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Gimlet
• Surrendered to the Shelter on February 2, 2024. |
August 11, 2024:
Gimlet has come a very long way since she arrived in February with her eating disorder. I found her sleeping in the octopus that I keep on the floor in the ferret room. That afternoon when it was time for her to go to bed I lifted her and the octopus set her in her pen. As long as I was in and out of the playroom I figured I could keep watch that she is not eating it. When I was shutting the shelter down for the night I took the octopus out of her pen. Yesterday she was in the octopus again. I decided I would take the chance she would sleep in it, not eat it so I left her in it for the night last night. She was snug as a bug in a rug in the octopus this morning when I got downstairs. She didn't even stir when I came into the room. I took her out of the pen in the octopus set her on my lap, when she slithered out I looked the octopus and the blanket over. There was no indication she had been chewing.
July 21, 2024:
A funny story, each morning when I go down to get Gimlet up, she has moved the news papers I have lined up at the back of her pen for poo. I couldn't figure out why she was constantly moving the papers. Sara caught her doing it yesterday. She gets Stella & Chewy's Chick Chick Chicken freeze dried for treats. She came in with that as her primary food source. I leave 4 pieces in her dish each day for a treat when I put her to bed for the day. We put her in her pen at noon yesterday, Sara was steam mopping the floor next to Gimlet's pen. Gimlet snatched one of the treats ran over to the papers putting her head under them to eat her treat. Now I know why the papers are moved every day.
June 12, 2024:
Gimlet update. Your letter and check arrived, thank you. I’m pleased to hear Grace is shadowing and exotic vet, I expect she won’t see many ferrets as they are illegal in your area. However there are many ferret owners in spite of that mandate/law.
Gimlet: what a treasure that little girl has become to us. She now has the run of the shelter play areas; she gets to choose what room she wants to spend her early morning in. I no longer need to be in the room with her. She loves the tiny purple bears we have in the toy boxes. She searches for them, moves them to where she feels they belong, even when she is in the room I am picking up. I was putting the toys in the toy box, she was taking them out as fast I as I was picking them up. The only interest she has in the toys is to put them where she wants them.
I still monitor her when she is in a place with blankets but she is not showing any interest in chewing/ingesting. If I find she has a particular interest in a toy or blanket such as chewing on it, I remove and put it in the trash. There is no way I am going to remember what she has had interest in once it has been washed and put away. This is a safety issue for her. Like I said she has not shown any interest in chewing any longer.
She discovered the porch; she begs to get out there. The larger groups get the porch first thing each morning. At 9 am I get the large group off the porch and allow Gimlet out there. That porch is set up specifically for the ferrets.
Gimlet still has the smorgasbord in her pen. She gets 4 pieces of the freeze dried chicken and 4 N-bones a day as treats. She eats from all 5 bowls of food that are in the tray. She has proven she can be trusted to have a water fountain in her pen now. When I first put that in the pen she pulled the filter out of it; I was afraid she might try to eat it. I have since put it back in her pen she has no interest in pulling the filter out of the fountain any longer. We are so thankful you and Grace trusted us with this little life.
June 7, 2024:
I spent the early morning cleaning up play areas, Gimlet was in the 2 rooms I was working on, I would pick up the toys, put them in the toy box she would go into the box to put them where she wanted them. Once I got the rooms settled I moved on to cleaning cages. I went out to the garage to sweep more and move more. I came in I discovered Gimlet didn't like the way I put the papers down so she moved them to the way she wanted them.
May 31, 2024:
When I was cleaning up the window end I had Gimlet helping me. As I picked up poo papers, I put the toys they had strewn all over into the toy box. Gimlet went up the tube, into the toy box picked out all the purple bears to put them where she wanted them.
May 23, 2024:
Little Gimlet loves to collect toys to stash, but only the purple ones. I found one on the work station that I had taken away from her when she first came to the shelter. I wasn't sure I could trust her not to eat it. I believe she no longer has Pica, I expect her issues eating uneatable items was from boredom. When I found the purple toy this morning I tossed it on the floor. When Gimlet woke up she spotted the toy and promptly took it to her hiding place.
May 20, 2024:
This morning while I was spending time in the ferret room I allowed Gimlet and Mr. Butters time to get acquainted. I had done that a few days ago.
Outside of them both being bullies they did okay that day. This morning Gimlet was doing most of the chasing, they had 3 rooms to chase. Neither one was cornered so I just kept watch. Gimlet chased Mr. Butters up and over one of the bungalows. It was apparent that it was time to separate them. I set Mr. Butters into the library closing the gate to keep Gimlet in the ferret room. Mr. Butters looked as though he was in shock, glassy eyes, unresponsive. I picked him up to hold him, spoke to him, rubbed him. It took a good amount of time for him to come around and look like he was going to be okay. Once I was sure he was back to normal I gave him a bowl of soup., he ate the entire amount. That is something I've not seen happen before; especially since they did not tussle, beat up on each other and get cornered. No more getting antiquated for them.
April 19, 2024:
I spent time rearranging Gimlets pen, I believe she will not pull the fountain apart like she did when she first got here I put one back in her pen. I'm slowly taking the ferret items out of my space, I found a stash of Cheweasels and foamy fries in a box. They are no longer available. Both are perfect chew toys, I attach the Cheweasels to what is called magic shoe laces, then attach the lace to the bottom of the cages. When the ferrets try to run off with the chew toy the lace springs back. It's too bad they no longer make them. I've attached pictures of the laces and one of Gimlet trying to take off with the Cheweasel.
March 3, 2024:
The check for Gimlet arrived. Thank you for helping us take care of her. I thought I would send an update on Gimlet instead of just a thank you.
Gimlet has settled in nicely, we have a daily routine now, she gets up with me at 4am, when I walk into the playroom, turn on the light I look over the side of the pen, there she is front feet on the side of her box looking up at me. She knows she is getting up. I pick her up for a hug, set her back down telling her I will be back to get her when I get night shift put away.
Once all the other ferrets are put to bed, I go in to get her up. I close up the playroom gate because she loves going to the top sleep box to settle in, it is difficult for me to go up and down the step ladder these days so I don’t allow her up there. I want to be able to put my hand in to make sure she is not chewing on something. She gets to run in 3 rooms while I set up the soup dishes with meds in them. If I don’t see her going back and forth I go looking for her to be sure she is not getting into trouble. As I am calling and looking for her she will pop up behind me, looking at me like what is your problem I’m right here. I’ll pick her up to give her a hug and remind her not to be eating things she shouldn’t. I’ll set her back down to run from room to room until I am done serving the meds.
She likes to sleep in the bungalow in the ferret room, when she first came I would put her back in her pen when I was leaving the room. Now however I will stick my hand in the bungalow to make sure she is not eating the blanket, she is curled up sound asleep in it. She has also found the dresser she likes to sleep in; I continually put my hand in where she is to be sure she is sleeping not eating. There are a few things she showed interest in chewing; I removed them from the room.
I now allow her to be in the room without me for short periods of time, I found a treat she likes Bil-Jac peanut butter treats, they are tiny she gets 4 in the dish in the ferret room. She will grab one run under a cage to eat it, go back to get another. She gets to stay up until noon, that’s when I put morning shift away.
Once I put her back in her pen, she settles down to go to sleep. She has her paper shredding, and cornstarch peanuts, if I forget to fluff up her shredding she will sleep in the cornstarch peanuts.
She is doing well, is a happy little girl, I am thrilled you trusted us with her. Dr. Sandra said she may very well stop eating things in time; it seems so far that is happening. There are rooms I don’t let her hang in when I am not around but so far the bungalows in the ferret room and the top dresser drawer she is happy to sleep in without eating the blanket she is curled herself in.
Again thank you for trusting us to keep her happy and healthy.
Brenda
February 22, 2024:
I spent the morning setting up the sick pen with a tray of different foods. a single kind in each bowl. I'm trying to determine which food this little girl likes to eat, right now it seems to be TF.
February 5, 2024:
Before and after pictures:
February 21, 2024:
Dr. Ferderbar is back to work. Wouldn't you know the she was eating kibble when I got her in into the exam room. Dr. F palpated her tummy she could not feel any foreign objects, or notice any tenderness. the check up came up with nothing. Dr. F did say she may have enteritis, Dr. Sandra suggested the same.
We did not do x-rays because Dr. F felt she was bright, active and showing no signs of discomfort, she felt it was not wise to anesthetize her when she did not feel she had an obstruction. They did fluids before we left.
February 20, 2024:
I may be going to the vet this morning. We have a fur kid that may have a blockage. I'm waiting to hear from Dr. Sandra. I text her with what is going on. I'm going to call the vet at 8.
We could not get into the vet today, we have 9 am appointment tomorrow morning.
Gimlet was surrendered to us for a chewing disorder called Pica. Pica is a disorder in which there is a strong urge to ingest inedible items. In ferrets this is extraordinarily dangerous as the obsessive chewing can lead to life-threatening blockages. Pica appears to be correlated to ferrets with IBD, or may be a psychological problem. If you think your ferret might have Pica, first have your ferret evaluated by a ferret knowledgeable vet as chewing is often a sign of underlying disease or pain. If your ferret checks out as healthy and the obsessive chewing continues, consider whether your ferret might be bored and in need for more stimulation. Last but not least, it is VITAL that any and all objects that your ferret can chew be removed from their living area, and that they are very closely supervised when out.
I made some changes to Gimlet's pen. I let her spend some time with me in the ferret room this morning after I got her pen settled. when I'm working in the ferret room I will get her up to spend time with me. I believe with time out to play she will stop the excessive chewing, at least I hope so. The home she was in kept her in the cage with little to no run time. A true challenge.
