# Meet my two rescues!



## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Well more like one rehome, one rescue. Some of you may know that I used to own ferrets in the past and honestly I began resenting them. I realize a lot of that was because the information out there is pretty crappy when it comes to exotics. I began to do my research all over again and found this wonderful forum with helpful people just like on here. Also where Kelsey is spoken highly of :grin:

Yesterday I drove three hours to pick up these two little guys from a friend of a friend of a friend of my moms and her friend.

No names yet.

This little guy is a dark eye white. He is deaf but extremely playful and sweet. 


This is the little girl. She is very docile but bites like words I can't on say here.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Yay!  I was wondering if/when you were going to share them with us over here. My friend had already mentioned & showed me your thread for the new additions on the ferret forum. :lol: They're both adorable! I hope you can get the little girl eating better soon. And I'm starting to be amused at how some of these exotic forums are getting linked together with users! Blinked a little bit at your comment, I hadn't realized she'd mentioned me. :lol:


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## ellisrks01 (Mar 25, 2014)

Awesome, I'm coming to your house, you have all kinds of cool pets! 
I've never had the joy of owning one but I know a few people that do and I just love them.

I know you just got them but Are you going to start on a raw diet? What are they eating right now?... I'm just interested :grin:

Edit: Do you mind posting or PMing me the Ferret forum, please.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Of course I was going to share with you guys! :grin: I was debating about waiting till after the holidays but I was super excited!

Kelsey, I have seen you mentioned a few time actually. It totally shocked me too. I was like hey, I kind of know that person! :lol: I am going to try another trick tonight with some coconut oil and her food and see if she will eat better for me then. It could just be stress so I will really begin the worrying tomorrow. I'm going to set up the hedgie camera so I can see if she is eating or not.

Ellis, just so you know, one of the name contenders for the boy is Ellis. :grin: I'm definitely going to feed raw! I have the starter soup all made up and frozen. Once the little girl gets the all clear from the vet or if she starts eating on her own then we will get them going on it. Right now, they are eating Wellness Core Kitten Food.

ETA - As long as no one minds it, here is the forum http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/.


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## sc2001 (Oct 12, 2014)

Awww how cute!!! I have never had the opportunity to play with a ferret but I heard they are tons of fun!! Congrats


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

How cute. I love ferrets. Never owned them though, maybe in the future... although I really don't like the smell. But they're so cute


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

The smell is seriously improved if you feed them a raw diet! Keeping the cage clean helps too, but honestly, my friend's boy is raw-fed and you can't smell a thing from him unless you stick your nose into his fur. Others on her forum have mentioned the same thing.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Yep, one of the reasons I was allowed to get them was if I raw fed them. I was planning on it anyway but when the fiancee heard that they don't smell bad on raw he was on board. Honestly though, with the two I have, their cage is right at the foot of my bed and I can't smell them at all unless I open the cage door and kind of stick my head in.


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## ellisrks01 (Mar 25, 2014)

DesireeM81 said:


> Ellis, just so you know, one of the name contenders for the boy is Ellis. :grin: I'm definitely going to feed raw! I have the starter soup all made up and frozen. Once the little girl gets the all clear from the vet or if she starts eating on her own then we will get them going on it. Right now, they are eating Wellness Core Kitten Food.
> 
> ETA - As long as no one minds it, here is the forum http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/.


Well that's a cool name haha!
I figured you would go raw but I had to ask. I heard they do really well on it.

I read around the forum a little and spotted you  . So did you figure out the age? Didn't you think they were 2 &3 years but someone said they are 5yrs old maybe older? That seems like a big gap. I didn't know you can tell age by their teeth. I love learning about different animals! Thanx for the forum.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Yep! The fun starts tomorrow. They take a long time to get on raw but the sooner the better with these guys. I basically have to plan an hour or two each step for each day they go on a new step to get them to eat raw. :roll: It'll be interesting. 

I think that the boy is a bit younger just because his teeth are just a tad bit less clear than the girls and he acts younger (not a good way to tell though.)

I'm going to go with 4 for the boy and 6 for the girl. Since her teeth seem to be worse to me. It's not an exact science and since 1/3 of the way can be four or five, I'll stick with these for now. Maybe the vet will have some insights. 

Apparently it is really common for people to think their ferrets are younger, to be told they are younger or straight up lie about their ages. It's alright though. I do plan on adding a kit in the future since these two fuzzbutts will need someone to get them up and moving in the future.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Ferrets are a riot. At one time we had 8 of them. Ferrets tend to multiply because once you have one, they seem to be everywhere needing a new home. 

Teeth can be deceiving. We recently had one of our cats to the vet and she was amazed by his teeth and body in general. Would have said he was only a couple of years old, definitely not 8.5. :lol:


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

With ferrets they are measuring a certain amount of clarity on the teeth. The teeth lose clarity starting at the tip moving up depending on the age. It's all a guesstimate but gets a closer age. I let the more experienced tell me since I cant really tell what is clarity and what isn't. Apparently they have compared the teeth of those they know the ages of and started seeing a pattern. Both of my guys clarity is about a third up the tooth with the girls starting to get halfway up. Which puts them in the 5 age range, she is probably older and he could be 4 or 5. Haha. At least that's what I'm told. I think it's pretty cool though. Really useful. 

They really do seem to multiply very fast! Almost as fast as hedgehogs.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Bitey (not her real name) has a vet appointment tomorrow at 8am. I'll keep everyone updated on here. Since little man is doing wonderfully, unless she has something contagious I'm not going to bring him in until I get paid again.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Alrighty we just got back from the vet. (Btw we named her Rebel.) 

Her diagnosis was pretty good. No ear mites, no parasites, no ECE, no teeth problems, no blockage. However, her BG was at 56, after eating, so her diagnosis is insulinoma. Which is what I figured. She was given Prednisolone .15cc twice a day and Metronidazole .25ml twice a day for ten days. She pawed and scratched her mouth at the vet and I felt so bad for her. But she was awake and alert when we got home and went straight for the soup and just ate for like 10 minutes! Now she is up playing with Riot (little boy finally has a name too) which she hasn't done since I got her. 

I did get the vet lecture about raw along with the scary story of this animal ate raw and died... :twisted: I would really like to find a pro raw vet. I already have to drive an hour for this one I would prefer not to get lectured every time I go in. 

I'm just glad to know what's wrong and how to help her.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Sorry to hear that she has insulinoma, but glad at least you know what's going on. My friend's boy has that as well. We actually found out when I was petsitting for him earlier this year - he had a low blood sugar attack and gave both of us near heart attacks because he could barely walk. She took him to the vet as soon as she got back & they figured it out. He's been doing fine ever since, though, he hasn't had another attack. 

That's such a shame that your vet is behaving like that. If I can suggest another possibility besides finding a pro-raw vet (especially since that can be annoyingly difficult), if you have the time & desire to, try doing some research into insulinoma, causes, & what affects it. From what I've heard from my friend, carbs tend to aggravate it, which is why raw diets are best. You could also bring some information to show how a raw diet can be properly balanced (vitamins & minerals found in different meats & organs), and if it's something he mentioned, the comparisons between bacteria in kibble & raw (it's the same - even one or two were actually higher in kibble, if my memory is right). You could also point out how often kibble is recalled, and to help make that point, Evo's ferret food was actually just recalled (along with their cat foods, I believe). They contained insufficient levels of vitamins & minerals...so not even kibble is always balanced well. :roll: 

Good luck if you do decide to confront him with information & research. I know it's difficult to deal with vets that automatically jump to "raw is bad", but often they're either uneducated, or they're somewhat educated & also see too many bad cases, so they have a bit more hesitation about it. If you decide it's not worth the bother, I hope you can find a raw-friendly vet instead. 

I'm sure the ferret forum will be able to help more with dealing with Rebel's insulinoma! Let us know how she does. And I love both of their names!


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thank you! 

I thought about coming in all armed to teeth with information on raw and how bad kibble was for them and how it can help balance an inslunomic ferrets blood glucose but she was so against it so fast. She called raw feeders a cult... :-? I decided this was not a battle I was going to win. I thought about not mentioning anything but then I didn't want her to think a Insulinomic ferret was doing really great on a kitten food so I decided to be honest. She did say I could do whatever I wanted, so if I can't find another vet, I'll just try to avoid her. There are a few vets that work in the one hospital so it shouldn't be hard. The weirdest thing was that no one blinked an eyes when I mentioned what I was feeding the hedgehogs which included raw. Oh well. 

The thing is I have my research and I know how to do it correctly. I would never do something I believed was dangerous for my animals.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Exactly. I'm glad you're not too fazed by what the vet said, at least. I agree, she sounds like a lost cause, unfortunately.  I always get really annoyed when vets insist someone is going to kill their hedgehog by feeding them cat food or kill their dog/cat/whatever for feeding raw, and the owner ends up really freaked out. :? I'm glad there's other vets at the location, at least. Hopefully they're much more open to the idea of raw feeding so you don't have to constantly do battle!


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thankfully I prepared myself for it. :grin:

When Rebel wouldn't eat kibble but went straight for the raw soup I knew it was the best thing for her. She would eat about 4 or 5 kibbles in a sitting three times a day now she will get up and eat on her own with the raw soup in her cage. She is eating large amounts too about 3 oz a day.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

*An update and a small rant.*

Well Rebel is doing well on her medication. She will bite me if I don't feed her fast enough... We are working on that too.

Riot, however, has three symptoms of adrenal disease which means another vet appointment and another set of drugs for the rest of his life. Possibly surgery but I want to try and avoid that route.

Now for my rant. We all know that animals require certain care. Hedgehogs need food, heat, space and a certain lighting schedule. We work really hard to keep are animals healthy and safe based on the information at hand.

That being said, ferrets are NOT a new domesticated species like hedgehogs are. While they are new to being house pets, they are not new to being domesticated and we have a lot more information about them. We know what they were fed, how they were raised, what they need. Somehow between the past thirty years, these wonderful intelligent creature have become "caged" animals who are fed kibble and are now available in any pet store.

Ferrets, I believe, should still be considered exotic animals. They require a light schedule, they require a certain temperature, (although much more lenient than hedgehogs), they require a special diet.

Marshall Farms has made it an easy and cheap way to breed ferrets. They aren't worried about breeding out things like adrenal (if it can be bred out) or lymphoma (same thing). The only thing ferrets are clear of from is AVD (from what I understand, it's an immune deficiency disease.) They aren't interested in keeping the ferrets healthy long term.

There is a lot of research that needs to be done and these big companies just don't care to do it. Why does adrenal happen in ferrets? We know it happens in spayed and neutered animals, we know that light can affect them and cause it to happen much earlier. But we aren't sure how to prevent it.

We know about insulinoma and probably what causes it. We know how to prevent it, sort of, and we know how to manage it, sort of. Kibble is not the greatest, ferret food in a pet store, is some of the worst, like it is with our spikey friends.

Very few people do their research on any animal. They see a cute ferret, buy it and one of those tiny cages, Marshalls ferret food and keep him caged. Or they let him roam free and he eats the first piece of rubber he finds.

Okay, maybe a long rant. I just know that this forum has helped me so much with hedgehogs and that I hate seeing any animals not properly taken care of.

My two rescues deserve a better chance at life than the one they were given and it breaks my heart. The survival rate for both is on average a year and half. As much as I want more time with them, I just want to make their life the best it can be for the amount of time they have left.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry to hear that your boy is also sick.  I agree with every single word of your rant. Marshall's is absolutely appalling and I wish there was some way to drive them out of business or get them to stop mass producing ferrets that are almost guaranteed to get one disease or another. Likewise, I hate when people don't do the research into ferret care. I heard about a particularly person in Australia who let her ferrets die because they were outside & overheated in the ridiculous summer temps down there.  My friend was absolutely livid and I don't blame her a bit. People are just so selfish and careless. I wish there was a way to to protect/save all of the animals from people like that.

I do want to say though, that while I'm sorry you won't have as much time as you deserve with your new babies...I'm glad they came to you. They couldn't have found a better home to live out the rest of their lives in. I know they'll be well-loved, cared for, and spoiled for the time you have with them. And knowing what you do, I'm sure you'll treasure every moment as well. Give them both a cuddle for me tonight.


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## DesireeM81 (Jun 14, 2014)

Thank you. I know they are in a better home now and that I can love them and care for them the best that I can. And when the time comes I can let them pass on peacefully and hopefully without too much pain. 

But for now, I will give them tons of Kelsey cuddles and I'm sure both of them will try to get away as soon as possible :lol:


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