The Christmas Weezl

Well,if you're following this blog, you've noticed the lack of weekly check in's. The deal is, she's simply integrated into the family. The extra patience and willingness to work with Pookey paid off, and now we're enjoying her fun personality. She's especially fond of my daughter, and seems to enjoy her torture sessions. She gets on reasonably with the cats, and is buddies with Pimpi. We can mostly trust her around the house, kinda almost, and are learning tricks like putting stones in the house plant vases. Now if she'd only use the litter. Healthwise, she's doing great. She eats well: lots of boiled chicken, Almo Natura dry kitten food, sardines in olive oil, and now we have to hide the avocado that she just started hankerin'.
Next up are the vaccinations, begining next week, I'll keep ya posted!

Weekly check in December 1 2013

Sorry for skipping last week's check in. Actually, things are kinda getting settled down. Pookey`s pretty much become a member of the household. She's still a bit "behaviorally challenged", but it's a tolerable and we're working on it. She's out most of the time we're home, and mostly just digs around the apartment, occassionally coming out to attack us or Pimpi hoping to play hide and seek. Her scar is healing well and gets calendula gel daily. She's been eating dry kitten food, boiled chicken, scrambled eggs and sardines in olive oil. Pookey'll start getting vaccines later this month.

Weekly check in November 17 2013

It's been another big week for da Weezl... at 7 1/2 months old she begun going into heat, evidenced by her "patatina" swelling up, so it was off to Doctor Ivan for spaying. I took her to the clinic Thursday night, she was operated on Friday, and I picked her up in the evening. She was groggy and sleepy for the ride home, but perked up at home and was active and awake, and ate alot of dry food and chicken. She'll be taking antibiotics for 8 days, and she'll be on bed rest and until her check-up Tuesday. I'm giving her the antibiotics crushed on a small portion of chicken, cut into really small pieces so she's less likely to pull em out and hide em. I'm using calendula gel on her wound to help it heal. She's been pretty active, though she is sleeping much more than usualy, and she definitely likes being held, stroked and hand fed...
As well, she's infested with fleas, as were the cats, so this weekend we're steam cleaning the home. She'll get another dose of strong hold on the 25th.
Pookey's eating well, dry food and chicken. She's not so great with the litter box around the house.
Biting is reasonable, but needs more work. She's been nipping and licking me some, like when the cats groom me.
Putting stones in the plant vases stopped her digging.

Weekly check in November 10, 2013

Food: dry kitten and ferret food, scrambled eggs, boiled chicken wings.
Play time: 3-4 hours or more in the whole house.

This week Pookey really started being a part of the family. She spends most of the evening and weekends roaming free. We're all learning about each other. She spends most of the time sniffing around, getting into everything, and finding her favorite spots. It's an ongoing job weezlizing the apartment, but it's also ending up a generally safer, cleaner home for all of us.

Behavior wise, she's really improving. Her biting is at a tolerable level now, and is fairly predictable. I've been working on picking her up and holding her, and she's grown quite accepting of it. I've also been learning to scruff her properly, not as a punishment but as a way of holding her. She gets pretty docile, especially if I rub her belly, she seems to love that. I'm able to brush her, wash her and even clip her nails. Scruffing also seems to change the way she views us, the more we do it, the more she treats us like her caretakers, not her littermates. She also responds some to her name, but I think the combination of poor hearing and distractions make it likely that she'll be like the cats, hearing when it's convenient.

Weekly check in November 3 2013

Food: scrambled eggs, canned salmon, boiled chicken, Almo Natura and Royal Canin kitten dry foods, dry ferret food
Play time: 2-3 hours a day, some with full-house freedom.

As you can see, I try to feed her a wide range of stuff. The theory behind it is to avoid a monotonous diet and offer a wide range of nutrition. While a natural, raw diet may be a good idea, it's not realistic for us. Cooked chicken can last a few days, and the cats go nuts for it, too. Dry food must be a staple of her diet, I can just leave it in the cage overnight, hidden bits don't rot and stink, and it keeps for a long time in the cupboard. I'm looking for good quality dried foods, and trying to point towards cruelty free. Being that I feed Pookey real meat most days, I think I can be a bit less neurotic about dry food nutritional content, though that doesn't mean getting crap foods, more like I can go with cruelty-free Almo Natura that is a bit lower in some nutritional values than cruelty-included major brands. Also, learning young to eat a variety of foods means that we won't run into problems with a picky eater should we not be able to find her favorite food.

This week Pookey's really moving into the family. I feel comfortable handling her without gloves, it's rare she really bites now, but a bit of nipping and such continues. Well, it's progress, not perfection, and she's come a long way. Also, I can usually tell her bite mood, usually when she's overexcited. Hissing is still the main remedy, though when she's too excited or really bites, it's a scruff and time out.
Pookey has spent quite a bit of time roaming the apartment this week. She mostly just sniffs around the edges of the room and under the couch, and comes out every once in a while to say hi or get chased by Pimpi.

Weekly check in October 27 2013

Food: dry ferret food, Almo Natura dry kitten food, boiled chicken, boiled chicken livers and hearts
Playtime: sometimes 20-30 minutes in the morning, about 3 hours in the evening, usually a half hour quiet training session before I go to bed

Pookey's starting to really integrate into our family. She plays with Pimpi some, and I think they'll be good friends. Nana mostly ignores her. With Tino, we still lock up Pookey when he's home, sometimes in a carrier in the living room, but it's going to take quite a while.
When out and about, she mostly explores on her own, but she does come out to show us the weezl war dance some, and plays chase with Pimpi a bit. She got a snack with Pimpi and Nana once, and everyone behaved well.
We went to the vet, who is experienced with ferrets of his own. She's in good health, and will be fixed next month and vaccines start a month later. She'll get a microchip when she's fixed. Poopy exam will be today, and she got flea treatment last night using the vet's recommended Stronghold for kittens, with no adverse reactions yet.
She's getting better about biting, and I can usually handle her without gloves, though when she's excited, I definitely have to use them. Her training sessions are after she's played for a while, and consist of her being picked up, set in my lap, getting a treat or two, and being set down by gentle scruffing. It's going to take time for us to trust each other, but I see it building.

Breakthru day

Today was a special day with Pookey. She got run of the house when I got home, and wore herself out. She played nice, and I could (nervously) handle her without gloves! She got lots of slices of bell pepper for treats, even from my daughter! I'll be continuing on this plan: free time till dinner, a nap, more free time, then a nap, then a half hour of isolated positive reinforcement training with me and few distractions.
Tomorrow we have our first vet visit with Ivan in Besana. Wish us luck!

Weekly check in October 20, 2013

It's been a busy week for da Weezl!
She's still a nipper, and I still feel the need to use gloves to handle her, but I want to give her the time and patience necessary for her to learn to deal with things without biting, whether playing or pissed. I'm leaving her time to explore by herself, letting her tell me when she wants to play, and playing games that don't give her the chance to bite. I'm finding hissing at her is a good deterrent, though it may not be as quick for driving a lesson home as scruffing would be.
Aside from the nipping, she's been busy getting to meet us all, my daughter, wife and 2 of our 3 cats. While she's mostly a cage bound critter now, we want her to be out whenever we're home and awake. Up until the last couple of days, she was kept to a small room for a few 1-2 hour playtimes a day. Now she has run of most of the apartment for these playtimes. Mostly she sniffs around and explores, sometimes jumping out to play or checking out Pimpi or Nana, somtimes playin chase with Pimpi. Pimpi and Nana seem to support her, with mixed curiosity and indifference. We're taking time with Tino, though as he can be a nut 'till he's gotten used to new intruders.
She's tried lots of different foods. She got ferret food, and also cat and kitten Almo Natura dry foods, raw naturama chicken and cooked, and scrambled eggs. She has a much nicer coat and looks healthy.
She usually has toothpaste-like poop, but occasionally has a bit of diarrhea. She uses the litter tray regularly, even going back to her cage when playing.
Overall, she's slowly integrating into the household. She mostly sniffs around, comes out to play every once in a while. She seems healthy and happy, eats well and is energetic. I'm going to have to really work with her on being handled and playing gently this week.

Weekly check-in October 13 2013

We've been together for a week now, and it's been both fun and trying, Pookey seems healthy, eats well and has lots of energy. She bites, and mostly I've been using hissing, though I've added scruffing and time outs, which I'm not really comfortable with. When scruffed, she goes nuts and tries to bite, not her playing bites (which are hard enough, drawing blood on bare skin), but nutso fear/ anger/getdafukoffame biting, so I'm not so sure about it. I think for now I'll use it for real bites only, and continue hissing for minor play nips.

She gets 2 romps every evening, about an hour or more each with about 2 1/2-3 hours total a day, in the spare room playing with me. She loves fighting towels, exploring and playing in a bucket of water. I can usually hold her for a bit with no struggling, but I only hold her for 30 seconds or so at a time to not overdo it. She uses her litter box, even returning to the cage during play time. She knows the weezl war dance well, and loves hide and seek and tag. Sunday (today) she'll get at least 4 hours out of the cage.

She likes Almo Natura dry cat food best, though she also eats Versele-Laga Ferret Nature, and has tried moist Almo Natura. She also had some hard boiled egg and a very little bit of raw scrambled egg. The pet shop gave her bell peppers for treats, so I've given her some, too, but will be eliminating it this week. Also, this week I'll get a whole Naturama (almost organic) chicken for the cats, we give it boiled, so Pookey will get to try it, and it will hopefully become a big part of her diet.
I really don't like scruffing, but am starting to use it along with 2 minute time outs for unexcusable biting. Nips during frenzied play get hisses, but anything more gets scruffs and time out. Playtime never ends on time out, even if the allotted time is over, she comes back out for a bit more to play nice and end the romp on a positive note. I tried Friday without gloves, and was reminded it's not yet time. Ah, well, pazienza... we've got lots of years ahead so we'll take our time on this and not allow anger and frustration in, only love and kindness, maybe also looking for games that don't excite her so much.
The cage I got is not really adapted to her, though sold as a ferret cage. Why do they all have those long openings, they used to be smaller, square openings. I've put smaller fencing wire on it for now, but plan on building a cage myself, though I hear wood isn't ideal it will probably be the main material, with the floor and first few inches of wall covered in linoleum, and lots of ventilation holes. Gotta do more research, it'll be a few months before I can do it.

Welcome home!

After my wonderful dawg Sweet Pea died, I had a hole that human companionship couldn't fill. I found Pookey in a pet shop in Busnago, near Milano, Italy. She's 6 months old and had been in a cage there her entire life. She looked healthy and active, cute as a weezle, but a bit nippy. Seemed a shame to let her languish until the end there, so I chose her over the cute littler kits.

She's super playful and curious, clumsy and lovely. She also bites, and for now I have to wear gloves with her, though we'll work on that. She lives in a cage, and can play in our spare room when I can stay with her. Once she stops biting, she'll be free to roam the house when I'm home and terrorize our 3 cats. She will, however, be in her cage when I'm at work or asleep.

In this blog, we'll keep track of our lives together, and I'll post weekly updates on my ferret caring experiences like training, food and amount of play time, behavior changes, etc. I hope that it'll help me keep track of our progress, and maybe help others to care for their weezlz.

Ciao,

John and Pookey