Well, while in seattle we went to a nice toy store and bought the fuzzbutts
little terrycloth sea animals for their presents.  They're small enough to
fit in the palm of your hand, brightly colored, no buttons, and made out of
terrycloth and felt.  Well, we gave Potpie hers (a bright blue manta ray)
and she was so instantly excited that she had to plop down right there to
start eating the thing.  After about three minutes of her shaking and
gnawing on the toy i took the poor sodden thing away - she'll get to chew it
up in carefully observed doses.  Stinky little cloth-eater..
 
Anyway, in my last post i noted that i hoped my other three were causing
problems at the sitter's, at least until i could pick them up.  But eek!
Everyone there has the flu!  Including the sitter.  :) So, they're staying
there until they're clear, since what with the potential new ferret, Potpie
"I get sick easily!", two housemates, and one boyfriend, it'd be an epidemic
disaster were they to come home.  They're only sneezing - no runny eyes, no
vomitting, no diarrhea, not much coughing, so i'm not worried (and i'm
prepared to take all the electrolyte and baby food over that they need).
 
Re: cats using pine litter. My cats don't use it, but i've heard it works
just as well for cat litter odors as it does for ferret litter odors.
Whether or not your cat will USE it is another matter, as they certainly can
be fussy...Try it out and let us know how it works for you. :)
 
One last thing (a question): Whenever i take Potpie out in the car, she gets
frothy - starts producing lots of saliva - and then starts pawing at the
roof of her mouth.  This is just in the car.  She'll shake her head and
saliva will fly everywhere (ewww).  Can i pass this off to excitement and
stress?  I notice it happens most if i'm holding her, too.  Any
ideas/similar happenings?
 
Anyway, must dash to family's for christmassing (i'm at work right now
running backups....mmm, the life of a sysadmin). Happy generic holidays to
everyone!
 
Melissa
 
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Melissa Litwicki                              "Is it ... atomic?"
      [log in to unmask]                             "Yes! VERY atomic!"
[Posted in FML issue 1795]