The Saturday Report 18 May 2008

That time again, and an exciting day it was. I awoke at 6am and couldn’t sleep so went downstairs and worked on my new laptop. I am changing the HDD to run Windows XP and trash Vista. So far I am very happy with the decision. Later after breakfast, Bonnie and I visited the Brampton Animal Control to pick up a couple of scruffy looking ferrets. Olympia, bless her heart, had done all the legwork and done the ADV testing so the boys could come away with us. We had seen them before last week, when we had gone to check out the smaller of the two. At that visit, another boy came in, so Olympia did double duty with the tests.
One of the boys may have been outside for awhile as his coat was very dirty and it was difficult to really judge his condition. The other was a blaze of sorts with a mix of silver mitt and champagne coloring. He was very scrawny. So we left some 8 in 1 soft food for them both.

At the shelter, Bonnie took the big boy, I named him Ronnie, after Ronald Weasley of HP fame, and I took Gadget ( Bonnie’s idea as a follow-up to Gizmo). Bonnie was doing the Ivamectin dosing in their ears to avoid mites. After a half hour we switched so Bonnie could bath the big boy, he needed it. It turned out that he was not a dirty grey but a gorgeous dark-eyed white at about 1500 grams.


The caption for the last picture is “ wait till I get out”. Notice the slitty menacing eyes. Well, when he came out he was the most laid back gentle fellow you could imagine but with a spark of fun in him when provoked. Almost another Jeffie, but different.

Conversely Gadget, who is also a fine fellow, is a bit, a lot more shy, and care should be taken the first time you put your hand in to pick him up. He has not bitten us yet, but he is nervous until gets to know you then he wants attention. Very gentle; likes being snuggled. Zones out!. Both the boys would make super single companions. Ronnie is probably about four years old and Gadget is about the same. Gadget is 990 grams so not too big and is a bit scrawny at present. Ronnie is solid.

Notice the size of those teeth in the last picture.

Both boys need to learn to play again, but shouldn’t take long as both played well with us.


While I had Tommy and Bailey out, Bonnie took Chickpea, Terence and Phillip in the other room. Bonnie had not run Chickpea and the boys for some time so Chickpea’s mature size was a surprise and the energy levels would surprise anyone. They all played for an hour before she had worn out the boys. Phillip decided he had had enough so he climbed on top of the cupboards and watched the activity from there.

Tommy and Bailey were not overly energetic but did explore and play together. Poops were good for both. And both really want lots of attention. It’s about time they found a good home; they deserve to have a real home. Bailey has gained some weight in the last three weeks and Tommy has been stable.

Sorry no picture of Bailey this week. But he is still a pin-up ferret.

KIWI, has the cutest face, it reminded us of our late Roxie, beauty and her 575 gram size. She has lost 45 grams since last week. She definitely has issues at present, but looks like the upcoming vet visit may cure all, someone says she is in heat. She came out and went straight to the nearest blanket and curled up. I placed the blanket on my lap and she curled up in a ball and slept. So did I. Kiwi’s poop is very bad, pure fluid and grey green. Hopefully once she is spayed it will get better.

Even though she wasn’t up to much she certainly can catch your eye with that cute face.

With that we tidied up, socialized upstairs and left.

Nigel and Bonnie

Monday

Chickpea was ready to burst out of her cage as usual, I was surprised at how much she has changed. In appearance, she has a fabulous new coat, very luxurious and shiny, she really looks healthy .. and she's certainly not loosing any weight!! I was hoping to let her have a little time to slow down before Terrance and Phillip came out, but by the time I'd let Tommy out, they were more than ready too, so they came right out.  I let everyone have half an hour playing while I had my tea and then let Kiwi out while I took Tommy and Bailey out in the stroller. Hannah came along so we took leashes to the park and the boys had a ball. Bailey loved exploring in the wood chips and the grass. He, of course wanted to check out the overflowing garbage and undersides of parked cars, but Hannah had him going down the slide and playing in the tubes. Tommy was pretty nervous, there were lots of trucks going by and he'd freeze when he heard a loud noise, which was a great excuse to pick him up for a cuddle and remind him he was safe .. lots of fun. He was ready to get back in the stroller first and they both were asleep (together) when I returned with from Kiwi's walk.

 

She's a lovely wee girl, very chatty, quite nervous but didn't seem to want to chomp me until I tried to put the harness on her. But she did let me and she really enjoyed digging in the wood chips at the park. She curled up in the shreddings box for a nap while I was in playing with the threesome.

 

Sadly, the threesome didn't get a chance to get out for a stroll, but they were the only ones left with the energy to help clean up, at least Chickpea was, Terrance and Phillip had been out for two hours at this point so they were ready to relax … but Chickpea never tired out. She came out at 1:30 and went back to bed at 4:00 and could have played more, no problem.

 

There were a lot of soft poops, nothing too bad, Tommy's were the softest.

 

Cheers to all, Sue

The Saturday Report ( Abbr'd)

With only five residents, it makes it a short day, two runs groups.

 

I arrived by myself, Bonnie had to stay home and wait on Air Canada to deliver our luggage. For those who may not have been aware we spent four days in Newfoundland, around the Gros Morne Park area.

Anyway I let out Terrence, Phillip and of course Chickpea, all three bouncing all over the place. Chickpea jumped all over the others, until they could stand it no longer, then they both ignored her.  Terrence went off and proceeded to try opening the closet door. That little man knows how to kick the bar out of the way and slide the door open for the others to enter. They had lots of fun checking everything out. I pulled them out and closed the door, only to have Terrence to open it again. I gave up.  Chickpea, I picked up every time she came near, gave her a kiss then put her down, sometimes I just blew in her ear then put her down. I had the distinct impression she loves this treatment as she kept coming back for more. I have learnt that she loves the attention but for very short periods.  Phillip was also catching on to this and paid me as much attention as did Chickpea.  Terrence was still busy with his closet closing bar.

 

About this time, Bailey, who was getting anxious, turfed all his food out of his bowl and kicking most of it onto the floor. Not the cage floor but the one I cleaned up twice, I am a slow learner. I then pulled him out, along with Bailey and let them run in the garage room.  Went in for the first little while and Bailey bounced himself silly, all over the room, he jumped on Tommy and Tommy jumped on him.  They just love the human inter-reaction, Bailey kept showing me his teeth but never once chomped down.  I had to leave and check on the thumping from the other room, so they played chase through the green tube and the Purolator tunnel. The noise turned out to be Philip climbing cages and finding things he shouldn’t.

At this point I let Burke out. He was chewing the cage bars. And for those who may not be aware, Randy was ferret sitting our boys ( Burke, Higgins, Dew and Fabien) while we gallivanted around Western Newfoundland.  And, Aggie, these boys do have a forever “home” and if you did take them, you would have Bonnie to deal with, she would never appreciated losing her “boys”.  I let Burke say hello to Chickpea. They did the usual butt and neck sniffing then she crawled onto his back for a free ride around the room. He actually was ignoring her, but she will not let anyone ignore her.  Little b…… nice girl.  Then the boys found Burke and they all followed him around, they were a bit of a bother to him, but Burke is great with other ferrets, only he is still recovering from surgery so all the attention was a bit much. I put him back so as to not stress him, and he went back to chewing cage bars.

Tommy and Bailey were getting lonely so I spent more time with them.  Bonnie arrived at this point, guess that meant our luggage was home at last thanks to Air Canada.  So she stayed with T&B while I changed the groups and let our boys out for a short run before we took them home.  

Thanks to all of you who met our boys and gave them extra runs and attention, although I am not surprised, as these boys have a way with humans, they entrance them into showing lots of love and affection.  Thanks again.  To those who missed these enchanters, better luck next time.

 

That’s it folks, short report

 

Nigel & Bonnie.