From: bdm@druwa.ATT.COM (Brian Millham)
Newsgroups: rec.pets
Subject: Re: Ferrets & 'Putty 'Tats
Date: 31 Aug 92 18:07:06 GMT

in article <1992Aug31.134958.26501@midway.uchicago.edu>, ar12@quads.uchicago.edu (Richard Nixon) says:
> 
> In article <1992Aug28.154649.24678@midway.uchicago.edu> ar12@midway.uchicago.edu writes:

>>    Monk: evidently unsure of Gizmo's intentions, lifts a paw, and swats
>>          Gizmo on the head
>>    Gizmo: no pain, probably thinking "HE WANTS TO PLAY!", and begins
>>           "The Ferret Dance"- hopping around, feining attacks at Monk,
>>           mouth open and gets distracted as he bounces right into a
>>           wall whereupon he spins around in the ferret classic- "Ok,
>>           who's responsible?" 

Please don't post things like this when I'm eating lunch!  I almost
choked :-)

>>    Monk: Observing once again, but now with a "get off the drugs, ferret"
>>          expression.

>>The rest of the encounter went wuch the same. Their interaction consists
>>of Monk swatting Gizmo, Gizmo "attacking" Monk, and so on. What concerns
>>me is that Monk is not only about 3x Gizmo's size, but also is not de-clawed
>>and should she really get irritated by my oblivious ferret (who by the way
>>never knows where the fun stops) there's little doubt that she'd obliterate him.They've only had a about four supervised encounters so far so it's a bit early
>>to expect them to be acquainted. How long should it take? Also, note that
>>Monk's swatting Gizmo doesn't seem to be a form of play, but rather
>>a 'defensive' reaction against an overly aggresively curious ferret who's
>>intentions are being misinterpreted.    
>>    Anyway, if anyone out there has experience with ferret-cat introductions,
>>please let me know. Also of pertinence is the fact that neither animal has
>>any experience with anything other than humans.

Don't worry about the swatting.  Even if Monk uses his claws, I doubt that
he will hurt Gizmo.  Remember, ferrets have very thick skins.

My Buddy and Pepper have wrestling matches all the time.  They include
Buddy doing the rabbit kick on Pepper.  Pepper always gets free, and
jumps right back at Buddy for more.  I worry more about Pepper bitting
Buddy, that I worry about Buddy hurting Pepper.  BTW, I've had ferrets
and cats together for over 2 years, and never had any trouble yet.

> Adding to the above: 
> Gizmo (ferret) has taken to hissing at the cat- especially while engaged in
> jumping at Monk (cat) who's usually perched just 2" out of reach on a window
> ledge- goes somthing like this:
> 	Monk: sitting on ledge watching crazy ferret
> 	Gizmo: desparately jumping at the ledge, gets lucky every once in
> 		a while and manages to get a hold (hissing all the while)
> 	Monk: waits for my derranged ferret to get a hold and promptly
> 		swats him on the head- knocking him back down.
> 	Gizmo: undeterred, begins all over again
>  
> Given the combination of ferret single-mindedness and the universal 
> kitty cat passtime of "swat anything that moves," it isn't hard to see
> that the above sequence is an infinite loop :)  Anyway, I don't have
> any experience with ferret-other animal interaction, but I'm assuming
> hissing at one's neighbor isn't a playful form for the expression
> of affection- is this correct? If so, what should I do?- besides, that is,
> kicking the cat off the window ledge and feeding it to my ferret :^)

Of my 3 ferrets, Ferrah is the only one that hisses.  The hiss has several
different meanings.  First, she hisses at me when I catch her doing
something wrong and yell at her.  I guess that she is talking back at
me.  Second, and it's what I suspect Gizmo is doing, it's a sign of
frustration.  If there is something that she wants, and it's out of
reach, or she can't pull it, she will start hissing at it.  Gizmo is
probably frustrated that he can't catch Monk.  I've also heard Ferrah
hiss when something frightened her.  She also hisses occasionally when
Pepper or Kitty are playing too rough.

From the sounds of it, Monk is already starting to accept Gizmo.  Give
him a month or so, and you hopefully will see him and Gizmo playing
together.

On a different subject, has anyone noticed how ferrets have this
sixth sense that can tell when you are doing something that you want
them out of the way for?  For example, I bought a entertainment center
yesterday.  As soon as I opened the first box, all 3 ferrets appeared
to help me empty the boxes.  You know, pull a board out, with a ferret
riding on it.  The ferret disappears back into the box to ride the
next board out.  After unloading the boxes the ferrets dissapear.
About 10 minutes later, it's time to pull the hammer out.  Ferrets
re-appear.  About 1/2 hour later it's time to turn the entertainment
center over.  Ferrets re-appear, so that it takes me about 3 times the
effort to move the thing, because I have to watch out for crushing a
ferret.  15 minutes later it's time to put it on it's top.  Yep, the
ferrets show up to get in the way again.  Another 20 minutes later they
are back to help turn it over on it's bottem.  And of course they show
up to help move it once the TV and stereo are loaded into it.  How do
they know?  It probably took me 3 times longer that it should have because
I had to keep moving ferrets out of the way.  Course the cats weren't any
better...
--
Brian Millham     |Kitty      |Fletch |Dragon's Lair |Kick Man |New World
AT&T Bell Labs    |Ferrah     |Buddy  |Space Ace     |Sinistar |High Speed
Denver, Co.       |Dr. Pepper |       |              |         |
bdm@druwa.att.com |(ferrets)  |(cats) |(laser disc)  |(video)  |(pinball)