Kyra's Medicines

I think this picture says it all. Twice a day!

Happy Gotcha Day Mokey

One year ago today I brought Mokey home from the GCFA to join our family. Let's see what she's been up to....

Climbing
Tunneling
Mischief (Putting elephants in her water dish)
More Climbing
More Mischief
Yet again - More Mischief (in the dishwasher at Grandma & Grandpa's)
Fun on Easter
Fun on Christmas
Fun in the Club House of Boxes
Playing Inside and Elephant, Inside a Laundry Basket
Playing with eggs in water in a basin
Playing With Her Sisters In A Box
Sleeping in Her Favorite Sweater
Going to the Pride Parade
Eating Scrumptious Dinners with Her Sisters
Choosing Videos (Looks like Mokey prefers Sci-Fi, fantasy, and Christmas)
All these adventures have worn Mokey out!

Happy Gotcha Day Mokey. We love you

Kyra Has Cancer - Again

Kyra was lethargic, barely able to walk , not eating, and starting to twitch when I took her to the vet this afternoon. I figured her blood sugar was low, and the honey and high protein food I gave her did not perk her up. Sure enough, her blood sugar level was 29. It should be around 100. She had also lost weight. The vet diagnosed her with insulinoma - or pancreatic cancer. She did have some good news, however, her speen has in fact shrunk a bit. But that really means nothing since she has pancreatic cancer anyway.

She's taking prednisone and brewers yeast to help attack the extra insulin and help release more sugar into her system. Although none of this was too successful tonight, as she refused to eat the food I offered her with the medicines hidden inside. So that got thrown out. Then I dumped the prednisone on myself. Then I had to force in the meds with a dropper which caused her to gag and spit most of it out. When I offered her food she was so pissed she wouldn't even eat the regular food. So she has half her meds and barely any food. But somehow she mustered enough energy to hide under the couch right when I was trying to put everyone in the cage so I could leave for work.

I had two jobs cancel on me this week, and one job doesn't need me for two weeks due to Christmas vacations. Good thing I'm working two jobs this weekend. I guess its sort of good since I was afraid I might actually die from being so tired this week. When I received a text at 6:30 this morning that my job was cancelled, I went right back to bed until almost 10. You know when you're so tired you can't think or remember what you are doing or why you are where you are, and you're afraid you may just fall asleep while standing up in the middle of work? Well, that's what was happening to me. So two cancelled jobs -good for my survival- not good for my pocket book, which just recently had to purchase a new lap top and vet bills. Vet bills win however, costing well above the price of a laptop - although I did buy the second cheapest laptop they had, right off the shelf too for an added discount to the already clearance price.

Watch & Wait Update

So I was looking at some pictures of the girls the other day, when I realized that when I adopted Mokey she was very skinny and had no hair on her tail - as she is now. The shelter told me she was healthy, it was just from living at the shelter. The pictures from two months later showed a fat, fluffy Mokey with a fully hairy tail. Mokey has been running around like her usual energetic self and eating really well. I think she does have that seasonal thing. As long as she is energetic and eating, I'm going to let her be and see if she is all fluffy again by February.

Now Kyra of course can't be that easy. Kyra seemed to get better and have more energy. But last night she was lethargic and when she tried to walk her legs kept splaying out. When I came home from work tonight she just laid in my lap. I called the vet and he thinks she may have insulinoma in addition to the enlarged spleen - which I can still feel in her side. He said to feed her and as long as she was responsive she should be fine. If she gets unresponsive I'm to rub some honey on her gums. I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow to get her blood sugar tested again. She may be put on steroids. Insulinoma is another very common ailment in older ferrets.

A Joyous Thanksmas

The girls and I spent Thanksmas (that's Thanksgiving and Christmas combined) at Grandma and Grandpa's. The girls were very good on the 6 hour drive over. Grandma had cleared a special space just for their new playpen. They were so good about playing in the pen and sleeping in their travel cage. They were allowed out sometimes for high energy running through the house play and romping in the bathroom. Aside from a few attacks on the houseplants, the girls were really well behaved. Grandma and Grandpa both remarked that the girls did not stress them out like they usually do. Good job girls and a special thanks to the new play pen!

Since it was Thanksmas, the girls got to open some presents too. Grandma and Grandpa got them a tweeting bird on a tree stand and a squeaking mouse. Kyra has claimed the mouse for her own and insists that it be stowed away safely under the couch. Now the couch randomly squeaks. Occasionally Mokey will attack the bird or push it across the floor with her nose.

I of course spent a great deal on the new playpen, but what type of mother would only give her little ones practical gifts. I got the girls a plastic hut and filled it with tissue paper for them to dig and shred to their little hearts content. And some new jingly balls. (Saving the rest for Christmas.)

Pictures of Freedom and Fun!

Playing in the Garden Tub

Nothing beats a dryer tube

Run! Run! Run!

Ferret Health: Watch & Wait

Kyra and Mokey are both under medical observation.

After shedding was completed, Mokey forgot to grow in her winter coat. She also got very thin. So Mokey, once referred to as Bear for her large size and fluffy coat, is now skinny and has no hair on her tail. I see her eat plenty and aside from sleeping in in the morning, she's still quite active. The vet suspects adrenal disease even though she is only 2 1/2 years old. It's also a possibility that she has Seasonal something, which is caused by artificial light confusing ferrets during the shedding season into thinking maybe it is not actually winter and so they don't grow their winter coat. And so we wait to see.

In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "It is not a tuma." I discovered a lump in Kyra's left side the day after Thanksgiving. She has recently gained a lot of weight and is very fluffy. I was just remarking how healthy my little Kyra had become. Her coat is silky soft. I thought the weight was due to impending winter weather. However, I soon noticed she was walking a bit funny, and while still moving about, she wasn't running about. So I did a body check and found the lump. The vet determined through ex-ray that her spleen was enlarged. Its filling up with white blood cells for some infection that only it is aware of. So Kyra was given antibiotics and I am to observe and wait. Its pressing a bit on her pancreas, giving her slightly low blood sugar. If it shrinks back up - good. If it grows, she'll need surgery.

Both these test results are worth the grand total of two weeks pay. Yikes. And I'm supposed to bring them back in January to test again to see if anything has changed.

For now, I watch and wait.

Damien v.s. the Devil

Every time I see a cute little boy running around the playground and his mother or nanny introduces him as Damien, I can't help but think why someone would name their child after the Devil. Isn't Damien another name for the Devil? I can't separate the two. Its the first thing I think of when I hear the name. I can't be the only one with this word association!?

My Silly Sleepers

The Upside-Down Zonk: featuring Mokey


There's Too Many Ferrets in This Hammock, by Fawn

Kiss My Taxed Tookus

So I went to CVS to buy some pop, soup and other grocery items. I was privileged by the state of Illinois to pay a 9.75% tax, a 12.75% tax, and a 2.25% tax. One of these is a tax on things in plastic bottles--I think. I'd been avoiding it by not buying liters of pop, only cans. But I got the tax again. I think its because I bought some apple juice. I guess I can only buy frozen juice now? The taxes are already too high, and now there are three sales taxes. Glad to hear Quinn is planning on raising the taxes. That's the problem with people living in Chicago, they don't pay enough taxes. Lets have a 13% sales tax on everything and then assign additional taxes based on packaging, route of delivery, and, oh, I don't know. Let's fund a think tank to come up with more things to tax. Hey, you typing! Are being taxed for that internet? We should tax per letter. ---Ahhhh!

The Packaging is Always Best!

Since I was ordering the ferret playpen for our trip home for Thanksgiving, I figured I'd go ahead and get some Christmas presents since they would be included in the flat shipping rate. By the way, Doctors Foster and Smith has become my favorite place to order ferret items from. Not only do they have a flat shipping rate, which is great when ordering cages and playpens, but they have a huge variety of ferret items. Since the girls could not have their Christmas gifts yet, I let them play with the packaging peanuts and box. Don't worry, the peanuts dissolve when wet so they can't choke or cause blockage. Yep, I tested them first to make sure. Took a lick! Its part of a mom's job.

Fawn preferred to dig
Kyra preferred to burrow
Mokey!? Mokey!? Where are you!?
Yes, she's in there. You can see a bit of white fur in the center a bit to the left. She was really hard to snap a shot of.

There she is!!!
I played Find the Egg with Fawn. She really loves a good Easter egg.
Here's a video of Fawn finding the egg.

More Sleeping Ferrets

Just cause its soooo cute!

Fawn is sleeping in my hand.

Kyra likes to sleep in my favorite blanket.
She's not stretching. She's sleeping like this.

No matter how many hammocks and beds I give them,
they all want to sleep in this shoe box.
Don't miss Mokey, she is in there.

Ferret Nation Has Been Floored!

The girls were still very apprehensive about the steep ladder used to exit the new cage. Despite ample time to practice, they still began each descent down the ladder with a slow start at the top which soon became a stumble, slide, bouncy-bounce, somehow ending in them sliding down sideways into a jump to skip the bottom all together. I was never happy about the extended height and lower level shelf anyway. The height just made the already too big cage look even bigger, and the bottom shelf invited clutter.

So off with the legs!

I wanted to skip the bottom during the original assembling, but was afraid it wouldn't go together right if I veered from the instructions. So this weekend I finally took the legs off. Mom and ferrets are now happy! When the door is open it sticks out over the ferret gate putting it at perfect level for Mom to hit her knee on every time she enters the room. But, its not the worst thing to happen since ferrets took over my home.

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

This weekend the girls said goodbye to their old cage and hello to a new Ferret Nation cage.

I think this was hardest on Mom because I loved the old three level cage. It was designed perfectly with its first level bathroom and kitchen, second level half floor for sleeping sack and hanging hammock, and third level full floor for plenty of play boxes, balls, and tubes. So why did I replace it? One word: Mokey.


This perfect cage is all wire: sides and floors. Mokey feels that she should be able to poo anywhere she feels like. She wakes up and poos in the nearest corner, getting poo on the sleeping sack or raining down each wire on the side of the cage. She poos on the third level so it falls down into the hammock. She poos right up against the wires so it falls out onto the wall. In one more word: Ew.

Common toys in the play space were a shoe box
with tissue paper and balls, tube, and jingly strawberry.

I couldn't stand a half hour cleaning project every time I came home from work. It's much harder to get the poo out of the wiring than I would ever have thought.

Most ferret cages are made with shelving so tiny and weak that it is very unsafe and there is zero play space. Also, these genius cage designers design the cages to have ample open air space as if to accommodate a bird. This also causes the ramps to be very steep and the ferrets to fall frequently. One cage has a tube ramp that goes straight up and down. Um, ferrets don't know how to use rip cords.

So Ferret Nation it is. Ferret Nation is sturdy and has enough room for playing. It is also way too large and set up on a rolling shelf so the ferrets cannot get in and out and it takes up twice the space for no reason. Also, you have to buy a separate ramp (not included) so the ferrets can get in and out. This, by the way, costs more to ship than buy. It is also way too high off the ground so the ferrets are afraid to use the ramp and usually do a few tentative steps down before sliding, rolling, and toppling to the ground. And, yes, this is the best ferret cage on the market.

So anyway, despite its flaws the girls seem to like it. We'll see how it holds up to Mokey. So far it's done well its first day and a half.

Fawn helped with the unpacking.

Mokey tried to help by running off with the bag of screws. So all three got to wait in the old cage until Mom was finished with the assembling. Three hours later, Ta-Da!

Skinny Jeans Complaint 10.2

Today I watched a man struggle to put his cell phone into the pocket of his skinny jeans. This attempt required so much of a struggle that he was actually grunting and calling out "Ow, ow, ow,ow,ow!" I walked past before I could find out if he was successful or not, but it wasn't looking good.

I would like to add this to my argument that skinny jeans should be banned from public sight. Skinny jeans do not compliment the wearer when worn by an overweight person, causing the "yikes" effect. Or when worn by an underweight person, causing that grimace, "ooh" response as you wonder when they had their last meal. As for the attractive and otherwise physically fit person, the skinny jean takes away all attractiveness, causing onlookers to give the disappointed head shake at what could have been.

I do not expect my movement to have any more effect on society than my previous oppositions to those hideous shoe like things called Crocks, the Capri pant, the low rise jeans, and men's desire to wear their pants up to their butt and their boxers up to the waist. Improvements have been made on the women's low rise jeans, especially in the thong-sticking-out department. Did you know some places were moving to place a law against the thong sticking out? Of course you still see a tushy crack or undergarment popping out occasionally, but there are at least appropriate options on the wracks again. But that took a political, religious, and social uproar from the public. I feeling like I am in the minority on the skinny jean. I suppose I will just have to wait till they fade out of fashion. Hopefully!

Ugh!

Mokey and Fawn Play Tetherball

Romping Mokey and Fawn

These two are some playful fools.

Giraffe

I don't only love ferrets.......I also love a giraffe!

Fawn Takes on The Hand

Fawny may look tough, but she would never hurt Mama.

Watch Out!
Gotcha!
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