Hi everybody,
 
I've noticed one of my babies has picked up a strange, and I assume,
unhealthy habit of drinking his urine if he has an accident.  At first I
thought it was merely his way of hiding the "evidence" and would simply
stop him, clean it up, and go on.
 
However, yesterday, he urinated in his cage right next to the litter box
and started drinking it.  I'm now concerned that this isn't just a bizarre
quirk and that perhaps he's doing it when I'm not around.  It's got to be
horribly unhealthy and I'm not sure how to handle it.
 
So my questions are:
 
Has anyone else had this happen to one of their ferrets?  What should I do?
 
My first guess is there's some vitamin or mineral he might need added to
his diet.  I'm planning on making an appointment with my vet on Monday,
but any suggestions/help you all could give me would be most appreciated.
 
In the meantime, I'm separating him from the others and using a cage with
wire above the actual floor of the cage so the urine is inaccessible.
Needless to say this is not acceptable as a long-term solution since the
cage is small, he gets lonely for his buddies, and I can't imagine that
it's terribly comfortable on his feet.  I have a hammock in there, but he
still has to walk on the wires in order to get to his food and water.
 
Thanks in advance,
 
Beth
 
"Always a godmother, never a God."
 
              - Fran Lebowitz
[Posted in FML issue 2859]