Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for help for Angel, who was
experiencing pain when she had a bowel movement (she must know I'm writing
about her because she just came running through here).  I think it was Gary
Holowicki who suggested she might have an infection (duh), so I took her to
the vet.  Prior to that, I just assumed the difficulty was related to her
recent diagnosis of lymphoma.
 
It turns out she has giardia.  This was really surprising to me, because I
don't take my ferrets outside all that often; when I do, they're on a leash
and harness; I always bring clean, fresh water for them if we're on a hike;
and I don't let them lick things on the trail.  Apparently, though, they
can pick up giardia just by walking on the ground where it is present.  I
figured you had to: 1) drink water contaminated with giardia or 2) stick
your nose in dung contaminated with giardia.
 
So now all five of them are getting this wonderful medicine called
metronidazole that makes them foam at the mouth.  I squirt it from a
medicine dropper into the pocket of one of their cheeks so they don't choke
on it and then I have to hold them for a while and massage the cheek to
make sure they swallow as much of it as possible.  As soon as I put them
down, they shake their heads in agony and scatter little foamy droplets of
it all around, including my freshly dry-cleaned suits.
 
Let's hope I don't get it.
 
I'm also ordering some of the herbal remedies people on this list
recommended.
 
Gratefully,
Linda and fuzzies: Esperanza, Lucky Charm, Angel, Chocolate Moose aka
Bigfoot, and Zipper aka Sir Hillary
[Posted in FML issue 2650]