BINGO'S ADVENTURE
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Willow, Casper and Bingo all enjoyed Xmas - they shared their pressie with the Tsuki group, much to their disgust.
Ever since the recent e-coli/virus outbreak, Casper really hasn't been hiself and Willow no longer wants to wrestle with Bingo as he's too rough for her, which all means that Bingo has no-one to play with and looks really bored. We've tried to give him extra time inside with us, but he still seems rather listless - he has all this pent up energy and no release. He can get quite upset by new ferrets - last year he went quiet with the introduction of Tsuki and Hershey, and perhaps he doesn't like Mojo moving in now. Tsuki who's quite territorial hisses at the Bingo group through the partition. We thought that perhaps we could get Bingo to move in with the Hershey group as he needs big ferrets to play with, but he can't help himself and is quite aggressive towards them. We can only think that we can hold Bingo on our laps for a bit until he becomes more comfortable with them and then try introductions. Hershey and Mojo don't seem aggresive at all towards him. We haven't tried Tsuki. When we took Casper to the vets over the e-coli thing she noticed his teeth were really bad and even though he's improved a lot he still does seem to have problems with the mouth/teeth, so we've booked him into the vets next week to have them looked at. He could well do with having more weight before going under anesthetic, but if his teeth/gums hurt then he can't eat and put weight on. He does seem bright enough, so hopefully he should be alright. Maybe once Casper feels better he'll play with Bingo again. It would be a shame to move him out of their group as Bingo and Casper are quite bonded. When Casper was being kept inside when he was really ill, Bingo missed him and when we brought him inside we found Bingo curled around Casper both asleep together. The only other thought is maybe if Casper improves a little more is to try another mature ferret jill with them - maybe a jill wouldn't be so much of a threat to them. 27 June 2007A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Bingo had grown a large lump under his chin. We had him out to play and he was so lethargic and down-in-the-dumps. He just wandered around and lay down flat and didn't mind when I lay down next to him and stroked him. Well, I presumed it was an abscess which had come up very quickly as they are wont to do - so off to the vets with him. We came back with a long course of antibiotics and have been medicating him for about 3 weeks now. It's been going down slowly, but we've been told to chip away at it until it's all gone otherwise it will come back and then the other option is to operate it out, which we'd all rather not do. The other good side of medicating Bingo is that it cleared up a respiratory infection that he'd also developed during all this damp and grey weather we've been having. Anyhow, we'll cross our fingers and hope the abscess clears up completely. We've also decided to give up trying to the get kits and the Bingo group together. I/we prefer the peace and status quo. 23 May 2007Bingo has lost his winter podge and is sleek, sexy and very bouncy once again. Now that he's older he's settled down and learnt not to be quite so rough with Willow and Casper. We bought the kits as companions for him as we felt he needed younger ferrets to bounce with. He doesn't look very impressed with the new ferrets and is quite terse about putting them in their places, but doesn't want to interact with them. After a quick flurry of fur fight with Tsuki, he flops down looking really fed up like saying "Don't put me through this again...just get me out". I think given time we could get them together, but Bingo is very settled with Willow and Casper. 07 Jan 2007Over this winter Bingo has piled on the pounds - it's like he's starting to have middle aged spread at only 2.5yrs old! Anyway, he's changed from being a bit of a lout to being very sleepy and quite chilled. It takes him quite a while to wake up and in that time he flops around yawning, or is very happy to sit on my lap and be stroked and cuddled. A real lap ferret. He alway did enjoy being groomed and massaged by me, but is now taking it to the max. 20 April 2006For more photos of Bingo playing in his revamped home, click here. 04 October 2005Bingo is a handful. He's a heavy, chunky fellow who like to throw his weight around and whose high energy antics can terrorise some of our less bouncy ferrets. So in order to wear the bounce from him we occasionally let me round the garden, dig in our compost heap or take him for a walk in the woods. Last Sunday, one of these activities resulted in Bingo becoming really ill. We noticed he was really depressed, we kept him indoors tried to get him to eat something which he promptly threw up. He strained to go to the loo without effect. The other really strange thing was that all his extremities: nose, ears, eyes, mouth, tongue and paw pads were bright pink. He also had a mottley red rash all over his body. We took him to the vets first thing Monday morning - really worried about him as he'd be vomiting and straining all night. There was no blockage - we were worried in case he had eaten something. The vets diagnosis was that it could be viral or bacterial...well that covers most bases! We had a feeling that he might have eaten something poisonous like a berry - he seemed to have a problem with his mouth and throat like it was really sore. He didn't really eat or drink anything much for about 2 days, but after that he started picking up. After a week, Bingo is much better, but doesn't quite yet have his full bounce back. 03 April 2005Bingo must be coming up to about a year old now. You can see how much he's grown and how handsome he is in the latest photo. He's a really solid ferret. He doesn't look much bigger than Casper, but he's all muscle and weighs a lot more. Casper and Bingo have become firm friends and love to tussle with each other. Bingo now the weather has warmed up enjoys being outside with all the space, but he still asks to be let out and still enjoys being held. Now Willow is healthier she enjoys ragging Bingo and chasing him too. 13 March 2005I miss Bingo being in the house...with him being outside I don't interact with him as much. When he does come in it's a mad bounce and chase for about an hour with all the ferrets, then it's time for all of us to go to bed. But he's doing well and if anything has grown an inch lengthwise as he has a long tail now which is how I can tell Bingo from Casper. We haven't been for our walks as my leg hasn't been too good and the weather has been wet and cold. 23 January 2005We so wanted Bingo to be our house ferret, but we don't have the space for all our ferrets indoors. Bingo ended up having to move out as a necessity, because Bailey was too poorly to share a small indoor cage with bouncy Bingo. He has adjusted well to outdoor living, although I feel bad that he's been put outside during the coldest months of the year. As Willow has no fur, we flet it was better to keep her indoors for her protection. 3 January 2005Bingo is now getting used to being in the cage outside. Over Xmas we've been putting him out in the morning and he plays with Casper. However, he's not comfortable enough to sleep with the mob and has stayed outside in court area..at which point we take pity on him and bring him back indoors with us. However, we are sure he'll get used to it the more we leave him out. Bailey decided to show Bingo that he wasn't prepared to put up with his boisterousness, so once Bailey felt better after his op. he dragged Bingo off around the room. However, they have learnt to put up with each other, as they've been sharing the same indoor cage whilst Bailey recovers. 23 December 2004
A little after taking him for a walk - we decided it was time to have Bingo castrated. I was becoming increasingly allergic to him, he was getting increasingly smelly and being whole didn't help with integration into the ferret family. So mid-November he had his op. A week later and he smells beautiful and he's not so boisterous. A couple of weeks after that him and Casper seemed to settle down and play better together. Bailey puts up with him - we can't yet get a true reaction from Bailey as he's still recovering from his illness. Bingo is still indoors with us which on the whole we are enjoying, but for the sake of us being able to go away on holiday etc. he will need to get used to living in the ferret court outside. He'll enjoy himself much better come spring and summer. Today, Bingo was being very irritating indoors so I plopped him in the cage outside. Casper and him had some playful rucks - like whatya doin in my home!! It seemed to go well, but Bingo didn't feel comfortable sleeping with them all, and I rescued him from sitting all by himself in the court by 11am!!! We will still persevere with integrating them all. 31 October 2004
Well, we've had Bingo for about 2 months now. He's grown from a cute stumpy fluffy bundle to a big, fluffy smelly bouncer...in fact that only took him about 3 weeks! He grew so fast, but we always say that about our kidz, don't we! We have tried to get him to fit in with the crew of four, but Bailey and Casper don't seem to be having it. Willow and Tilbury get on with him fine, but now Bingo has grown SO big and chunky and he has SO much energy we have to be careful that he doesn't bully or over do it with them. We hope that once he's castrated he'll settle in better. At the moment, he is still living indoors with us. But we really enjoy having him indoors. He sleeps in the dog crate, is very good about using the litter pans and loves to play and follow us around the house. He's getting a little stinky now and soon he'll need castrating. Until that time, I don't think there's any point in trying to carry on to introduce him to Casper and Bailey. Anyhow, Bingo has become part of our family and loves going for a walk. See the pictures to your left. 17 September 2004
We couldn't help ourselves. After months of thinking "wouldn't another ferret be nice...", whilst wandering around our local RSPCA just to spend some time, we saw a little white tail flash. Then we saw a tiny white ferret and we knew he would just have to come home. We weren't quite sure how old he was, but at a guess about 12 weeks and he had been found wandering and luckily picked up and given to the RSPCA. He was quite little and kinda stumpy and I felt he needed feeding up. So he's been receiving 2 meat meals a day, along with kibble. And it's done wonders. In just 2 weeks he's put loads of weight on and has grown out of that stumpy kit into a small proportioned ferret. I'm sure he's got lots more growing to do. At first he wasn't so coordinated, but over the last 3 weeks that we've had him, he's grown in coordination and feistiness. Initially when we got him we did introduce him to all our four ferrets. Only Tilbury and Willow accepted him immediately. Bailey ragged him and Casper was just plain mean. So we've waited for Bingo to grow so that he can stand up for himself. Bingo has the loveliest nature. He's quick to learn, not in the least nasty. He's very friendly and outgoing, not to mention awfully cute and fluffy. We expect him to grow into quite a stocky large ferret. |
