Please help some sweet ferrets

Needy Ferrets Need a Santa

Thoughts for November 17, 2011

I am sooooo over protective of my babies.  I can almost hear them in a group, griping how their mom is too "paranoid"! LOL  Considering the fact that Bucky is geriatric and has adrenal and insulinoma, and Miss Boo struggles with tummy problems and enlarged spleen and allergies/colds, I notice everything about them. If one day they seem to sleep too long, I'm on ALERT MODE. 

These babies are my life. They are my children. My hubby gets upset so much because I am so strict on feeding times for the sick ones, med times and I HAVE to know where they are at ALL times. You see, my babies are "free roaming" ferrets. I think caging them restricts who they are. We have a cage when it is necessary, such as when we are cleaning or its dangerous to leave them unsupervised. 

In case you haven't guessed, I am an extreme ferret fanatic! I will fight for their rights to live like a ferret, have "parents" who will give them what they need, such as VETERINARY CARE, LOVE, and UNDERSTANDING. People who adopt ferrets and then give/sell them because they are tired of them make me SICK.

Trimming/clipping a ferret's nails

Miss Boo is so CUTE!

Mom, move ya feet!!!

She is so sweet when she falls asleep in my arms

Posing for the camera

Hey look at me! You gotta loveeeeeeee me baby! Dook Dook.

Miss Boo(Snickers) accident

Two months ago, Miss Boo had an accident....Momma stepped on her and she got hurt really bad. I broke 3 ribs and caused her spleen to enlarge. To this day, she is still having tummy problems. The vet said she would be fine and he had her on preventative antibiotics so she would not develop infection while she heals.

Personally, I believe God did the healing, because the Vet told us it was amazing she had no serious problems from her ordeal. However, Miss Boo has never been the same girl after that. Her activity is limited, she has been getting bad sniffles from severe allergies(we all have this year), and I simply cannot get her off the baby food! She refuses to eat kibble now. It's costing us a fortune in chicken baby food monthly, since her ill brother, Bucky also only eats that; but he has a good excuse, he has insulinoma and adrenal disease, and most likely dental issues. He is almost completely bald now.

I'm glad Miss Boo survived her ordeal, now if ferrets would learn not to run under your feet!!!

National Ferret Day!

Happy National Ferrets Day!!!!!

I love you Bucky, Snickers, Merry and Pippin. This will be an especially wonderful day because it is also your mom and dad's anniversary. Woo hoooooo A major celebration.

To all ferrets everywhere....Have a dookin' good ferrets day!

Meet Pippin

Isn't he adorable? This is Pippin, Merry's brother. This little guy has such personality. He is afraid of loud noises, and human temper tantrums. (I really got to not argue with hubby around him. It upsets him.) He has adapted well to his new home and has decided he likes stealing drinking straws from people's glasses. He actually collects them in one spot. It's so cute. Ohhhh, I forgot to mention....both he and Merry will steal remote controls and it took me 3 days to find them! One of them chewed a button off my digital converter remote. Hmmm.  I wonder why Pippin is doing his seasonal shedding and Merry isn't? Could be due to Merry sleeping more than Pippin does. Pippin is very active compared to Merry.  He wants to go outside so badly, but I got to find the harness and leashes, and darn it, it got too cold outside again. 

Pippin is the same age as Merry, and is healthy and updated on vaccinations.  I come with up silly nicknames for my babies. I been calling him my little Pippi whippin'. He gives me this look like, "What you call me?" 

Meet Merry

This is Merry. He was named from the movie, Lord of the rings. Merry is a very sweet boy. He likes to sleep in the closet. His favorite thing is his brother, Pippin(yep also named from the movie). We drove almost 9 hours to adopt both of them from Nebraska. Merry has adapted very well to his new home and with Bucky and Snickers. I've never seen a ferret eat so much, though! Wow. I believe Merry and Pippin are not from Marshall Farms breeders. They both only have one tattoo in their ear, yet both are descented and neutered. Bucky and Snickers have two tattoos which is a distinguishing mark of Marshall Farms.

The first one who got kisses from Merry was my husband. Scratch a ferret's butt and you have a friend for life. LOL  Anyway, Merry is healthy, just a bit overweight, and is approximately 2 years old. He's just such a sweetheart. I love you Mr. Merry. 

Ten Commandments for Ferret Guardianship

1. My life is likely to last 5-10 years, any separation from you will be painful.
When you decide to make me part of your life, let it be forever. If at some time in our lives you cannot keep me, make sure that my new home will provide what I need and will supply the love, care, and socialization I crave.

2. Let me teach you to understand me and what I need from you. I will test you from time to time to make sure you remember the lessons.

3. Keep me safe and secure. Protect me from others that would harm me. I depend on you. You are my lifeline.

4. Talk to me and cuddle me. Your voice to my ears is as enjoyable as birds sweetly are to yours. Your gentle touch is as warm as the soft rays of sun.

5. I need fresh nutrititional food and fresh water, warm clean blankets to cuddle in during winter, cool clean blankets to lay on in the heat in the summer. My litter box and cage should be cleaned daily. Hugs and social time each and every day. Do not put me in a cage outside. I belong inside with my family.

6. I will make many mistakes. I am not perfect. Be gentle when you correct me.

7. Don't get angry at me. I am an intelligent, joyous, curious creature and WILL get into things. Know that this is how I am. I am not trying to be destructive. I depend on you to watch out for me and protect me from danger.

8. Never hit or shake me. I'm small and can be hurt very easily. When you are angry at someone or something else, do not take it out on me. I have nothing to give you but love and joy. This is my true nature.

9. Take special care of me as I get older. I may play less but I still love you just as much as when I was young enough to dance. Moniter me closely for I will experience aliments as I grow older.

10. When I no longer enjoy life and I am in pain with no relief, please stay with me until the end. I have given you my life and love. Don't disappoint me in my last moments here on this earth. Tell me that you love me and hold me close. Let my passing be gentle.

Always remember that I love you.

Update on Bucky

Bucky is doing much, much better. The increase in pred is working so far, although he fights me tooth and nail. Looks like the melatonin is working with his fur coming back on his tail. I am putting the melatonin in chicken baby food. He has no idea he's getting it that way. He also gets ferretvite every 2-4 hours, as needed to keep his blood glucose up. 

At this point in time, Bucky is back to his normal, ferrety attitude, LOL. I'm glad he is. Except when he smacks me in the face with his paws during medication time. 

What happened at the veterinarian's office

Let me tell you about our night with Bucky, before his appt. today....he was so weak all night, at times he couldn't walk without plopping down on the floor, his legs unable to hold him up. He stopped eating and drinking on his own. I wasnt going to raise his prednisolone dosage without the vet's approval first. I could not, for the life of me, find the ferretvite. One of the others stole the tube and I have no clue where it ended up! So, anyway, so to keep his blood sugar high enough to keep him alive, we had to put honey in his mouth a few times.  Seriously, this little baby boy was NOT feeling well at all. 

I had been so worried about him, plus the fact that I have pneumonia, myself, that I am sleep deprived.  So, to move onto the vet visit....Bucky just laid there without complaint or fuss as the doc checked him out. We all know this is not how ferrets generally behave, all lethargic and all. Well, Dr. Bayliff didn't even bother to check is blood glucose levels! I was shocked and after shock wore off, a bit disturbed at this. He assumed it was very, very low(he was right, but still would have liked to know the numbers). Because adrenal panels not only cost a lot, around $200, it takes time too, as they have to be shipped to Tennessee. So, I am giving Bucky 1mg a day of melatonin for his fur loss, which is a lot. 

He lost weight since the last visit, which was a year and a half ago. Bucky had been doing amazingly fine with insulinoma until now. My fur babies like to give doctors a shock, hahaha! The dosage of the pred was raised to twice daily of 1ml. Because surgery is 'iffy' for insulinoma, and Bucky will be 7 this year, we opted to remain keeping him comfortable and as stable as possible until he starts to suffer and then at that point, we'll have to let him go. I won't allow him to have to suffer.  His doc is not sure he will last too much longer, but that is up to God, really. 

Bucky's sister is so sweet to him. Snickers likes to baby her big brother when he doesn't feel well. She licked his ears and cleaned him up a bit, and slept with him in his baby blanket. I worry how Snickers will take losing her brother when the time comes. They are just so very close, and she has only known her new brothers since January of this year.  Well, I'll worry about that when it comes, otherwise I will make myself more ill stressing over it. 

More updates later....night.

I'm Bucky

Hi everybody. My name is Bucky and I'm 6 years old. I'm the one with insulinoma. My doctor will let us know if I got adrenal tomorrow. A lot of times I just feel yucky and sleep a lot. I lost mah fur on my butt and mah tail!!!!! I feel sad. I have to take prednisolone every day and it's yucky. Sometimes it burns my mouth and I try to claw it out. Mom gets frustrated with me cuz she don't want me to hurt myself, but c' monnnnnnnn, it's gross! Maybe my mom will explain all about insulinoma and other stuff us ferrets get and you'll maybe understand something important about us. I think mom worries too much, like she gotta know where I am at all times or she goes nutty. See, we don't have to live in a cage like a lotta of fuzzies. We getta run the house except we don't get to go in the kitchen or back bedroom, which is totally not fair.  She worries too much, but I guess that ok cuz that means she really loves us. Well, talk to you later. Think I need my beauty sleep.


Love and dooks,
Bucky

Hi from all us ferrets

Hi, welcome to our new blog! My name is Snickers as you can see from my picture.  I am 4 years old. I have 3 brothers; Bucky who is 6, Merry and Pippin who are both 2 years old. Dang brothers are all bigger than me, but I'm still the queen of the house. I AM the boss...well, unless Bucky decides to be boss. He is really sick. He has insulinoma and maybe adrenal disease. He goes back to the doctor tomorrow. I have a heart arrythmia, but I'm not on meds, yet. I'm doin' good, and Merry and Pippin are kinda new to the family and they are pretty healthy. They was adopted in January of this year from Nebraska! They're ok, but they know I am da boss. Just so ya know, none of bite our humans cuz we know mom and dad love us. Maybe sometimes the boys will nip ya toes if they wanna play, but they don't hurt.  We and our mom will be posting about what goes on in our daily lives, how to love and care for ferrets, and sometimes just thoughts from our mom. Hope you like our blog.

Love, 
Snickers, Bucky, Merry and Pippin
Aka, The Ferret Crew