door on it the lets you vary the size of the opening so
it will only let out a treat or two at a time. The object is the kid
or kids in question roll the ball around with their nose and when
it rolls just right, a treat comes. This is something any ferret can
get into. The youngsters current favorite is Totally Ferret treats.
I usually open a package or two and put them in a container to
keep them fresh, and this leads to the inevitable small chunks at
the bottom that are the perfect size for the treat ball. After
I filled it up and showed them the general idea of it, they were at
it for hours. I could here them after I went to bed. Ah to be young.