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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We'd love to hear from you Weezl lovers, especially if you have advice and experience, but also just to say hi to us! To avoid spam and viagra advertising, all comments must be approved by da Weezl, who'd love to hear from you.