Hey all!
 
Tried to post this yesterday but it was too long, so I'll try to leave out a
few details in order to be more succinct.
 
I can add a little about toxoplasmosis.  In a nutshell, I work at a cat
hospital now, but I was a doctor for a few years so I kind of know how both
sides work.  OBs tend to want to tell people that once they're pregnant they
should get rid of their cat because of the risk, when in actuality the risk
is miniscule.  Cats who become infected only shed the toxo organism for a
very short time ( I think it's like 2 days), and once the organism is shed
(in the poop) it remains viable for a short time (the time it takes the poop
to dry out).  < I'm getting to the ferret part, BIG!> Anyway, the
transmission route is fecal-oral (meaning you'd have to get a bit of the
poop that was infected on your hands and then transfer it to your mouth
(unconsciously, of course, but yuk!) to become infected yourself.  My boss
has worked with primarily cats (with plenty of ferrets and rabbits too) for
the past 10 years, during which she's had 2 kids, and she has never
developed a positive toxo antibody titre (which would indicate that she had
had an exposure to toxo) despite treating between 5 and 20 cats and ferrets
a day (including her own two cats and two ferrets) and changing innumerable
litter boxes and having been pooped- and diarrhea'd-upon multiple times.
 
When I started working there last year I had similar concerns because my
husband and I are trying to become pregnant.  Sue (my boss) says that
there's a greater chance of getting toxo if you do gardening (getting down
in the dirt) without using gardening gloves (from the stray and neighborhood
cats who use your garden as a toilet), but recommends avoiding litter box
changing while pregnant or making sure to immediately wash your hands after
doing so.  And to address this in a ferret-related sense, BIG told us that
his two reference doctors said that ferrets can become infected with toxo
but it doesn't seem to be very common and ferrets tend to shed the organism
in smaller quantities than cats.  So I guess I'm suggesting- VERY miniscule
risk, but might want to give litter-changing/ poop-scooping duties to hubby.
 
Two other quickie notes- My boss is pretty open to alternative treatments,
and it seems that many people here believe in the benefits of colloidal
silver.  Can knowledgeable people in the subject please email me with
details?  Specifically, where does one get it, types of illnesses it can be
of use in, dosages, and if possible the presumed mechanism (HOW it works-
boosts immune system or what).  Thanks!
 
Brought home a new little girl today to join my Fidget and Tiny.
 
Her name is Nitozha (I didn't name her!) and she's a rescue that we
adrenalectomized.  She's a spaz.  I'll write more about her later!
 
Hope this one gets by!   Jamie
[Posted in FML issue 2066]