Part I.  Heartworms
I haven't seen much on ferrets and heartworms and I was wondering...
Are they much of a going concern?  Our vet gave us a pack of heartworm
pills last April when the babies went in for their first checkup and
battery of shots. (I sent a message on this over a week ago but it never
appeared so I'm trying it again, most likely lost on byte bi-way...)
Dr. Williams, maybe you can help, are heatworms a real threat to ferrets?
I have devised a way to get the pills down them with little effort, I grind
the pill up (as close to powder as I can get it) in a teaspoon and then add
a drop or two of Ferretone, naturally no coaxing is necessary to get them
to lap it up!  Second question for Dr. Williams, any potential harm that you
can see in mixing the two together?  I know this is "after the fact" question-
ing, I haven't seen any problems as of yet, but I thought I'd check with
the mailing list since the amount of knowledge/experience/support it provides
has proven to be worth it's weight in gold!
 
Part II.  Flying Ferrets
The Ouellette clan are heading out to Vegas to visit my family (parents,
brother,sister) the last week of April & 1st week of May.  Not wanting
to board our slinkies and not really wanting to have our neighbor watch
them again, I looked into taking them with us.  First step call America
West's 800 # (800-247-5692), I was told that YES, I could take them but
they had to be in an airline regulation carrier (max: length 21 inches,width
16 inches, height 10 inches) that will fit under the seat. It must be leak
proof and well ventilated and the animal(s) must not be able to stick their
head out of it. Cost is $50.00 each way, make reservations at same time we
make ours but pay for pet(s) at airline terminal when we arrive to check in.
She also advised that we get there early as there is a limit of two pet
carriers per flight.  I told her up front that they were ferrets and that
the two of them would be traveling in one carrier and she said that they
treat that as one (pet).  So you're basically paying for bringing the
carrier on-board.  That kind of bites becuase they wouldn't charge you
to stow a carry-on bag in the same space.  I'm not going to complain though
because I'm still kind of shocked that I'll be able to take them.  I was
so shocked in fact that I called a second time, it was on the second call
that I got a lot more information (carrier requirements,etc.). So phase one
has proved good so far, the true test is phase two when we actually make
the trip, it'll be interesting to see what (if any) trials and tribulations
await us once we roll into the airline terminal and check in. I will send
a report in once we've returned and let you all know how it went.
 
Has anyone else had any experiences with ferrets fling the friendly(?) skies
of America West?  If so please report, good or bad.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0716]