BAILEY MUST'VE STOLEN MY CALENDAR

Holy Cow, where does the time go?? My last post was in January?? Really??? :::hanging head:::: Aarrrrgghh. Let's update, shall we?

Well. Bailey, my champagne baby who got scalped by Milo, is now a part of the Wildkatz and he and Milo are BFF's. (Go figure) Bailey is the wildest of them all and he loves to find trouble. He loves to sneak in Keith's office, climb up on his desk and knock everything (including the wireless keyboard) off. He also enjoys erasing the greeting message on the business phone and stealing the computer mouse and Keith's glasses. He will attempt to steal the TV remote and it's a game of tug-of-war trying to get it back. He loves, loves to run and quite often we will just see him hauling ass through the house. It's hysterical. He's such a little clown!

Angel, my little girl who had adrenal surgery last November, never regrew her hair (except on her tail). Dr. Dori felt a lump upon examination and suggested a second surgery, which we did. That was just this past June. Turns out Angel was growing a tumor on her right adrenal and bone was forming around it! Weird. Now the little stinker is growing her hair back and she is going to be a beautiful DEW!

Oh, and we went to Shreveport in April for the First Annual Ferret Fun Rodeo. We had a blast! Smokey won 1st Place for Longest Kisser; Bailey won 1st Place in the tube races and 2nd in the bag races; Angel won 1st Place for Smallest Female Ferret; Angel and Smokey took 3rd Place for Opposites: Big and Small.

That pretty much brings us up to date -- at least with the Big Stuff.

But, there is one more Big Thing, and this just happened today. Dave, my blind guy and oldest by estimation, has insulinoma and I've been giving him prednisone for about a year. Lately he's had some hair loss on his back and head, a sign of possible adrenal disease. We felt that he was healthy enough to withstand exploratory surgery to remove the tumors, so it was scheduled for today. Just as they were about to put him under anaesthesia, Dr. Dori noticed Dave kind of choking and she realized he wasn't breathing good. So she did an x-ray and ultrasound and discovered a large mass that is either in his heart or his lungs, which is constricting his breathing.

Needless to say, the surgery was cancelled and she started Dave on Benazapril for his heart and Lasix to help get rid of the excess fluid.

Bottom line: my little Dave doesn't have much longer. And my heart is breaking.

A FERRET NAMED BUDDY

One thing I do is watch craigslist and the SPCA listings to just keep myself informed on the state of homeless ferrets and ferrets needing to be rehomed. OK, I hate it, but I won't get on my soapbox. I did that with my very first post. Check the archives (January 2009) if you are curious as to what I said about the evil craigslist....

Anyway, I'm looking at the Houston SPCA listings and they have one little ferret named Buddy. They don't have a photo of him and they don't state his age. He's been there since 12/8/09. All by himself. I haven't laid eyes on this little guy, but my heart is just breaking for him. The SPCA doesn't have facilities or personnel to let Buddy out of his cage for playtime. So he's been in his cage since December. And God knows what the situation was that brought him there in the first place.

Every day I look to see if Buddy's listing is still there, or if he's found a home. Every day his listing pops up. I just can't stand the thought of this little one all alone, caged....cared for I'm sure..but missing out on love and enrichment. It brings me to tears.

So I decided that if, by Friday, Buddy hasn't found a home, I'm going down there. I want to see him. Bring him home? Strongly possible. Huge risk because K. will be pissed. It's a chance I'm willing to take for the sake of this little one.

IN OTHER NEWS: Bailey went to the rescue today to visit and get his mouth swabbed for his ADV test. Poor little guy was kind of scared -- all the new smells and ferrets and people chatting. But he finally warmed up and came home all worn out. AND>>>We adopted out three ferrets today!!! That was just awesome! I am very happy!

Angel's little bruise (or whatever it is) looks a little better today. I thought it might be a mast cell tumor, but I'm really thinking it's a bruise. Still watching close. She may need a CBC to check her platelet count. She's had some bruising on her tummy a couple of weeks ago. They come and go fast, but I think it's a concern I need to take to the vet. We go Feb. 8.

That's my news for the day. It sure is quiet right now. I guess everyone's asleep. Not a bad idea...

HAPPY FERRETS

I think little Angel was happy to be back in the cage with her buddies, Smokey and Baby. She was all curled up in a sack with Smokey this morning. She is looking great, too. She's putting some weight back on and is very energetic. I am sooo happy to see it!

Misty has managed to leave her foot alone, so no more bleeding episodes, thank God!! I just found some more bloody ferret footprints in one of the cages, though (from the other night when it happened). I'm thinking she scraped it and didn't actually bite it. Really, she's being very good about letting me put ointment on it and leaving it alone.

I'm sewing a bunch of bedding from remnants of fabric I had (plus some new I just bought, ugh, can't resist cool fabric...) and am sending a box of hammies and sacks to a ferret rescue up in Baltimore that just rescued 40 ferrets. Need to get it done, so I can do something with this house for the holidays. I have crap strewn all over the place!!

There's today's update! All the other Friskies are just doing great, continuing to bring laughter, love and a whole lot of silliness to my life!!