Ferret Amnesty in California Terminated

Today was a sad day for hundreds of thousands of pet ferrets and their owners in California. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill legalizing ferrets already in the state. This is despite the fact that there are no feral ferrets anywhere in the country despite a population of approximately 10 million pet ferrets. (The population estimate appeared in an article in the September issue of Delta Airlines' Sky magazine.) Domestic ferrets are incapable of surviving in the wild. All the instincts and skills necessary to fend for themselves have basically been bred out of them.

The good news at home is that Lady Ayeka is having more normal stools and seems to really be doing well. All four of our ferrets seem to be happy, playful, and sweet right now. It's good not to be worrying about an impending ferret medical disaster for a change. After losing six to old age, lymphosarcoma, and/or liver cancer in less than a year we really needed to have some good ferret times for a while.

An update before Yom Kippur...

Lucky ferrets... they don't have to fast.

Lady Ayeka continues to do brilliantly She's even been pouncing Chin Soon, starting wrestling matches, and letting the other three know that she's still the dominant alpha. Her next checkup will be in mid-October when Romana goes in for her annual vaccinations. Romana seems to be over her tummy trouble but I think Nyssa caught it :( Still, all four played quite a bit last night and seem to mostly be fine.

I still can't get Chin Soon and Nyssa to get along. Chin Soon is curious about Nyssa, will follow her, and when Nyssa turns around and moves toward her our little scaredy-ferret runs. The few times she didn't there was screaming, poop flew, and Nyssa drew blood once :( Still, Chin Soon goes back for more. I just wish I could get Nyssa to accept Chin Soon and all would be well in this house.

OK, here is an obligatory cute picture :) This is Lady Ayeka:



I hope everyone who is Jewish who is reading this has a very meaningful holiday and an easy fast.

Lady Ayeka is doing better, I think

Little Lady Ayeka seems to be feeling better. She played only for about an hour last night, but she was her usual self, both affectionate and playful, while she was awake. She's starting to have more formed stools, so the yogurt (used as a probiotic) and pediapred (for her lymphosarcoma) seem to be working. I think she's almost fully recovered from the adrenal/insulinoma surgery now. I just hope we can keep her feeling well for a while longer.

Nyssa and Chin Soon got along better last night. It was also a night where Nyssa ran the longest of all the ferrets and was actually willing to wrestle with me a bit.

Anyway, they are as cute as ever.

Now even my ferrets have a Blog

Well... since the little weasels are such a big part of my life they deserve a blog, don't they? They're all asleep now: Chin Soon curled up with Romana and Nyssa curled up with Lady Ayeka. They'll be awake and playing soon enough. What news we have will be here.

Oh, and yes, I need to redo the very outdated ferrets' website.