Hi, all!
 
I've just subscribed to the FML and have really enjoyed reading and
learning about other people's experiences with these loveable fur
balls!!  My husband and I have two (a 3 year old female sable and a 1 1/2
year old male sandy -- both are fixed and descented [the only way we can
get them in our area]) and we love them more than anything!!
 
Regarding heartworm disease prevention, Auburn University (where we're
employed) has a great vet school.  My hubby did his internship there and
asked one of the vets (who's been working with ferrets for a while) about
heartworms.  The vet suggested that we give the babies a preventative, so
we asked our local vet (not the same one) about it and he gave us pills
for small dogs that we crush up once a month, mix with ferretone and give
to our babies.  So far, we haven't had any problems with heartworms...
(knock on wood!!).
 
As far as hiccuping ferrets go, we have two of those!!  Every once in a
while our two (who, by the way, are Katie and Eric) get the hiccups.  I've
never thought anything about it (except how cute they look "bouncing"
around every few seconds when they hiccup!!).  They don't seem to mind it
a bit -- in fact, it doesn't even seem to slow them down!!
 
Katie has two favorite games -- similar to Slinky.  She absolutely loves
to herd two-liter plastic bottles.  She'll knock them over, nose them
around the room (sometimes to us so we can roll them back across the room
so she can chase and catch them again) and jump on top of them and attack
the bottle opening!!  She also loves to steal film cans (like what 35 mm
film come in) and "hump" them back to her hidey-stash place.  Eric's
favorite game (along with "attack the pants leg while the mommy or daddy
is trying to get dressed") is "how much attention can I get if I "fall"
behind the couch and start scratching on the fabric??".
 
We gave the fuzzies their own room when we moved into our apartment last
summer.  We paper three of the corners and provide a litter box in their
cage (which is where they prefer to do most of their sleeping).  In the
evenings on weekdays we let them romp through most of the rest of the
apartment (in our bedroom and the bathroom, though, is supervised) and
we seem to have very little problem with this.  They're pretty good
about not destroying their room -- we've made sure that all the
"important/dangerous" stuff is off their level and there's no way to
climb up to it and we've given them lots of stuff to play with (old
shoes, bags, plastic plumbing tubes, etc).  Don't get me wrong, they do
like to get out of their room, but it's big enough and busy enough so
that they do just fine in there during the day.
 
OK, now that I've babbled on (endlessly, it seems), here's my first
question:  recently, we took our babies to the vet because Eric was
acting strangely (not eating, runny poops, no energy).  The vet had just
seen a puppy (and taken it's temp) that had had round worm.  He only
wiped the thermometer off with a paper towel before he took Eric's temp.
He ran some tests on Eric's feces and found nothing.  So, we left with
some cat lax and intestinal medicine (just in case) and went home.  When
we got home, the vet called and said that the specimen he let float
was covered in round worm (he had neglected to check that particular
specimen before we'd left his office).  So, to my question, could Eric
have gotten roundworm from the thermometer used (but not sterilized) on
an animal before him (I'm pretty sure that the vet floated the specimen
that came out with the thermometer)?
 
Next question:  My girl, Katie, has been accumulating something around
her urethra/vagina opening.  It's kind of green and sticky (but hardens
after a short while).  I thought maybe she picked it up somewhere while
crawling around the house, but after I cleaned her off, the same thing
started happening again.  Any idea what it could be?  I've trimmed her
hair around that area just a little (thought maybe it was just catching
her urine...).  Could it be from a urinary tract infection?  And if
so, how would I be able to tell and help her?
 
Thanks for listening and thanks in advance for the advice!!
 
Trish Barnes
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[Posted in FML issue 0862]