Ferret News
Pet Ferret Care Tips
and Information
By Mary R. Shefferman & Eric Shefferman & Gabby, the ferret
www.ferretnews.com

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Modern Ferret News Mailing List Issue #25
http://www.ferretnews.com
July 30, 2002

by Mary R. Shefferman and Eric Shefferman
contact: marymodernferret.com
======================================================

Hi

Things are starting to look up for us! We got quite
a bit accomplished in this last week. More updates in
Updates section, but just a quick plug here for some
nifty new stuff for sale.

Look at:
http://www.cafepress.com/ferretdesigns

for some *Ferret Clocks* *Posters*
*License Plate Frames* *Barbeque Aprons*

Because we got such a late start with this stuff,
some of these items will only be available for a
short period of time. So if you're interested, take a
look right away!

We should be adding more items all throughout the
week, so keep checking back!

- Eric

>>> In this issue: <<<

==> Ferretone Stains! Yikes!
by Eric Shefferman

==> Ferret Useful Tips: Set #2
from your fellow Modern Ferret News readers

==> Update on Modern Ferret Things


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---------------------------------------------------

======================================================

==> Ferretone Stains! Yikes!
by Eric Shefferman

It happens to all of us.

You might *think* it can't happen to you, but you
never know for sure.

Here's how it happened to me:

I was walking by the ferrets, minding my own business
(no pun intended), when I spied little Trixie crunching
away at the food bowl. Trixie was once just a little
itty-bitty kit, but now she's the oldest ferret of our
group. Although she's blind now, she still knows how to
command me with her beautiful little sometimes-red,
sometimes-black eyes.

"Give me some Ferretone," she commanded.

And I obeyed.

I like to hold the ferrets on my arm while I give them
Ferretone and let them lap it from my open palm. I've
done this with all our ferrets from when they were kits
because it helps them learn that licking people is
preferable to nipping them.

Unfortunately, I put the Ferretone bottle down a
little too close to the edge of the table. Trixie
had started lapping when the bottle fell and made a
loud noise.

Being blind, Trixie was frightened by the sound and
she leaped straight up in the air. I grabbed for her
and caught her so she wouldn't fall -- but in the
process I managed to get my palm-full of Ferretone
all over my shirt.

Eeek! This stuff is oil and oil stains -- that much
I know!

So I did what any sensible husband would do -- I
reassured Trixie that everything was okay and put her
down and then ran to my wife for help.

Mary rubbed Dawn dishwashing liquid on all the spots
on the shirt that had gotten splashed, and then put
the shirt in the sink to soak in a mixture of cold
water and more Dawn dishwashing liquid. The Dawn is
to break up the oil from the Ferretone.

After letting it soak for a while, Mary put the wet
shirt in the laundry. A while later, my shirt was
back -- luckily with no permanent Ferretone stains.

Whew!

So the moral of the story is: if you get Ferretone
on your clothes -- get some Dawn dishwashing liquid on
them right away and get them into cold water.

- Eric

P.S.
If that doesn't work, you can always try Lestoil --
but we don't like the way Lestoil smells (and its
smell tends to linger).

Thanks to Linda Markert for having told us about
using Dawn dishwashing liquid!

---------------------------------------------------
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Every issue is filled with great photos, care tips,
training tips, funny stories, medical information
(with explanations written so you can understand
them), and so much more -- all done from a fellow
ferret owner's viewpoint (because we're ferret
owners too!).

Read more about it at
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==> Ferret Useful Tips: Set #2
from your fellow Modern Ferret News readers

Wow! We've gotten a lot of great tips, stories, and
ideas in the email! Here's the first batch of them.
More will be coming in future issues!

Big thanks to everyone who wrote in!

--- kATHY wrote: ---

I have two ferrets and they love to play with a
tennis ball.

--- ************ ---

Some ferrets just love to roll stuff around. Some
will even play "nose soccer" and run all around the
room pushing a ball with their nose.

We often look for inexpensive toys to see who will
like what.

In a gumball machine, we once found these hard
plastic balls that were painted like soccer balls.
Our ferret Knuks loved these! She would nose the ball
around and happily chase after it. She even impressed
us by remembering where the ball was. For a while she
kept trying to get behind the filing cabinet next to
Mary's desk. Day after day she kept trying. We finally
got down on the floor to try to see what she was doing
-- her ball had gotten stuck behind the cabinet and
every day she had been trying to get it out!

Knuks also liked to push around big objects. We once
got her one of those one foot diameter rubber/plastic
balls that you usually see in supermarkets. It was so
huge compared to her and she loved to push it around
the room (it completely blocked her vision for where
she was going). Since it was a bit soft and rubbery,
she only got to play with it with supervision.

Many ferrets also like to play with cheap plastic
Easter eggs. You can get a dozen of these for a dollar
-- and even less after Easter.

As with all toys -- remember to watch how *your*
ferrets play with them and make sure they are safe
for your ferrets. For example, we had always
considered the plastic Easter eggs to be a fairly
safe toy until we got Cauliflower -- who would fit
them in his mouth and shatter them!

- Eric

--- Roxanne wrote: ---
======================================================
I took about 8 or so boxes and cut doorways into
them and taped them together. This made a maze for my
ferrets with a doorway to the outside of the boxes in
each box, in case someone falls asleep inside and you
have to get them out. They use this everyday, by
either chasing each other through it or hiding their
toys inside.

--- ************** ---

Cheap toys like this are fun to build and fun
for your ferrets to play in. They also make great
rainy-day projects for your human kids. We do all
sorts of things here with empty envelope boxes.

Making toys out of boxes is nice because if they get
dirty or hurt, you don't feel bad about throwing them
out.

As always, watch for how your ferrets play with them.
Some ferrets like the feeling of chewing on cardboard.
Our ferret Ralph was like that -- he just liked to
play "hole puncher" whenever he had a chance. The
danger is that the ferret could accidentally swallow
a piece of paper or cardboard and give himself
an intestinal blockage (which could require surgery).
Then again, some ferrets will happily play with such
toys without ever considering chewing on them.

- Eric

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Do you have any tips or ideas you'd like to share?*

send an email to marymodernferret.com

with your tips and we'll publish the best ones
in a future issue of this newsletter.

*We've already gotten a bunch of great ideas
and are looking forward to receiving more!
We'll be publishing them as we have space in
future issues so stay tuned!
---------------------------------------------------

======================================================

==> Update on Modern Ferret Things

Please tell other ferret people to go to our site
ferretnews.com and subscribe! The more the merrier!

-- Nifty Products

We have been meaning to revamp the FerretDesigns.com
web site for a while and add new products, etc. but
haven't quite gotten the new site finished.

However, we do have a bunch of new products including
license plate frames, posters, clocks, flying disks,
and barbeque aprons. These products are all fulfilled
by CafePress, so some of them may be disappearing
soon along with the end of the summer season.

So if you're interested in any of these things, see

http://www.cafeshops.com/ferretdesigns

in addition to the T-shirts, mouse pads, and mugs
that we already have at

http://www.ferretdesigns.com

Note: both the Ferret Designs shops put your order
into the same "shopping cart" -- so you can order
things from both sites in a combined order.

-- The Magazine and a Book

We're hoping to have a new issue of the real
Modern Ferret magazine printed soon. At long last!

We also should soon have copies of a new book
printed that we're sure you'll love!

We'll keep you posted as soon as we have exact
dates.

Hopefully these two things will be the start of
an upswing for us!

-- Eric's Health

This Tuesday Eric goes for a CAT scan to see how
his intestines are healing and this Wednesday Eric
goes in for his third Remicade infusion. If all
goes well, Eric will finally be able to have his
drain removed and will be on his way to recovery
from this flare-up of his Crohn's disease. From
there we'll be able to look at reviving the
magazine, etc.

That's it for this issue!
Stay tuned! More great stuff is on the way!

Remember that shopping at
http://www.FerretDesigns.com
and at
http://www.FerretTradingPost.com
helps support this newsletter and keep it free.

======================================================

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