usmcsis's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- isn't sweetpea popeye's bald baby? so there has been a new addition to me and jeff's little extended family (or zoo). we now have a third ferret, tentatively named sweetpea, though i called her bitch quite a bit today. let me explain... she is about 5 years old. we got her in as a rescue. for whatever reason her previous owners could no longer keep her so they took her up to the pet store and gave her to lang. lang called the ferret rescue and adoption lady to come get her but she said she didn't know if she would be able to take her or not. so, jeff told lang that if she didn't come to get her we would take her in. she is relatively healthy. she certainly doesn't have any of the issues that smokey had when we took him in. he's gaining some weight and filling out a bit and looking much more healthy now btw for those of you who follow this crap. lol anyway, the major issue is that she has been fed cat food for the past five years. now i remember back in the eighties, when ferrets first became extremely popular as pets. however, because ferrets were basically "unknowns" as pets there was no special "ferret stuff." no special food, vitamins, supplements, etc. so they were fed cat food. which, as they are not cats, is not particularly good for them. cat food contains a lot of salt and it lacks many of the nutrients, fats, and oils that ferrets need. now, cats also need nutrients, fats, and oils in their diets. however, ferrets are not cats and they need different types and amounts of this stuff. so anyway, this ferret has been fed cat food for the past five years so her coat is extremely unhealthy. she has a large bald spot on her back where her hair has just fallen out. her skin is very dry as well and she itches and scratches like crazy. so the first big thing with her is to get her switched to ferret food. which has been pretty easy as ferrets are quite like vaccum cleaners and they tend to suck down food as fast as they can. lol she came with her cage and everything which is always good. so today i cleaned the ferret cages out and put her in with smokey and sugar to see how they got along. they did great for about ten minutes and then she started attacking smokey for no reason. hence me calling her bitch. anyway, i had thought that since she and smokey are about the same age that they would get along okay and if she was going to have a problem with anyone it would be sugar since he tends to be rambuncious. she and sugar played well for a while before she started attacking smokey. and after that sugar is scared of her. so i had to seperate them and out her back in her own cage and leave sugar and smokey together in theres. she is as sweet as she can be when she is alone. she is a total "lap ferret" meaning that she will lay in your arms or on your lap and just chill without being spastic like sugar is. she's a doll really except for trying to eat smokey's face off. i will have to try to get them acclimated in some way. we'll see. so that's the end of my long rambling ferret entry. it's five now so i think i'll go watch the news. toodles. 4:37 pm - 11 Nov 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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