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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 13:20:08 GMT -5
Heather, sounds like she is getting her way by biting- soooo- here is another approach that works for us when there has been a blood drawing BAD biter. Takes repetitive action but has worked over the years well and they are better for it. Keep a popsicle stick handy as your index finger may not be a good choice at this time . Hold her & allow yourself to be a position to be bit - then once she attempts- grab her with one hand & hold her jaw open with the other while placing the popsicle stick to the ROOF of her Mouth for a few seconds. Then calm her & DO NOT LET HER GO- hold her & love on her. - let her attempt to bite again & repeat this . over time she will learn there is a consequence to biting. It doesn't harm them - but it does Surprise them. Thus far holding & assuring you are in control & still loving on her. talk to her while you are doing it- NO while she is being corrected and good girl once she starts to get it. I put my wrist in front of the mouth after a few tries - if no bite attempt -I say good girl & give ferretone from a small bottle. You should see a bit of submission each time - BUT DO NOT let her go until you are thru with the lesson - try a few times each lesson. Never press hard on the roof or stick down the throat. Against the roof is safe & controlable. End each lesson with some ferretone. Keep me posted please. Do you think this could work to keep an angry Alpha sprite from eating our new lil boy alive? Im sure it would be harder to do (maybe even take two people) but do you think she could learn at that point not to bite the baby?
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Post by Sherry on Mar 14, 2011 13:49:53 GMT -5
I'd be surprised, since you basically have to have the ferret in your hands at the time the bite occurs.
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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2011 15:04:44 GMT -5
I wouldn't even try it, especially in this manner. You're not teaching her not to bite the kit. If anything you're setting her up and she won't favour you at all and possibly blame the kit ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2011 15:53:29 GMT -5
Ok I wont, I think Im just getting desperate- sorry
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Post by ttfr on Mar 14, 2011 16:04:28 GMT -5
Take her over here to erm spend the night with pixie demon or the other kids. They would teach her a lesson or two.. J/k by the way. That would be way too mean of a thing to do. Pixie would ether eat her, or befreind her. Two extremes
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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2011 16:12:14 GMT -5
I'm seriously thinking that it's going to be trying the herbal stuff from the UK and behaviour modification. I was surprised at how well it worked. Like your little girl, this jill wasn't going to have any competition with 3 more jills, even if they were only babies. She was going to kill them. In the end, she totally accepted them...now note I said accepted. I don't think she ever learned to play with them, but there were photos of all of them eating their soupy out of the same bowl ciao
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Post by Sherry on Mar 14, 2011 22:17:12 GMT -5
I really do think it may be worth your while. I haven't done it, simply because most of the ones I need to introduce are ill, and don't want to stress them any more than they have to be. But- if I have any more that need something like that- I'll be doing it!
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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2011 22:36:24 GMT -5
I came really close. If Lady "B" hadn't gone adrenal (she didn't need the extra stress that went with Napoleon's and Mad Max's deaths), I didn't have some major vet bills (Napoleon's bill cost me close to $1000, only to put him down 3 days later) and huge stress on the rest of the businesses. I was all set to use the stuff. Went as far as researching it and talking with the vet about it. Took in a bunch of printouts and she pulled up some info off some vet web sites. It was showing to be really promising. ciao
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Post by Sherry on Mar 14, 2011 22:41:08 GMT -5
I'm going to have to talk to my vet about it then. She tends to be a LOT more conservative, though. She is at least researching deslorelin now, since a number of people have been asking after it. She's going to the symposium, so maybe I'll ask her if she can check zylkene out as well. Her main concern is prescribing something that later turns out to have been harmful.
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Post by Heather on Mar 14, 2011 23:23:53 GMT -5
I don't blame her. Ferret medicine in the last 5 yrs even has made huge advancements. We have a hard time keeping up with all the information but the vets are having twice as much trouble keeping up and sorting through all the information, trying to figure out what is real and what is snake oil. You and I can retract a statement and maybe look a bit foolish. Your vet can find herself in much deeper trouble, not only ethically but with her own beliefs and what she's been taught in school. At one time people used to take what their doctors and vets word as gospel. Now, we are much more informed, we often have as much information about certain aspects of our furkids care as any of the vets. This cannot be a good feeling for a vet to feel uninformed. ciao
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