Wordless Wednesday: The Vet Visit

 

Have A Chittering Good Day,

 

Jo

Lift the Ban!

New York City’s Board of Health is going to have a hearing on January 21, 2014 with regards to lifting the ban on owning ferrets in NYC.

New York City has had a ban on ferrets since 1999 when then Mayor Giuliani and a ferret enthusiast got into a heated debate on the radio. Since that time ferret owners in New York City  have been considered criminals and could have their ferret(s) confiscated if found. 

Which means that many ferret owners are taking risks every time they take their beloved fur ball to the vet where they could be turned in to the authorities or worse the vets who look the other way are not fully trained in ferret care and often charge outrageous sums for the green papers hoomans give each other.

They have already had one hearing on December 9, 2013 which opened up many of the debates that California Wildlife and Game commission has used to keep ferrets illegal in that state.

Some of those debates include that we, ferrets, enjoy gnawing on little children and news stories have shown up where we have supposedly attacked children. One in particular that happened in Missouri has never been completely substantiated one way or the other as to if that ferret did indeed do what it was accused of doing be for being murdered in a horrific way.

We don’t gnaw on children. We might lick off any food residue on their tiny hands. Or if they are infants in a car seat on the floor and they are making squeaking noises we might think they are a kit (a baby ferret) and will try to take them to where we feel they will be safe. Or we might think they are our favorite toy and try to replace it back in our hide hole.  Hooman has often over the years said that ferrets and small children do not mix.

Like most animals we can be prone to certain viruses and rabies is one of the most common viruses out there. Depending on the research there hasn’t been more than 20 cases of ferrets having rabies  since 1954 in the United States that may because there are vaccinations for rabies. Responsible hoomans take us in for yearly vaccinations.

Our hooman would not be able to travel to different places or take us to ferret shows without us being vaccinated against rabies and distemper.

As for breeding. Many of us come from large chain pet stores and we have already been fixed and have had our anal glands removed. While not having our anal glands does help lessen our signature musky smell it does not eliminated it as the musky scent comes from the oils in our skin. That smell is what puts us in the category of mustelidae.

As for getting out of a building and setting up a colony of feral ferrets seems farfetched as we don’t tend to do well in temperatures over 70 degrees and with some of the below zero temps not many would survive. But one of the possible upsides to that scenario is that New York City might not have the rat problem as we were originally domesticated to hunt rodents.

Our hooman describes us as a kitten and a two year old rolled into one and we never grow up. I guess that means we are constantly looking for new things to play with when we are not sleeping.

We can be litter trained like a cat and walk in a harness on a lead like a dog. We are inquisitive to the world around us and have a short lifespan.  Why should the New York City Board of Health deny ferret owners the right to have their pet without worry. I am sure there is a larger cat and dog population in NY then there are ferrets but until the ban is lifted no one will ever know for sure.

Maybe, just maybe if New York does lift its ban California will take notice and start working towards legalizing ferrets there.

We at Enlightened Ferret would love to have some of our New York City friends attend this hearing and if you have met us let the board of health know just how unique and well mannered we were to you and your pet as we have met many of you through Blog Paws.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Manny

Romping to Stay Warm

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Blog Paws Moments

Holy Ferret! Blog Paws flew by in an instant. Didn’t we just get to Tyson’s Corner?

Now we are unpacking the bags of swags, sorting the ferret’s luggage from mine. My throat feels like someone shoved a tennis ball halfway down it and my voice is squeaky. This makes Manny come looking for the toy.

My favorite moment?

Getting my ferret shaped jump drive from Marshall Pet. I don’t think there are any photos or videos floating around of me bouncing up and down like an excited little kid getting something they really wanted at least I hope there isn’t.

I know I squealed with delight. I’ve wanted it since it came out. It is still sitting exactly where I put it when I received it. In the nametag pouch.

What was your favorite moment?

Best surprise moment.

When roomie’s puppy mill rescue dog Ariel barked for the first time. The look on that sweet face was adorable as she looked so surprised at the sound that came out of her. Then just to make sure she did it right she woofed a couple more times.

What was your surprise moment?

The Aha moment.

I’ve tried for years to understand how to put a book proposal together and have always fell short of completing one. Thanks to Darlene Arden’s session, I have a good grasp on the concept and an understanding that I didn’t have before along with a few good laughs as she has the best sense of humor.

What/When was your aha moment?

I know you from somewhere moment.

I heard the story of how a pet owner reconnected with his pet sitter almost 10 years later. How incredible was that?

As for me, it was the hotel clerk I used to deliver to every night when I worked for a pizza place and he ran the front desk.

Did you have one of those moments?

My sponsors, , set up a great play area for my kids to play in although I think they slept most of the time but it gave people the chance to see what a ferret looked like and if they happened to be awake and playing how cute they could be.

Next year Blog Paws will be in Vegas and I already have my ticket thanks to Lisa Taron The Pet Blog Lady.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Blog Paws Friday Recap

I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired or hyped at blog paws. It is a wonderful and exhilarating feeling.

breakfast was nice and calm being able to interact with just a few people at a time was delightful.

Marylin gave Jo from petside lots of kisses.  

At the first session we attended the speaker was Darlene Arden love her sense of humor and she explained how to create a book proposal in a very detailed way that understandable.

Also in attendance was Glogirly

Does that mean Waffle is planning on writing a book?

The ferrets and I took in the session on how to get free publicity. I am sure that Harrison  Forbes had no idea that there were ferrets attending but I loved his statement that you had “ferret out the information.”

I took the fur kids to hang out at Marshall’s small animal playpen. To their surprise new additions had been added by Bonnie and friend from Washington Metro Area Ferret Outreach 

  after checking everything out it was time for a nice midday meal and then off to the land of Napping  

If you didn’t know ferrets sleep between 14-18 hours.  The rest of the day was kind of a blur as it just seems to pick up speed and fly out the door.

I did put the breaks on and created an Honor Flag for Grace. Honor Flags is the brainstorm of Wanda Kruse and is her take on the Tibet Prayer flags. The Honor Flags can be made to honor a pet, or animal loving person both living or have made the trip across the bridge.

I found it very relaxing and the world seemed to slow back down a slow spin. This is the flag for Grace

Don’t remember much about the rest of the day as I think I was sleepwalking most of it. But I do know I answered a lot of questions about ferrets.

For a select few there was a mini ferret fashion show as Emmy and Allen Pearson took some photos of the kids modeling some of the fashions created for fur challenged ferrets and for the stylish ferret.     

Allen is the professional photographer for Blog Paws this year. Thanks for the great tips. These photos are mine how great it was to have nice clear images.

Can you guess who these Blog Paws Attendees are?

Can’t believe that it is already Saturday.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

This post is brought to you by the people of who kindly sponsored us to be at this great event.

Wordless Wednesday: Fashionistaz

 

Molly in a tank top dress Molly in her purple dress

Hans and Grapes

Mel as a shark

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

P.S. these are from ferents that wanted something special for their fur babies.

Wordless Wednesday: Unusual Friends

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday: Private Meeting

 

 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday: Wod Youz Looking Atz?

 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday: Pet Fest New Friends

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

35th Annual Walk for the Animals: Now with Ferrets

We all had a blast at the 35^th annual walk for the animals event in Reading, PA. It was a nice road trip from western PA to the east side of the state.

Friday evening the ferret chariot was loaded up with Manny, Marcuz, and Marylin in their mini chariot on the front seat Sleeping bag and a heavy blanket for me. Since I planned to stop and get some rest before continuing on to First Energy Stadium. I really don’t like driving at night but this event was worth it as I was going to meet up with Kelly Hoffman who is owned by Boris Kitty and is a volunteer check out some of her pictures.

After driving for four hours, we stopped at a rest stop on Interstate 80 and set the alarm for 6 am. To give us plenty of time to get there I am really glad I did. After getting off 80 and onto 81 to 309 the directions didn’t make a lot of sense and I never did find the route but I looked at the map I always keep in the chariot and found a more direct way to hwy 61. We made it with time to spare.

We watched them set up and just kind of wandered around looking for the registration table that was on the opposite side of where we had parked. I got a cool shirt and the kids started getting the attention they always seem to draw.

Most of the dog owners were worried about how their dog would react to them but most of them took a sniff and that was all they wanted to do with them. I did feel bad for the K9 that wanted to meet them but his dad told him no. He kept whining even when told no and to hush.

This walk was the 5^th year that the Berks County Human Society raised over 100 thousand dollars. We were not the only strange pet to participate in the walk the other one was a pet skunk. But unlike my ferrets, which are leashed trained, the skunk was carried.

Little Marylin wore herself out before the walk even began so she slept in their backpack   while Marcuz made it almost half a block before demanding that he get in the backpack with his sister.

Manny would walk for a ways then stop and look at me to pick him up and carry him for a bit before he demanded to be put back down to walk some more.

We were the last to complete the walk but it was worth the time as we talked to people and corrected misinformation that still surrounds ferrets. Even other ferret owners may have the wrong information as we found out on Saturday as one of the volunteers informed us that ferrets are related to the cat family. They were told this by the person selling them their ferret. I believe the person believed this to be true because of the feline like teeth ferrets have.

Ferrets belong to the Mustelidae family that includes weasels, minks, and otters.

We left before the event wound down to the last few people in hopes to get home before dark. Only I got lost not once but twice as the signs were not very clear at some of the intersections. Once it got dark, I pushed myself to get home but between the high winds and the rain. I made the decision to pull over at a rest stop and sleep until morning, which, I am glad I did, as there was a power outage during the night that lasted for four hours. When we got home, the ferrets were glad to be in their room and bounced all over the place and I was still a bit tired and took a nap.

The only bad part of the trip is the cold I picked up along the way. However, even if I knew I would get sick I would have gone to this event and we will be there again next year.

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday: Brotherly Love

 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

On The Radio!

I meet Steve Dale at Blog Paws and we hit it off and he asked to do interview with me about ferrets and today the bit aired.

Please take a listen.

 

Have a Chittering Day,

Jo

Blog Paws 2012

 

Wow I can’t believe that it’s been here and gone already. So many great things happened and are still happening for Enlightened Ferret.

First traveling with the boys in the Ferret Chariot was a grand adventure. We ended up on the wrong route but Doreen from Doggies and Stuff and I enjoyed our adventure.

One of the most breath taking views was going over the Rockies on Hwy 40.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we stopped at a rest stop only to find we were at the point of the Continental Divide.

Once at the hotel Manny was quick to check out the pillows

 

 

 

 

 

We got to see Tilman on his skate board

 

 

 

 

 

I also got to meet Steve Dale who writes a column for the Chicago Tribune and gave me a wonderful opportunity that I will tell you about later. 

We were also a finalist for the Nose to Nose awards and I made the boys tuxs for our walk down the red carpet. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of them but I am sure they will show up on other blogs, twitter, and/or Face book.  We also didn’t win but that is alright as we had a blast being there.

As always I learned a lot from Blog Paws and I am still processing everything.

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

 

Jo

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo