Have an urgent need for assistance here regarding ferrets and exposure to
new carpeting.... I've just moved into a new condo that had new carpet
installed sometime in the past two months (if not sooner).  I've never
lived in a place with brand new, nice, plush carpet since adopting my
furkids so I've never encountered this problem but I believe that
something about the carpet is making my furkids sick.
 
I'm thinking that it's just the natural new fibers of the carpet or
maybe that the carpet was pre-treated with some type of stain resistant
chemical because every time the furkids start walking on it (outside of
their linoleum room), they begin coughing and gaging and pawing at their
mouths.
 
Has anyone had any similar experiences?  What am I going to do if the
carpet has been pre-treated????
 
I noticed Snowball gaging and pawing at his mouth and sneezing the day
after I moved in but thought it was due to dust bunnies that he brushed
into in a corner by the front door.  And I had already been worried about
Sasha because about a month prior to moving in, she had been displaying
some of these 'classic' insulinoma signs (foaming at mouth, lethargy,
speed bumping) so I thought I was going to have to begin her on Pred
and had been monitoring her but she seemed to do better with a round of
Amoxi.
 
Well, right after I moved into the new place, around the last week of
Sept., BOTH furkids began doing the 'coughing, gaging, pawing' thing
and now it happens every time they are on the carpet.  When they're on
linoleum, tile, or on my bed, they're fine.  Sasha seems to have a
healthy appetite, too, and is maintaining her weight so I honestly don't
think she has other health problems but she topples over and wobbles and
stumbles when she's on the carpet :-(
 
PLEASE, PLEASE can anyone provide insight here?  Will I have to move
again?????  OMG!!!
 
Jennifer and the dynamic duo, Sasha & Snowball
[Posted in FML issue 5022]