Hi!
 
I thought I'd pass along a curious series of events that may be of
interest to some of you.
 
About a week ago, Sonic (my first ferret, who is now about six months
old) suddenly began wheezing and coughing one night.  It sounded almost
exactly like an asthma attack, except that it continued on sporadically
through the night.  I was, of course, alarmed, but she seemed otherwise
her usual self and so I decided to try to get the vet to see her the
morning (which was Saturday).  Saturday morning, she was still wheezing,
so I called and they were kind enough to see her immediately.
 
Of course, when we got into the office, she refused to do anything except
look exactly like a ferret in _perfect_ health. (grrrrr . . .)  The vet
did a pretty thorough exam and found nothing wrong at all, but gave her
two weeks of antibiotics in case it was a mild upper respiratory infection
and asked me to bring her back in if it continued.  She improved quickly
and a day later there was no more wheezing.  Until yesterday (about a week
later).
 
Anyway, to wind this up as quickly as possible, I have discovered that it
seems to start up whenever I use baking soda on the carpet to get rid of
the odor where Sunny (younger carpet shark) has had the occasional
accident.  Sunny has no problems with it, and Sonic wheezes pretty much
continually when she's in the same apartment with it (not just when she's
sniffing around it to see what it is).  Sonic's wheezing problem dissappears
within a half hour of vaccuuming the stuff up.
 
Does this indicate that she's alergic to the stuff, or is it probably
just a lingering irritation from getting the stuff up her nose?
 
Thanks,
 
Pam, Sonic, and Sunny
 
[Posted in FML issue 0788]