Chris,
 
I've been reading about feline leukemia on the net for a while now, and
wondered if ferrets are susceptible to it?  I asked my vet (who specializes in
"exotics") and he assured me that they do not get this disease, but it still
worries me a little.  Do you or anyone else on the list have any information?
 
[One of our ferrets died from Thymic Lymphosarcoma (TL) - his spleen enlarged
and ruptured - which is apparently one of the outcomes of FeLv (Feline
Leukemia virus) in cats.  One of our mailing list subscribers also lost one
of their ferrets to TL.  Our vet subscribes to the theory that TL in
ferrets *may* often be due to either the FeLv virus or a ferret version thereof.
I emphasize "may", because there is disagreement amongst vets knowledgable
about ferrets as to whether TL is an outcome of a virus, or simply a
spontaneous cancer, or both.  Eg: one of our subscribers is also a vet, and he
has considerably less belief in the virus theory.  There simply isn't
enough evidence one way or the other to concretely answer this question.
 
One more bit of information, gleaned from our vet subscriber, is that there
does *not* appear to be any statistically significant infectiveness of
TL (and other FeLv-like outcomes) in ferret colonies.  Whereas, I understand
FeLv can be *very* virulent in large catteries and virtually wipe out an
incautious breeder.
 
The above is what I believe to be the "state-of-the-art" answer to your
question, and just about completely exhausts my knowledge of the subject.]
 
Also, though my "kids" (Brigadoon and She-Ra) are a year old, they still seem
to have a hard time remembering where their litter box is.  I discussed this
with Joyce Andrews through e-mail, and she suggested leaving a few litter
boxes spread around the house in their favorite corners.  Well, I did that,
and the little buggers totally ignored them and opted for new corners of the
carpet.  I've also tried those sprays that are supposed to keep pets from
urinating etc on carpeting, but don't like using sprays and they didn't work,
anyway.  Wendy Winstead (if I remember correctly) advised confining them to
small areas until they get used to the litter box.  Well, they use the one in
their cage ok.  It's just when I let them roam around the house that they
seem to go a little crazy.  I don't want to keep them caged all the time (I
put them up before I go to work, let them out when I get home, and put them up
again before I go to sleep).
Any suggestions for litter training these guys outside of the cage?
 
[Both Wendy and the Morton's suggest confinement *and* persistance.
We've not been particularly successful either, so I'll let others
comment - some of our subscribers have their ferrets out 24 hours per day.
How did *you* handle the litter box problem (or did you? ;<)]
 
Thanks for any help, and also for putting me on the ferret mailing list!
 
Rita M. Wendt
Brigadoon & She-Ra
AT&T BellLabs, Lincroft NJ
lzfme!rmpw - att.att.com
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0068]