Emma and Violet

Violet loves Emma.   Maybe she doesn't love her quite as much as she loves Finn and Maddie but she loves the dog for sure.  Ever since her first day here she has been a fan of the dog.  She has always engaged with Emma - laying by her and playing with her bandanna.

Luckily Miss Emma is very sweet and gentle to the other critters.  I think she is aware that she is much bigger than they are and she is pretty good about being careful.  I love that for the most part all the critters get along.  They pay no attention to each others differences - we could all learn something from that I think:

The Dog and the Hog

You know - today is a crazy day to do an update on Emma and Nigel because its raining and they are not doing much.  But...in general they are doing well - both of them.

Nigel is hanging out - snoozing in his squeaky clean cage.  I let it go too long and he was stinky and so was it.  Now its all nice with fresh rugs and blankets and clean litter.  I feel better and I am sure that he does too. I gave him some mid afternoon worms - he was sleeping at the back of the cage and once I put them in his bowl he ran to get them.  He has been using his wheel each night - running and running.  Its a good thing - supposedly a happy hedgehog runs on his wheel.

Emma is currently planted under the bed.  You see - several hours ago it thundered - which pretty much blew her whole day.  Even though the rain has moved on and the sun is out - she isn't coming out.  In general - she is doing great.  Her health seems excellent.  She is still experiencing moments of neurotic behavior - and she is trying to make me crazy by scratching on the carpet.  But most of the time she is a good doggie who I love to pieces.

I think Emma, Nigel and I need to visit this place - sadly I don't know how practical it is to plan a trip to the UK with a border collie and a hedgehog in tow...

Four Kitty Post

How about a quick update on the kitties?  We have had a ton of ferret posts lately - but the kitties are doing well.

Phoebe - she is doing well - she is a pretty mellow kitty.  Go with the flow, follows me around and always hangs out in whatever room I am in.  She has been spending more time than usual in my lap which is a nice treat.  She has done really well this spring with allergies - only one flare up and it was pretty minor.

Oliver - my ornery boy is well - ornery.  No signs of the UTI we dealt with a few weeks ago.  He spends lots of time playing with the ferrets, chasing Aggie, wrestling with Phoebe and bathing Zoey.  He is enjoying garage time - I am not sure why he loves it so much but he goes out there and snoozes.

Aggie - my sweet kitty is just fine - spending lots of time with her humans.  She is being quite nice to her ferret siblings - not sure what brought that on but they like it and so do I.  She is quite the people food connoisseur these days and will whap you with her paw if you don't share.

Zoey - the leaping girl.  She is crazy - she leaps on the counters, she leaps in the bedroom (usually when we are sleeping).  She is feisty as always - not being particularly forgiving to the little ferrets.  She does love Oliver which is so funny - just a few years ago she used to screech like a banshee if he came within 5 feet of her.  Now they spend endless hours snoozing and bathing each other.

All in all my sweet kitties are great -

Ear Tattoos

All my ferrets are wild children - tattooed beasts....

Most ferret farms use the tattooing as a way to show they have completed the two surgical procedures necessary for baby ferrets (kits).  Those procedures are descenting and neutering.  By law in the US ferrets have to have both completed before they can be sold.

Descenting decreases the chance for some types of cancers but descenting them doesn't really help with the odors that ferrets emit.  It does prevent what is called "poofing" where the ferret releases a musky scent when excited or scared.  Neutering actually helps more with smelly ferrets than descenting - the hormones make ferrets produce odoriferous oils - and - boy ferrets who are not fixed perform the lovely ritual of covering themselves in their own urine to be more attractive to breeding females....ewwww.

Each of my ferrets have a bit different tattoo - mostly they are two small dots - but the spots are different sizes and shapes and are on different places on their ears. 

Baby Boys

I was looking at some old snaps of Clooney and was surprised at how much Finn looks like Clooney did when he was little.  Only the "eyebrow" and maybe the shape of their faces differ:

Baby Clooney

Baby Finnegan

Ferret Play Time

Play time for the ferrets - and one kitty....Madison plays rough and tumble with Finn and not quite so rough with Vi - Finn and Vi are total rough housers.  The three of them have a grand time playing together....

Madison

Finnegan

Olliver trying to get the ferrets under the covers

Finn and Maddie

Finn and Maddie

Madison girl

Twilight - the ferret version

Finn and Maddie

Finnegan

Finn and Violet - love this one

Violet with bed head and Finn in the background

May Day

Holy cow - the first of May.  I know its May Day but I want to call a mayday emergency because we can't be into the 5th month of the year already - time is too fast.

Let's look back at April - it was a good critter month.  Lots of time spent with the baby ferrets.  They are doing so well and becoming such a part of our little zoo family.  They are just a few days over four months old.  I adore them and my favorite aspect of having them is seeing my Madison girl play with her new ferret siblings.  She is so happy!  Things in April were rough with Clooney - he was a meanie to the babies.  Violet was the first to tire of that and she doesn't take any lip from him.  Finn has gotten to that point as well but it took him longer.  I think by the end of May we will have achieved peaceful co-existence.  The other major milestone we got past was the ECE hurdle.  Clooney got the ECE virus 21 days after Madison came to live with us.  We have made it well past the 30 day mark with no symptoms so I think we are in the clear.

As for the kitties - we had a couple of minor health issues.  Ollie exhibited the signs of an Urinary Tract Infection which we treated with colloidal silver which seemed to work very well.  Phoebe got her annual swollen lip from her seasonal allergies - there was ALOT of pollen out there.  She too got the colloidal silver treatment and her symptoms were over in a couple of days.  Both of them seem to be happy and healthy and full of energy.  Aggie and Zoey are both going strong - no health issues to report.  Aggie has been particularly tolerant of the babies - I think she is getting soft in her old age.  Zoey is her same curmudgeon old self.  She is still infatuated with the kitchen counters - its a losing battle we have stopped even trying to fight.

Emma is doing well - no health issues to report.  She is spending some time outside while we do yardwork which is nice.  She is very protective of the babies.  She tries hard to be a good dog - sometimes her neurosis get the better of her and cause her to do things that make me a little nutty.  Most of the time I am pretty lucky - she is a pretty chilled out dog.  I do love her to pieces.

And last, but certainly not least - my little Nigel Hedgehog.  He is doing great - happy, healthy and active.  He seems to be loving life.  He doesn't seem to mind the babies.  He is the little adventurer - no more leaving him out on the bed or the cat tree.  Used to be he would just hang out and snooze - now he finds a way down and he is off and running.  You will recall the hedgehog happening with the stuck toenail - that was an April event.  He has had a bit less out of cage time with the chaos of the new additions - but I am working on that so he doesn't think he can cop a snitty hedgehog attitude.

All in all - April was a great critter month - and I look forward to what May has to offer.  There will be vet visits for the babies - in late May or early June - that should be fun!  :)