>From:    Sandy E Schieman <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Assorted stuff
>Pam - This is not intended to be a flame.  Heck, it ain't even warm.  Tater
>and Odie have thrived on Purina Kitten Chow.
>... Your letter did make me think so I checked the labels on the Purina,
>Iams and TF..  basically the same stuff - animal protein and all.
 
Really?  What labels were you reading?  Here's what I get when I compare the
first few ingredients on my Iams and Purina Cat Chow bags and boxes (in
order of appearance of course):
 
Iams Kitten:  Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken, Rice Flour, Ground Corn,
Chicken Fat (preserved w/BHA), Dried Whole Egg ... (etc)
 
Purina Kitten Chow:  Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Whole Kernel Corn,
Whole Wheat, Poultry By-Product Meal...(etc)
 
Remember what Bob Church said when I posted about the ferret I knew who was
fat and sassy at 8 years living on a diet of assorted fruits and the
ocassional piece of KFC - animals can survive on all sorts of unnatural
diets, but imagine how healthy they would be and how long they would live if
they were eating what they were supposed to be eating.
 
>Playpens...
We built a playpen for less than $70.00 (Canadian) for our puppy, and found
it was also really useful for putting ferrets in.  We even figured a way to
keep them from climbing out of it.  It worked real good, until we dismantled
it and used the panels for door barriers.  Works really good in this form
too - so well, that we can open the front door and put the gate up and no
ferrets have ever managed to escape.  Of course, being the worry wart that I
am, I don't do that very often and I moniter them real carefully when they
are out regardless.  I'll be happy to share our play pen plans with anyone
who wants them.
 
>From:    Casey Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: The smell
>I hate to complain about little Toby so much, but could anybody give me some
>advice on how to cut down on the odor.  I have been bathing Him up to 3
>times a week with Ferret Shampoo, Salon Selective, & Baby Shampoo...
>was supposedly descented, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.
 
Well, you are seriously overbathing your ferret, which is probably causing
him to smell worse.  The more often you bathe him, the more oils you strip
from his coat and the harder he is working to replace those oils, which
smell a lot more when they are fresh.  Stop bathing him so much - you'll
give him an itchy, dry coat and he'll smell so much stronger.  We bathe our
guys every few months, if that, except for some of the whole males who get a
few more baths.  Had a visitor the other day, who walked into a room housing
almost 20 ferrets and he said "Wow, this doesn't smell at all."
 
Secondly, descented or not, this has no effect on a ferret's bodily smell.
Ferret scent glands, located near the anus, only smell when they choose to
"let them go" and that is a vile, repulsive smell that nobody who has
experienced it could confuse with regular ferret odour.  However, it only
lasts for moments and dissipates in the air.  It is their only real
defensive against big things, like dogs, so we don't descent our fuzzy
beans.  So you shouldn't doubt that your ferret is descented on the basis of
his smell - he smells so strongly because you are over washing him.  If you
are cleaning his box on a daily basis and changing his bedding several times
a week, he shouldn;t smell very much at all.  But like all animals, ferrets
have their own smell and no amount of washing will eliminate it totally.
 
>From:  Bill Killian <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Obscure ferret references
>Anybody remember the boy ferret keeper as the bad guy for sending his
>ferrets in after "The Borrowers"?
 
Wow!  I misplaced my copy of The Borrowers some time ago.  That comment
brought back a flood of nostalgic memories.  I'm heading off to the second
hand bookstore right now...
 
Sheena
Wherret Ferrets Halfway House and Ferretry
Ferret Association of Greater Vancouver
[Posted in FML issue 1665]