in the ongoing (non)saga ...

I'd like to say I've been dedicated in trying to get Anya on to a raw diet.  And I could say that, but I'd be lying.  The biggest obstacle is being able to get her to taste anything.  There's no way I can get her semi-restrained - she becomes terrified, and I am not willing to traumatize her in the name of switching.  Trying the fasting method doesn't work, because even with a small wait (less than four hours) of having her food up and the raw soup down, she'll go into starvation, so when her kibble is given back, she won't even eat that.  She just drinks water and sleeps and gets hellaciously skinny.  Rubbing food on her nose or paw just results in her sliding across the floor (that's never worked on any of my guys.  They're not stupid, and they don't think the only way to get it off is to lick it off.  They prefer rubbing it all over me then scampering off).  So, by the end of the experimentation on different ways to begin a switch, Anya was smug (if underweight) and I had just given up, made my peace with feeding Epigen 90 (for a kibble, it's the best one you're gonna get), and moved on.

I will say, though, that yesterday, I splurged.  I decided to pay a ridiculous amount of money (see? Ridiculous) for a small bag of Wysong Archetypal-1.  It's freeze dried raw, and may be a way to get her on kinda-raw (at least a little) when it's mixed with her kibble.  I've heard it's ferret-crack, and they typically love it, so thought I'd give it a shot :)  It shouldn't cause an issue re: digestion, because it's dehydrated, and so will take longer to pass through (just like kibble).  We'll see how that goes.

Well, yep.  That's the news :)

snowday '13

So we've been having winter weather for awhile now.  Ice, wind, snow, rain, thaw repeat.  Our yard looks like a muddy field where trees go to die (at the worst, we were out of power for a little over a week).

That being said,  because Anya's fur is beautiful and thick thanks to her treatments, and she was going crazy in the room, that she needed to get out.  Ice cold and little flurries falling down, but it was worth it.  She spent most of her time trying out different cubby holes that might serve as a warm(er) place to nap, but between her scurrying she managed to play in mud, water and the little bit of snow that had accumulated in this latest round.

It wasn't long that we were out there.  By ten minutes her little nose was red, and I had to fight her to get her back inside to warm up.  She might go out again later, as well :)

Beyond that, it's almost time for another nail clipping for her, hahahahaha.  Oh, how the time flies.  Also, the  conversion from Marshall's to Wysong is still ongoing, though she's eating the mix (which is mostly Wysong at this point) like a champ.

Hiko's looking like he's due for another des. implant.  His coat is getting distressingly orange again, and he seems a bit more irritable and cranky than he's been (plus Yogi's looking like he wants to start bullying him again, and that's always a sign Hiko's smell is changing and strengthening).

Everyone else is doing great, though!  Yay!

scratch me not

I finally did it!  Anya's finally gotten her nails clipped!

I have tried everything with that girl - scruffing, waiting til she's deeply asleep, oil on the tummy, and on and on, and nothing worked.

Took her in to our cat/dog vet in town, the vet tech took her back, and about 20 or so minutes later comes back out panting and redfaced.  "How was she?" I asked.

"Hard, really, really hard," was the reply, "but she didn't try to bite, she just wouldn't stop moving!"

Ahahahahahaha, oh, how I know.  I did warn her, though, that we'd be coming back, and the poor girl tried to smile through the wincing.

So, anyway, she now has short, lovely pedicured paws :D :D :D

And now new pics (Anya):

Look at that gorgeous fur!  What a big, big change from what she came to me looking like :*

bald is the new pink

I ordered Anya bedding from Rose !

If there's just one thing I love just as much as fiddling and picking out protein sources for my guys to eat (and that's, like, the best. thing. ever. in my opinion, I'll be honest), it's getting new bedding!  Especially having some specific for each group.  GAH.  Plus, Rose's quality is amazing and these things are worth the money in every way.  I love the product, but most importantly?  My ferrets love the bedding.  And since they gotta live in it, I'd do anything to make sure they're comfortable and content.

Here's hoping Anya likes hers half as much, even as the big three and the babies!

And to think, as my mom says.  This will be the first time Anya's ever gotten to have just hers, picked out with her and her comfort in mind.  And she deserves it.  She's a very loving, kind soul.  Reminds me of Pixie, almost, in that it's not because she's clingy or wantsneeds me in some way.  It's just that she exudes this ... consciousness and this soul deep goodness, that even my family has to comment on.

So, eeeeeeeeeeeeee.  Can't wait!

PICSPAM: Anya

So, wasn't able to take Anya outside the other day, and she was desperate to do something, it was so adorable.  She'd stand up on her hind legs, lean against the lower plexiglass partition in their room, stare at me, then move to where she was leaning against my leg, still staring.  Back and forth, back and forth.  In an effort to reward the cuteness and give her something interesting to do before cage time, I took her upstairs and let her wander my room:

Respect a girl's shoes, ferritsy!

... or not.

"I'm not doing nothin ... that you have proof to blame me for."  A smart ferret's motto.

the new definition of "cheap"

Hiko and Anya's vet trip!

Let's start with Anya; Hiko went first last time, I think :)

Managed to lose 80 grams, stubborn girl, so eek.  So tiny.  The vet didn't seem alarmed, would prefer the weight loss as we get her switched, rather than her gaining weight on crappy kibble, so.  And I told Dr. Paul all about her stubbornness.  He liked my idea, just mixing the bag of Marshall's in with the bag of Wysong in a tupperware container, so the smells mingle and maybe she'll eventually stop picking out just the Marshall's to eat.

She got her implant and her distemper shot.  Also got her nails clipped (for free!) while she was under.  The vet did hear her cough once, while under anesthetic.  Offered to run tests, but because the amount of cough is lessening and she's not suffering behavioral-wise with it, I said no (really couldn't afford it, either.  Dr. Paul did understand that, and said the cough wasn't a top worry of his, either).  Dr. Paul also retested her blood protein.  Up by 20 points, and since she wasn't dehydrated, the increase wasn't due to that :)

So, good news for her.  And now, unless symptoms break through, I just have to call monthly with updates.  The total for her stuff was $479.  $385 just for the implant, which - not to be a bother - but I'm going to call about (I didn't catch it on the invoice until I was home, and it was too late to call), since both Hiko and Pixie's had only been in the low 200s.  I want to know if it was in error, if the price just increased, or (and more importantly) if the make up of the implant's changed, and what that might mean, if that's the case.

Now for Mister Hiko.

First off, he gained some weight!  He's now 2.5 lbs :)  Still the smallest of the big guys, but he's getting up there, again!

He had to be fasted.  What the vet and techs don't get is that a whole prey diet is vastly different, of course, from kibble.  It's more difficult to "pull food" at a certain time with whole prey, than when it is just a bowl of processed food.

Instead of "pulling food," (which is more like "searching for body parts in any and all areas of the cage," - not as catchy, I know), I have to think of what food he'll want to eat, right away, and also what food he can finish quickly.  So, at around 1 am, I gave each of the big three 1 chick apiece.  I watched him settle down and start eating, and it was probably gone in ... oh, 30 minutes, if that.  After that, he didn't eat.

For the glucose curve testing, I fast him, bring him in and then about every hour they draw blood and run it in their glucometer, or whatever.  First one was 100; next one was mid-90s, the last one was 80.  So, Dr. Paul stamped Hiko's health card with a big, fat "not insulinomic."  YAY!

His stuff came to about $100 - so I was right, but not because they charged for a "medical problem."  But because the tech's estimate (she looked it up, online in the computer, so I'm a bit confused) for the glucose drawing was off.  Instead of $48, it was $72.  Which.  The latter looks nothing like the former, really.  Still, I had budgeted for $100, so that didn't hurt me :P

They fed Anya, because since they were keeping Hiko, they just kept Anya as well (which is good, since she's right under their eyes in case of any reactions to either the vaccine or the des.).  They apparently had on hand a little bit of Marshall's, and Dr. Paul made no bones about - he said she ate like a pig, hahahaha.

Poor Hiko didn't get fed, but I was smart, brought along a jar of Beechnut's turkey baby food, and let him eat some of that in the car before taking off for home.  Still, though, when we did eventually get home, I gave the big guys all a large rat apiece.  Hiko was the first to go for one, hissing and screaming at the other two to keep them away from the food.  Yogi and Sian stared at him, then me like, "you took him away and broke him!"

in which I'm fond of parentheses, pictures and rambling

So, a few things:

Instead of dealing with the flu, I'm now dealing with a cold.  Hurray.

This

so many little. frozen. critter corpses.

is my whole prey freezer, and yes - I have a whole freezer JUST for whole prey.  The side-by-side is a dedicated raw freezer, so >;D .  As you can see - stocking up.  Not quite there, but almost.  Left side is mice (all adults, some hairless, most furred); middle is rats (large and super jumbo) and right is chicks.  When I get the mice levels to where I'm happy, I'll go to RodentPro and start stocking up on guinea pigs.

For a raw/whole prey feeder, this is exciting stuff, guys.  Serious, so serious.

I also managed (while feeling icky on top of it.  that gets me extra brownie points, right?) to scrub the big three's room AND cage (I just failed to do laundry, oops).  The reason?

The big three had gotten excited hearing Anya first run the downstairs and then leash up for a walk later in the day.  So I decided to level the playing field somewhat and let them roam the downstairs for a bit:

I do this^ ...

... and this^ is the reaction I get. (but he absolutely loves having his scruff scratched. leans into it like a cat :*)

Opossum, my possum

more and more these days, I'm seeing these two together

Yogi Terror sniffing out dirty doggie mats.  Ferrets let you hide about zero shame.

It's a bomb!  It's a - !  It's actually carpet cleaner they knocked off my junk table. See? What'd I say about shame? Now the internet knows I have a junk.  table.  Stoopid.

Seeing as how they were out and not in their room, I had the brilliant thought of "zomg, I could cleannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn," so I did.  Scrubbed their nasty little flexi-tile floor with hot soapy water, then used my carpet broom (yes, that's right.  carpet broom.  even though the  big three don't have carpet) to brush up the debris (litter from when I tried litterbox training them in the room.  yeah, laugh it up).  Then after it dried (mostly) I put them back in and gave up all pretense that they would stick to the two piddle pad rule I have been trying to impose.  They have like six freaking piddle pads right in front of their plexiglass through-way, now, the devils.  Screw it.  Better than them dirtying up the floor even more, eh?

Then I scrubbed down the cage with more hot, soapy water, changed litter (they'll use it in the cage, some); found some unused shower curtains, the metal ones, and because the big three refuse to use the full 2nd floor of their FN as anything other than another potty-zone, but also refuse to the leave the damn piddle pad alone, I clipped the piddle pad to the sides of the cage.  I let them out this morning, and sure enough, the piddle pad (clipped) was able to survive the big three's renovation efforts!  Yay, less mess (and with Yogi, Sian, and Hiko that's all you can wish for).

Tonight, I'll sweep as needed, wash the floor with my Swiffer antibacterial and then vacuum when it dries.  Pray I can keep up this regimen, because 1) it's NECESSARY AND 2) I might be able to get a ~kind of~ respectable floor again if I keep it up.

Of course, when I let the big three out, Anya was still trying to wind down from her jaunt outside (she got to meet the UPS guy, delivering ferret food [whole prey].  That was a fun discussion once he realized the boxes he was lugging around was filled to the brim with dead critters.  He even asked, "Oh!  How did you get her on to kibble?" [as if ferrets these days come eating whole prey, *snerk*].  Oh, I just laughed and replied, "the better question to ask me is, 'how do you get her off of kibble?'"  Not very well, obviously, not very well).  So she saw these huge, healthy ferrets running around when she couldn't, and how did she respond?

This is how:

... NOT FAIR!!!! ...

what about meeeeeeeeee?

(also got a check in call from the vet for Hiko and Anya.  Apparently, Hiko's stuff is only going to cost $50?  But I have a feeling they're forgetting the "medical problem" fee they charge, which is in itself $50.  So probably $100 or there abouts.  Not bad.  Hopefully.)

Til tomorrow and said vet updates, then!

tubbies attack! (except not)

This morning I went to go let my dog out, and saw Anya was awake.  So, after Ben went outside, I decided to let Anya explore the rest of the downstairs (except the storage room, which has the chest freezer and fridge/freezer combo, which I don't want ferrets messing with).  She stayed out for about 30 minutes, and  behaved herself.

I also, one by one, brought out my big guys to see her.  I held on to them, but let Anya roam as she would.  Yogi - smelled Anya, Anya smelled him, neither one too interested, at that moment.  Sian - ignored Anya completely, Anya looked but didn't bother coming to sniff, either.  Hiko - Hiko was VASTLY interested in Anya, not unexpected.  What that means (whether friendly/dominant or too aggressive/dominant) we'll see in later sessions.  Anya, though, she was extremely interested in Hiko, too, which I wasn't expecting.  So, hmm.

But, even Hiko, is huge compared to Anya, oh my god, but especially Yogi and Sian; geez, they're like ... chubba wubba monsters or something.  They could, if they wanted, totally decimate that girl before she even knew what hit her (at least by looks).  I'm holding out hope that once I really introduce the babies to her, they'll eventually get along.  Seems more like a fair bet, since all three are roughly the same size.

We'll see, we'll see.

updates, realizations and pictures

So, Dr. Paul finally called about Hiko's spleen aspirates.  Apparently (and oh my, this is the first for me) it's good news!  Everything going on in there is benign, and the activity is occurring because of extramedullary hematopoiesis (large amount of red and white blood cells in the organ).  What's interesting though, is what I've found from my reading on the matter.  Some researchers are trying to correlate EMH and things like adrenal (which Hiko has), helicobacter mustelae (which Hiko has had, full blown, and has suspicious flares from time to time) and insulinoma (which he's being tested for this Friday).  Hmm.

Aaaaand, I've been busy with life - leaving during the day, staying away nights or getting back late, and I haven't seen that much of Anya.

Apparently, it shows.  I messed up her "ritual," and today, going in the room to spend time and get her ready for a walk?  She was jumpy, nervous, and I couldn't get the harness on her without help.  Once we were on the walk and exploring she was okay, but she'd have moments where she'd look at me and not recognize me.  Having a deafie, I'm learning new things every day, and she's making me feel like n00b, where before I was thinking I was totally on top of everything (BESTEST. FERRENT.  EVER!!!!111!).

Also, I'm slowly realizing that maybe Anya will have to stay on Marshall's kibble.  I hate the idea, and can't even come to grips with the fact that this is what I do, I switch ferrets for chrissakes, and this little girl is beating me at my own game.  

I've just  been putting tiny bits of Wysong in with her kibble, just one or two pellets, and that's enough for her to borderline starve herself. Doing tasting sessions?  Doesn't work, she spits everything out, and then won't trust food.  In the end, and seeing her out and about outside, it's painfully clear that she's lost even more weight, and she was underweight to begin with.

I want my guys to enjoy themselves, their lives, and their diet.  Not dread or mistrust.  So, for now, the Marshall's stays, and when she's fully settled (whenever that occurs) I'll try the Wysong again.

And now pictures!  There's Yogi, Sian and Hiko (who went on a tandem "walk" today), and then a few of the on-the-go!Anya.  Once she gets going she doesn't want to stop, which makes taking pictures a challenge, to say the least.

I absolutely love this picture of Yogi and Hiko (who's busy grass snorkeling) 

Hiko had the best fun when he had someone to follow

Sian could be wild!ferret, apparently,  She's totally in her element when she's outside. She was even hunting harvestmen

Anya

more updates and rainy days (picspam)

So, it's that time again ....

.... health updates on Hiko and Anya!

Anya - her bloodwork showed low blood protein, which could be a sign of liver or kidney issues, but they looked healthy.  Instead, Dr. Paul thinks it's a sign that Anya may have a mild case of IBD.  For that,  I'm still trying to switch her over to the Wysong Epigen (ferret), and after she's solely eating that, we can do blood work again and see if the issues resolved.

Also, for the little miss, she has high cholesterol!  Which, even the vet was 8| .   Apparently, that's not so common.

And for my Hiko - spleen cytology still wasn't in (so am still waiting for THAT discussion).  Dr. Paul does want to retest glucose, because it was low-end normal, so what we might be dealing with is the start of insulinoma.

On the 28th, when I take Anya back for her second distemper booster, I'll take Hiko, as well, and he'll stay for half a day and Dr. Paul will run serial glucose tests to see how low Hiko dips, and we'll treat (or not)  accordingly.  Anya's des. implantation may have to wait, if Hiko's stuff starts climbing.  All depends on that cytology report.  I just hope we're not going to have ACD, insulinoma +lymphoma.

_________________


And, as you can see, I switched the blog for fall+winter!  That's handsome Yogi in the header (slightly blurry, but still adorable!).  I ended up taking Anya, Yogi, Sian and Hiko out for little rainy day jaunts (all separately), and got pictures of the boys (I'll get Sian next time, she's absolutely stunning with her winter coat and weight on).  Here are some left over pics:

Hiko kept throwing tantrums when he couldn't go everywhere he wanted. This is his pissed off!face