Furballs and other causes of blockages can be bad things.
 
Whether a ferret needs the things that help slide small furball and small
partial blockages through such as Petromalt, Laxatone, Laxastat, plain
petroleum jelly (but NOT digestible oils), depends partly on the ferret.
Many do need such products.  A ferret who grooms a lot (self or other) or
is shedding can certainly use something to help.
 
We have one who hates those products and instead self-treats with herbs --
she LOVES eating leaves of mints, basil, oregano, parsley, and some others
in small amounts and has kept a clean belly as a result.
 
On the other side of the equation we have a male with a grotesquely huge
and distended stomach (the organ, not the location) and he also insists on
grooming all the ferrets so he takes in a lot of fur but can't really pass
it due to impaired stomach function.  He's had his stomach opened twice.
 
With very, very, very, careful ferret-proofing, with furball med being
given now and then, and with them having the fake-fur and fake fleece in
bedding covered we have had only two ferrets in around 19 and 3/4 years
who have needed stomach surgery, but that is only our household so may
not be representative.
 
 ------
 
OT, but I have had requests for information on "when internet
conversations go wrong" after my post yesterday so this bare-roots info
will help those who want to avoid such problems as much as possible do
follow-up on their own.
 
There are new fields of internet anthropology, internet sociology, and
internet psychology.  Some of the experts (Don't hold me to spellings.)
are Steve Greenspan, Steve Cisler, Lynn Cherney, Bonnie Nardi, Loren
Treveen, Steve Whittaker, Bob Kraut, etc.  Interesting stuff.  I've read
only a a bit of it but it is fascinating and useful.  Right now it's still
mostly an academic field but some companies and governmental branches are
starting to use such experts, too.  CMU and U. Michigan are among the
very few universities have programs specifically for it; most current
experts in it are folks combining two fields of expertise since programs
that are composed of the two are so new.
[Posted in FML issue 3692]