Emma on the Trail

For the last few weekends we have been taking advantage of the fall weather and doing quite a bit of hiking. Emma has been joining us and enjoying her time outside.  This weekend we did some practice off the leash. You see, Emma is not an off the leash kinda dog - she is a runner.  She was so tuckered out after about half our hike that I thought it safe to let her loose.  She did great - stayed on the trail for the most part and walked in between the hubs and myself.

I grabbed a few snaps of her last week:

Vehicles of Choice

So, after spending the weekend at the race track the hubs came up with the idea of trying to determine what kind of car each critter would drive if they had thumbs and feet that could reach the pedals and licenses....

Here is what I came up with - what do you think?

Zoey -

Aggie -

Emma -

Oliver -

Clooney -

Phoebe -

Nigel -

Madison -

Finnegan -

Violet -

Theo -

The Latest Shenanigans

The critters are always learning new "tricks" and into new, undiscovered things and places.  Some of them are frustrating and some of them amusing.  Here's the latest new things they have started doing:

Theo - he is the largest and the longest ferret - meaning he is tall enough to reach you when you sit on the potty...his new trick is to nip you on the butt while you are doing your business.  That will give you a little jolt - especially when you make that middle of the night visit in the dark and you don't know that he is up...

Finn - he has decided that the hubs shoes are the bees knees so he hoards them - under the bed, into the bathroom, one in the closet and one down the hall.  He thinks its fun - the hubs - well not so much when he needs them to leave for work and they are no where to be found.

Violet - first she has discovered that she loves potato chips - so one much guard the bag or she will break in and make a ginormous mess.  She also has started investigating the cat tree.  She likes to climb up to the tippy top and survey the lay of the land.

Clooney - his latest thing is sleeping in our room which I LOVE.  Used to be that he would come in our room in the early morning and sleep on the bed.  Then he would eat, get his stick and ferretone and head into Nigels room to spend the bulk of the day sleeping in various spots.  Lately he come in during the early mornings and spends the day.  Some of the time sleeping in the green basket, some time in Emma's bed and some time on our bed.  I love seeing him and being able to interact with him all day.

Maddie - her latest thing is sleeping downstairs under the cabinet in the laundry room.  She has been spending more time downstairs lately - not sure why.  It does give her the opportunity to engage the ferrets and kitties when they go downstairs to play.

Nigel - his new thing is relocating his food bowl - he likes his cage set up the same way every time I clean it but for the last couple of weeks he has been moving his bowl.  Not sure why - maybe its not even him - Clooney has been known to squat in there.

No new tricks to report for Emma - I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks!! :)

As for the kitties - not a lot of new shenanigans to report for them either - they are pretty go with the flow these days.  Phoebe does continue to test her boundaries.  She never used to get in trouble and now she kind tries to find it.

They definitely  keep our household fun and ever changing....

BTW - have I mentioned lately that I can't wait til we have a farm with teacup piggies - I bet they have cute shenanigans!

New Pet Products

I like to keep products on hand for those just in case times you inevitably run into with having critters.  For instance - I like to make sure we have honey on hand in case one of the ferrets gets wheezy as it acts as a natural antihistamine (please note my disclaimer of being careful not to give to much or to often as it can contribute to ferret insulinoma).

With Finn having an upset tummy and then Aggie having her day of not feeling well I used quite a bit of probiotic lately.  It seems to work quite well.  I have feline probiotic on hand which is what I have been using for both the cats and the ferrets.  I was getting low so I ordered a new type of probiotics that can be used for both dogs and cats.

Emma's usually extremely sensitive tummy has been perfect for the last few months so nothing for her unless that changes - but for the kitties I may give this a try.  I will post my results after I see how this works.

I also got some specific probiotics for ferrets.  They have much more frequent issues due to the fast nature of their metabolism so I thought having this on hand would be helpful.  Should Nigel have digestive tract distress I could use this for him as well - but in the almost 3 years we have had him - he has never had distress.

The last new product I wanted to have on hand was something called Ferret-Aide.  It's basically like Gatorade for humans - an electrolyte replacement and hydration solution.  If your ferret has the runs or is throwing up - this would be a good thing to have on hand as they can get dehydrated so quickly.

As I use these I will post about how I think they work.  Hoping they will be super effective at making my furries feel better when they need it.

My Beautiful Violet

Oh Miss Violet.  Getting snaps of her is hit or miss.  Sometimes she is good and other days - forget it.  This time she was quite happy to stand still while she was playing on the cat tree and the bed and I was able to get some cute ones of her.  She is a beautiful ferret.  Her markings continue to evolve and I think she is just a lovely girl.

Volume 17

I shipped off Volume 17 to the printer yesterday.  Every three months I turn the blog into a book.  It's one of my favorite parts about blogging.  I found a great software called Blurb and I create the books using their software.  Once I have checked my work I upload it and order my book.

Here are a few sample pages:

You can also order iPad versions of your book and PDF versions.  Love it!

October Already

Wowser - how is it October already?  This year has simply flown by - its crazy.  Fall is in the air here for sure and before we know it - holidays will be upon us.

Let's look back to September.  It was a pretty good critter month for us.  Other than our little flea episode and Aggie having her day or two of tummy upset it was a pretty good health month.  No major ailments to report.

Ferrets are all doing fantastic - Theo is still nipping but we continue to make progress.  He and Finn are still   best buds.  Finn is doing just great - happy and interactive.  Violet and Maddie spend tons of time together and both of them are fantastic.  Clooney has been spending tons of time with the humans which makes us very happy.

Kitties are all well - Zoey and Ollie continue to do well on their meds.  Aggie is just great - especially now that she is feeling all better and Phoebe is sweet and doing very well.  They seems to be doing fantastic and I am quite pleased.

Emma pup is very healthy, happy and enjoying fall.  With the weather a bit cooler she has been out on the trail for some long hikes with her humans.  She loves those long walks and I want to keep her as active as possible as she gets older.

Nigel is doing just great - he seems very happy these days and is in a frequent good mood.  He seems to like his occasional shower/mani/pedi and he so loves it when I clean out his cage and give him fresh bedding right out of the dryer - nope - he's not spoiled...

Looking forward to October - critters should have lots of screen door and open window time which they enjoy.  I have some ideas for fun pumpkins I will share in the coming days and I have added some new products to the list of things we keep on hand that I will be sharing soon as well....stay tuned.