A word of warning about the Kongs and tennis balls. I have a Golden
Retriever *Sunshine* that is very *oral*. He seems to have some toy in
his mouth all hours he is awake. His all time fav has been the Kongs
and tennis balls. Now almost 11 years old, his fangs are worn
completely flat.

I remember Bob Church saying tennis balls could cause a ferrets teeth
to wear due to the abrasiveness of the covering, so we ditched the
tennis balls. The Kong continued to be a fav, if we tried to take it
away, Sunshine would actually become depressed and franticly search
for them. They did a real number on his teeth though.

We finally replaced the Kongs with another toy called the HolyRoller.
Its pliable, but not easily chewed into pieces. Come in different
sizes. There about 4 outdoors, and two in the house. Sunshine can hang
one off each lower fang, and have one in the middle, squishing his nose
up. Cute....

I closely monitor the house ones, so far the ferrets do nothing more
than stash them and giggle while Sunshine *sits pretty* as I retrieve
them for him.

A new favorite for the ferrets (and our cats) is a toy we found at
PetCo. Just strips of felt braided together, the ends tied and left
loose. You could make them any size you want, very easy and cheap to
make. A bit like the knotted rope toys that are a bloody fortune.

We have a couple of those too, buried somewhere out back. Only Sunshine
know where....

Ardith

[Posted in FML 6984]

=========================================================================Date:    Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:59:14 -0500
From:    Cynthia ritenour <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Ferret nation cage boo-boos
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To all our fuzzy-lovin' friends,

As we know, Ferret Nation cages are well built, but as with all things,
there can be hidden dangers. This is a view looking up from the bottom
area to the top area where the ladder has been put up so that the
ferret cage is essentially 2 cages. When the tray is still in normal
position, it looks like this. However, the trouble started because one
of our little buddies got a foot stuck on the edge of the ladder. This
resulted in a sad fuzzy with a broken leg. The best way to protect your
kids is to take the tray out and turn it around so the cut out for the
stairs is in the front of the cage, away from the stair area. Hopefully
this will help everyone keep their kids safe, Then there won't be
another sad little guy with a broken foot.

[Moderator's note: Cynthia tried to include images but the FML server
automatically discards attachments, so they didn't come through. (And
from the looks of the way they were attached they wouldn't have been
visible in a digest anyhow.) BIG]

[Posted in FML 6984]