To ROCHELLE re: a new puppy in the house
>
>  1.  For a while, we tried giving the ferrets a bowl of water instead of
> the water bottle.  After discovering that anything lightweight got dragged
 away
> and tipped over, we bought one of those big, heavy, self-watering things (no
> way a ferret could tip that over, we thought!).  Well, we were half right.
> They couldn't tip it.  But, Fezzik was so curious about it that he kept
 dunking
> his entire head into it, and splashing water everywhere.  Is there any way to
> leave water out for the dog *WITHOUT* the ferrets getting it all over the
> floor????
>
 
I have a an 18 year old calico cat, a 1.5 year old miniature pinscher, and 2
heart-stealing fuzzies.  There were many trials and many subsequent errors
trying to solve this problem (the ferrets were introduced last in the
family).  I finally settled on cat and dog water bowls that were much wider
at the bottom that at the top - advertised as "non-tipping" I think.  I'll
admit the answer is not perfect.  Ferris and Duncan can still manage to
slosh water on the floor if they wedge themselves between the bowl and the
wall and SHOVE.  Oh well - it's better than the whole thing being dumped.
 
>         2.  Do we have to worry about the ferrets trying to steal food from
 the
> dog?  Or about the dog stealing the ferrets' food?  (we leave their food out,
> but the bowl is in their old cage, so we *hope* the dog won't be able to get
> his head in there to eat any!)
>
 
I feed Kirbus (the dog) Science Diet Maintenance.  Ferris (the female) LOVES
to steal pieces from the dog bowl and run under something to crunch away at
it.  Duncan (the male) has never shown an interest in it.  (But Duncan
thinks raisins are to DIE for and Ferris won't go near them.) Kelly (the
matriarch) gets Hill's Prescription Diet C/D.  Ferris ignores this - but
Duncan eats it.  They don't eat very much of either of the cat or dog food -
and since I feed them a higher quality food -- I don't worry about it much.
My vet recommended Science Diet Maintenance for cats for the ferrets.
(Actually - she recommended the "Growth" variety for Ferris -- but it was
making Duncan pretty chubby!)
 
Now - the converse problem took a while to solve.  Kirbus insisted on eating
the cat food for a looonnggg time.  Talk about getting chubby!  The
Maintenance food wasn't so bad - but I worried that she wasn't getting all
she needed from Kelly's "old lady" food.  Many many hours and many many
scoldings finally stopped this.  Now she doesn't eat from the cat bowl at
all - and I guess since the ferret food smells the same to her - she knows
that's off limits, too.  She knows that the ONLY bowl in the house she can
eat from is hers.  <whew> I wish you MUCH patience!  :->
 
To EVERYONE that offered advice for Duncan:
 
Thanks!  He seems much better now - with only an occasional discolored stool.
Dr. Williams says this is normal ... so we're back on track.  What I finally
did was take away the Cheerios - and only minimal Linatone.  Although it broke
my heart when they would stand at my feet at the cabinet with that "please,
Mommy?"
look - we got through it.
 
To DR. WILLIAMS:
 
How lucky we are to have you on this list!  Thanks so much for the info for my
new vet - and the offer to allow her to call you.  She appreciated it - and I
know I sure do!  I cut all the postings by you out of the articles I have saved
from this list and gave them to her as well.  Her response:  "Wow - I need to
get a PC!"  Absolutely!  Thanks again.
 
 
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                                Cheryl Cato
 
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[Posted in FML issue 0744]