>Maybe if he sheds less, he won't be ingesting so much hair and get
>hairballs...
 
If he is shedding a lot then consider adrenal disease as a possible
component and read up on that.
 
Shedding is a normal aspect the cycles that follicles follow.  That isn't
going to be changed.  If the product makes the fur more gummy so that it
is less likely to fall I'd worry even more about them chewing it.  If it
makes it more slick so the fur falls more easily when shed then you can
do the same thing with an assortment of after bath conditioners.  The
single best thing we've ever found to reduce the fur shed in bad ways
(as in ingested) is just to comb them with a flea comb.
 
 ---
Okay, PAX on list, please!  None of us can actually walk a mile in anyone
else's shoes to truly know what their lives are like, but most of us can
just go walk a mile a to calm down then re-write things to be less
contentious, then take another mile walk if need be for a further
re-write or trashing of the message if its still needlessly hurtful.
 
Meanwhile, when you've read something that seems hurtful a miles walk
will give time to think of other ways that the person may have meant it,
then to come back and re-read it to see if perhaps the first reading
accidently inserted a tone or intent that really wasn't there.
 
I understand that shelter folks get terribly frustrated because day after
day they hear excuses when often enough the real situation is the person
should never have had an animal in the first place, but i also know that
life turns out to have some very painful and limiting surprises at times
which can change what someone can cope -- even sometimes despite
precautions.
 
I also know that some individual critters require a level of care, or
space, or special situations, that not all all can fulfill.
 
Personally, I don't get as upset at some of the "giving them up" posts as
I do at the less common ones where someone has given up critters and then
gotten others even though the problems that led to the first (or second,
or third) surrender still exist.  It' is more scary each time, and we
actually have had folks do this -- rarely, but it happens.  Those ones
do worry me.  I also am more worried by posts from folks who keep adding
loads of ferrets without learning about the medical problems that can
arise and saving to treat them.  Not providing medical care is a form of
abuse because it leads to needless deaths and suffering; if a person has
to not have animals for a while to avoid accidently abusing them then I
think it's best that they are given up, and that the person regularly
donate to shelters as often as possible, and if possible also volunteer
labor for some shelters rather than having ones personal animal
companions until the problem stops -- and no sooner.  Animal hoarders
freak me, too.
 
Do some people need to better learn their own personal limitations?
Sure.  Every one of us has been in that spot for something.  Maybe for
some of them, though, the pain of giving up an animal and realizing that
there will be a years ahead when animal contact will only come from
volunteer work are statements in themselves of a new level of
responsibility and maturity achieved, so chiding may only backfire.
[Posted in FML issue 3867]