With Martin's reaction to his annual distemper I got distracted from
another question the vet brought up: She thinks the tartar on his teeth
is excessive.  She says she thought I was giving them wet food, not dry.
Martin is one of my shelter ferrets, and I have no idea what he was fed the
first year of his life.  W/me he's gotten dry food only (he's 2 1/2 now).
My question is: Has anyone ever had their ferrets' teeth cleaned?  Is it
worth it to put these little guys through a dental experience (more like
horror, from what my parents' cat has gone through)?
 
A couple comments about Linus, my 4 year old:
I noticed a couple suggestions about training their ferrets to roll
over--My ferret Linus does this on his own, when he gets all excited he'll
stop, shake his head a couple times, roll over, jump up and shake his head
again.  It's very odd-looking and quite hilarious.  When he's really going
crazy he will actually move across the room, diagonally, in this manner.
A couple times he has rolled himself right into the wall.  He's not the
smartest ferret I've ever encountered, and I can't get him to learn any
tricks (except the litter box, which literally took me 1 1/2 yrs) so he
won't do this on command.  He will do it on his own if I rile him up
though.
 
Linus also whines when he plays with the other ferrets and also my
roommates' kitten.  He never ever looks like he's actually being hurt, but
he whines anyway.  He sounds just like a dog.  He's as big as or bigger
than all my ferrets, two of which are girls, but nonetheless...they start
wrestling and immediately Linus starts whining.  Does anyone else have a
whiny ferret?  Sometimes he even whines in his sleep...
 
Minta
[Posted in FML issue 2564]