the times, they are a'changin

Last night, a coworker approached me.  She was oddly tentative, and I immediately knew something was up.   When she drew even, she glanced at me from under her lashes and said, "you have ferrets, right?  You said something about how you renovated your basement for them to run in?"

I thought, I mentioned that a long, long time ago.  I said, "yeah, yeah, I do.  What's going on?"

"I have this friend," my coworker said, "she has this ferret I'm worried about."

Ah, I thought.  "So, you want ... advice, to help your friend?"

"I wanted to come to you first," she said instead, "before I brought you up to her, maybe to rehome her ferret?  He's super sweet, but his cage is so dirty you can't see the bedding for all the poop!  I told her that's how animals die!"

I told her that I'd take him (him?  her?  I don't rightly know) if that's what her friend wants.  Or, I could help with advice, since she also claimed that her friend had the ferret just kind of dumped on her (but, still, you can't figure to clean poop out of a cage?  That's a no brainer.  And you can't use the internet to research?  How do people function?). 

I ultimately said yes, but I also said that I WOULD NOT be paying for this ferret (in the sense of a rehoming or "adoption" fee).  So, I suppose my coworker will be talking to her friend, and seeing if she'll be willing to give him (her?) up.

And I've got to get things ready for a potential new ferret.  I'm not sure how I feel about very hypothetically expanding my business.  I mean, yes, I want ferrets, but taking them in after others have had them?  Generally ends disastrously for me (i.e. Hiko) or at the very least ends up in a LOT of money spent (i.e. Hiko AND Anya).

But who am I kidding.  Owning them from kithood ends disastrously for me (Yew, Neera and Rula).  Drawing even, really.

I feel like I'm going to slowly turn into a rescue-only ferrent from here.  I think as long as I'm prepared for that kind of care-taking and its consequences, then that's not a bad thing at all.

Oh, well,  we'll see how things go.  I'd be interested in seeing his overall state, though.

quick post

Had to take my nieces to see the ferrets (and help clean cages!) because they hadn't been able to for the past two nights.  Had my 5 year old niece actually YELL at me about it today, so yep.

My middle niece I caught hitting Anya during playtime, so she got a very stern talking to, and we had to go over the correct and incorrect ways of playing.  She hates getting into trouble (and I think she just got caught up in the moment), so here's hoping we don't have a repeat :D  Anya was very good about it, though, luckily.  &heart;

I also ordered mice and rat pups from American Rodent!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY. Still getting closer and closer to employment - actually sent in an application for PetCo, both full and part time positions.  HIRE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

And that's about it.  Not too shabby lately.

daily peek-a-boo

Neera: "I don't have a lazy eye, I was winking at you!"  And where mama goes, Rula's not far &heart;

What I've done:

- Ordered more rats, mice and chicks from American Rodent!  It's nice to pay $150 and have it be just for food, not half of it being shipping!  Value for money spent - what a wonderful thing!

- Cleaned up little miss Anya's mess before putting her up for the day!

- Took Rula and Neera for 15 min. walks, separately!  They loved it so, so much, and I am getting a kick out of it, myself.  I'm going to try daily walks, rotating the groups (The big guys one day, and then Rula+Neera, and then Anya [might try Anya on Rula and Neera's day, but that might be pushing it since, for now, she is separate])

- Failed to clean rooms OR cages!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

impromptu aquarium fun

I have a 10g planted tank in my room. Originally, it was supposed to be Simha's home, and the 2.5g heated tank he's CURRENTLY housed in was supposed to be his hospital tank. Well, the plants are doing okay, but I haven't been able to get the ammonia down (or cycle the tank for that matter), and I've kinda given up on it being anything other than what it is now (green, and full of snails). SO! That being said, I decided to let my curious ferts (this time, Sian and Yogi) investigate it:









Here's Yogs posing, nice and wet, for the camera:



And here's little miss Sian all wet (don't know if you can actually see it. Hey! Taking one handed pics of a wiggling fert is hard going, man!):



Unfortunately, I couldn't get pics of when they actually paddled around, because I had my hands full. Sian, especially, seemed to absolutely LOVE kicking around among the leaves and stems of the plants. She'd grab the spiralis, and slide them through her paws and get fistfuls of the watersprite. It was adorable. Makes me want to get a shallower tub and have some plants growing in there. Something a bit more accessible than a deep 10g tank.

So, yeah, a little bit of unexpected fun :)

paranoia like flat soda

I really need to get some new pictures in. What's a ferret blog if there's no pictures? ETA: WAIT! Here are some I took exactly a month ago. BAAAAAAAAAAAABIES! ;D

Anyway, updates on Pixie! She had her surgery. Dr. P found some cysts attached to her stomach. He removed two (one about the size of a nickel, one about the size of a dime), and there was a third, but the location made it impossible to remove so he drained it and left it to where, he says, it shouldn't be able to abscess again. He did NOT have to remove her spleen, but he did find a tumor on her pancreas. She has adrenal, and also the earliest possible stage of pancreatic cancer (insulinoma). She's going in the 23rd to have another minor surgery (to remove the basal skin tumor on her shoulder), and she'll be implanted with the des. implant, get her bg tested, and get her belly ultrasounded again to see if any cysts/problems have reemerged or if she's steadily improving.

She was amazing for the staple removal (I got to hold her during it), and she gained 190g in the two weeks since that first surgery, so now she's getting back to her old size (right now she's a smidge of 2 lbs. If I can get her to 2.5 lbs we'll be good!).

For this next visit, I've got to call ahead and see if I can bring in Yogi, Sian and Hiko. I want them to get vaxed, and I want Hiko to get a bit of a more thorough check over. I don't have much of a history on him (being a rescue), but his belly is feeling a bit tight (so I'm wondering if something is enlarged in there :\ ). He's also the other one, besides Pixie, who often has bacterial issues (rememberrrrrrrrrrr?), so gotta keep an eye out.

they are literally insane.

So far, Rula and Neera have managed to eat
1) some of my shrug (Neera)
2) the tips of of my stay-in-place earbuds (Bose brand. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. - Rula)
3) pieces of a toy (Rula)
4) pieces of a blanket (Neera)
5) scotch tape (Rula. To be fair, I got all the pieces out, and she didn't really seem to want to eat them, she just wanted to chew them and then couldn't get the slobbery, sticky mess out of her own mouth. Apparently.)
6) the rubbery/pleathery handle cover of my cute lil umbrella (one or both of them. I didn't get to see who.)

I know this seems like the moment to say, "well, sunny, you seem to be asking for it. leaving all these things just laying around where inquisitive ferrets can get into them."

First of all, SCREW YOU, hypothetical audience. I don't need that kind of back talk.

Second (of all?), Neera's finally eating chunks, so I still win!

(not my original second point, but I can't remember what that is now) --- Oh! Something about ferret proofed, which is why they only find little things to eat. Because with a judicious application of pumpkin (meaning a cc's worth every time they pass by me, ahahahahha C:< ) they've been able to pass everything successfully.

I think mainly they're like this, 'cause they're not eating bone, just relatively soft stuff for now. Yogi and Sian started on bone just a few days after getting them, and they never had this issue of eating random stuff. Sure, Yogi got hairballs (when he stopped eating bone for a few days during shedding season), but never anything else.

Hmm ... see? A complete, balanced raw diet. Good for what ails ya.

really, the outcome's not what you'd expect

*Hahahahaha, Yogi, WHAT. Is this a new dance, hon?*



So, in the process of discussing probiotic benefits over at The Holistic Ferret Forum, I realized that I had not, in fact given Hiko his benebac after finishing his antibiotics. Oops. Must do.

In other Hiko news: he's doing really well, now, so I don't think another course of med.s is necessary. \o/

I did have a little bit of a scare the other day. I walked into the Tetrad's room, and as usual Sian's the first one there, waiting at my feet. As I pick her up, though, I notice something really odd about one of her feet. Part of her middle nail on her front left foot is dangling to the side, split from the main nail. I tentatively start moving the splintered piece, and she doesn't act like it's painful (and at this point, there's no blood anywhere, but I didn't really process that, hahahaha); I'm still freaking out thinking about having to trim this thing, and then like MAGIC! picturing blood spurting, Sian whimpering and fighting, possibly convulsing ... It's bad, is what I'm saying.

Yeah.

None of that happened. I trimmed it down, filed the nail smooth, and she was fine. I then, in self defense, clipped all the rest of her nails (which weren't long! So WHAT WAS SHE DOING TO CAUSE HER NAIL TO SPLIT LIKE THAT?).

And then in Pixie news: it's early days yet, with her Lupron, except I am seeing some behavioral changes already. I had told the doc that she had been getting overly friendly (cleaning everyone CONSTANTLY, etc), and he kinda scoffed at that, saying usually even females get MORE aggressive, not nicer. But whatever. He told me, "well, if she starts getting meaner, maybe the lupron's working. Ha. Ha. Ha."

The funny thing? She actually IS getting more assertive; for sure, she makes the boys screech fairly readily, and Sian's taken to avoiding her when she gets that glint in her eye. She had been kind of sliding down the hierarchy before that, where even Sian would alligator roll her and make her scream, and the only thing Pixie would do was run away. Highly unlike her.

>:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD NOT ANYMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE. Which, when it comes to Pixie, I'm all for. I mean, it'd just be weird if she wasn't alpha of the business, not to mention a crapshoot - 'cause no matter how much I love my guys, no one's as smart and willing to be the eternal teacher like my Pixie is.

Pixie's trip to the vet

Well, so Miss Pix had her appointment today at 5.30. I took Yogs with us and left Sian with Hiko, because I long ago learned that where Pixie goes, Yogi must follow :D

We got there in record time (long drive but not hectic, \o/). And because we thought it'd be longer or harder to find, we - of course - left way early, so we had a long wait. We finally get seen, and let's just say that everyone loved Yogi, the ham. The vet thought he was just the handsomest "dark sable," while Pixie was just "the same old boring pattern." I kind of GRRRRRRRRRRR-faced at him at that. Also, on one memorable occasion, the vet tech, who was examining her and palpitating various soft spots on her body, stands Pix up on her hind legs, so that she's braced against the tech's chest. Next thing I know, the tech says, "oh yeah, you got some boobies on you."

AHAHAHAHAHAHA, WHAT.

But anyway, the tech does her stuff (takes my comments and Pix's weight) and then the vet comes in.

Our first convo:

The vet: "Pixie's a big ferret."

Me, since both ferts were still out: "Oh no, that's YOGI."

Vet: "No, generally females I see are 800 g, get one over 1000 g, that's a big ferret." (Pixie was 1050 g).

Me, thinking: No, that's kinda small for her - she averages 2.5 lbs, with a lot of muscle, especially in her shoulders. Pix was a bit under that (2.3 lbs).

Our next convo:

Vet: "So what's wrong with her?"

Me, o_O : "What?"

Vet: "What's wrong with her? I assume you're on some ferret forum."

Me, >:C : "I was thinking she's possibly adrenal?"

So, yeah, there were some spots throughout where I wasn't sure I liked the vet. However, he DID know ferrets, so I just brushed it off.

Overall, the vet wasn't positive Miss Pix is adrenal. He said that while she has some hair loss, yes, that occurs at her tail tip and thinned hair at the base of her tail, that she doesn't show any other pattern of hair loss, nor any other symptoms of adrenal or the other big cancers. Basically, she's a healthy, healthy girl or we caught the signs really, really early.

However, he was comfortable with giving her a Lupron shot just in case. He said that since her hair loss is so subtle that it might be hard to see any new growth, if there is any, from the shot. I just looked at him, and said, "you don't know me. I keep an eagle eye out on her. I'll notice any change." He said we could schedule an ultrasound to check her glands (this would also let him see any ovarian remnants, if there were any), and possibly a blood panel. That way, we'd know for absolute certainty what is, or is not, going on (and I can finally relax ;D). So we'll do that for sometime after the 8th :)

As for Pixie, she was amazing like always. She put up with everything, and you can tell she's calming down as she gets older - she was content to stay by me, stretching out in front of me, so she could turn her head and rub against my shirt and play in the towel they gave her without leaving my vicinity. Pixie's bright, though. She know they were having some fun at her expense (both verbally and kind of playfully manhandling her). She kept looking at me like, "WHAT are they doing?" Pixie isn't used to that kind of behavior in people. Around here, we're slightly more reverent, because come on. She's PIXIE.

I'm satisfied with what we're doing, and our experiences today. WE HAVE A VET (also cheaply priced - Pixie's lupron was only $36. When I went, "ZOMG," the vet looked at me and said, "yeahhhh, we're not as expensive as the 'big' exotics vets."

AHAHAHAHAHHA. NO. NO THEY ARE NOT.)

FINALLY

No, still no new pics, because I AM JUST THAT LAZY (I actually have a pic folder called "unused" where I paste every fert pic I haven't used so I have "stock" for times like these when charging a camera is too much for my delicate psyche to handle, wtf).

This one fits, though, because the Tetrad did get pork yesterday. This time, Yogi was all over it (stealing it from Hiko really charged up his appetite, apparently). It was Sian who was running around like "?"

Ferrets. They don't make sense.

But the major thing about the pork? When they taste it, they love it, and yet, AND YET, it beats them up. What do I mean? I mean that every time I give it to them, they choke on it or get it stuck. Hiko wasn't so bad, he just pawed his mouth and shook his head until he could dislodge it and attack it again, but Pixie? Ye god, she ran around puking because she ate it so fast. But she didn't even wait out the dry heaves before she was ... re-eating it, again. So I could hear CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP interspersed with these high pitched EEEEE whimpers ... it was disconcerting, to say the least.

Anyway, they also got chicken necks, so she (and by "she" I mean "Sian") was happy. It also means that I really do have to clean their laundry. There's little vertebrate pieces all over it :\

AND! The meaning of the title! I finally tried them all with the salmon oil. I put it in syringes, because if they liked it, it's a good way to get Hiko used to the syringes in case he gets sick and I need to feed/hydrate him, and 2) well, I didn't feel like lugging the bottle down there and having to pump out half teaspoons for everybody and then lug the bottle back up in the fridge (we've talked about this. I AM LAZY).

I tried Hiko first, in his cage, before the Triad came out. He loved it. Next was Yogi, and he actually wagged his tail while he was lapping his up. Sian and Pixie gobbled it up (and tried to eat the syringe, of course). Hiko, after everyone had theirs, came and sat on my foot, so I picked him up and he gave me KISSES.

It was almost like he was saying, "I've been here two months already, and not only are you NOT getting rid of me, you're STILL giving me treats x_X I LOVE YOU"

It was so cute :D

PORK MONSTERS

So the Tetrad tried the pork. It was a hit with Hiko, and Sian and Pixie came on board with just a bit of coaxing. Yogi was being a diva, though, and wouldn't eat any (he did try it), but that's not unusual for him with a new meal. The second or third meal is when he decides yes/no, and NOT ONE MINUTE BEFORE, MOM, JEEZ. I TOLD YOU >:|







Also, Kai loved it. I was chopping it into meals (and here I thought it was already "trimmed" into chunks, but no, it was "trimmed" off into a big frozen pig-filled slab, yay) and she kept stealing it, so today I gave the cats it for a meal. They devoured it and wanted more, FTW!

open for business

So, I decided to open up Hiko's cage during the day. I figured his scent was well established by now and it wouldn't hurt. Of course, the Triad acted like they'd never seen a cage before, and when Yogi caught sight of Hiko's pillow case, he freaked out and had to stuff it into the floor sack. Apparently that's the only place a pillow case belongs:







And in food news: I did give Hiko the ground rabbit. He ate most of it, but he was pretty full from the duck (and I accidently left it in the room overnight, so I think he went back to it, ha). Ben got a bit of a smorgasbord this morning (left over duck piece, ground duck and ground rabbit. Yum).

We were able to get the car up this evening, so I'm going to try my guys on the pork trim (but I have the duck and rabbit as back up ;D). Oh! And I have two of our cats (Asai and Kai) starting the switch. So I bought them the 10 lb sampler and some meat meals from hare-today, as well. Talk about expensive, LOL, but it'll be worth it if they enjoy it. I also picked up fish oil from them, as well, and the cats and dogs enjoyed it. Hopefully the Tetrad will, too.

food bowl digest

These past two days have been different, foodwise. My guys got combos for their meals, which I generally don't do. I decided to switch it up because the day before I had given the Triad a whole dressed quail in the morning and had given Hiko rabbit chunks(they had gotten chicken gizzards and duck hearts that night), so I still had some chunks plus duck necks from a previous meal, as well, unthawed and wanted to use them up.

So they had that in the morning:





Yesterday evening I took out a turkey breast (small) and was worried it wouldn't be enough. I know the Triad's been awhile without fish (and they love it), so I also unthawed a tilapia filet, and gave them all a few cubes of the breast and a bit of the tilapia. The Triad loved it and settled right down to eat.

Hiko threw a tantrum when he smelled the fish, went on a rampage and destroyed his FN. He waited hours (not even touching the turkey breast, which I know he loves, because it was CONTAMINATED by the fish) before eating both the turkey and the fish.

But, ahahahahaha, he did, is the thing.

I WIN. So yeah. Something different for them that didn't necessarily end in OMGHORROR (only almost). Oh! Also, I got Hiko's tail wagging last night. I was spinning and twirling him in one of the soft, oversized tunnels and then when he was facing away from me, I'd tickle his tail, and it'd just wag and wag. We had a blast.

The moral of this post?



Pixie's cute.

Also...



... she's judging you.

>;D

PLAY TIME PICSPAM (but first a few words from our sponsor)

... I think the Tetrad's room looks pretty fun, personally. (of course, there's always room for more toys ;D). And yeah, Pixie's in the little cage, splashing water every where.

Anyway, onto the picspam: