Years ago to avoid even any appearance of misappropriation of funds
donated (after an incident with an individual rather than a shelter)
shelters went to listing not themselves for most contributions, but
the vets they use.  Donors make contributions when they prefer to the
veterinary hospitals (and if they wish can first verify those).  That is
very responsible on the part of the vets.  Since then whenever we have
contributed to such things we do so only through verified vets -- largely
because we got scammed that time.
 
Anonymous wrote:
>I must disagree with Marshalls that kits should be kept in cages with
>cloth bedding and hammocks.  Baby ferrets will eat anything, and
>especially love to chew on soft bedding.  The only hammock I would use
>in a kit cage is the nylon type, and even then I would watch it very
>carefully.  Kits under about 16 weeks should be given small cardboard
>boxes to sleep in, Kleenex boxes, cut down cereal boxes, etc.  Even if
>they chew on the cardboard, it turns to mush and breaks down fairly easily
>in the gut, and gets passed without a problem.  Not the case with cloth.
 
Unlike Anonymous we've run into very few cloth eaters, so have had not
problems with cloth bedding with the vast majority in 19 and 1/2 years,
but I do like many of Anonymous' ideas of alternative bedding.  One note:
we have also had an inadvertent cloth eater who liked to eat food in bed
and got a "fur" ball of fake fleece doing that, so in our house we've sewn
sheeting over all of that material in the beds they use (and have more to
sew still, including a few fake fur things that have found also shed badly
and which also matched some fibers in the "fur" ball).  Not all fur balls
actually are fur.  Obviously, for some things there are not hard and fast
rules, but instead the humans must be observant and suit their choices to
the animals involved.  Folks new to ferrets: read as much as you can, and
observe behaviors carefully and consistently.
 
If using herbs for anything do remember that anything strong enough to
help is also strong enough to harm.  Other drugs come with specific
warning attached in relation to what meds they interact badly with, what
conditions counter-indicate their use, danger signs, etc.  Herbs don't.
Therefore, to use herbs most responsibly it is absolutely essential that
YOU have reliable references so that you can know the bad along with the
good.  Here is a listing that will help you, and there certainly are more
out there so a reference librarian or good book store employee should be
of help in finding balanced resources that give both sides of the
situation: _PDR for Herbal Medicines_, _Herb-Drug Interaction Handbook_,
Varro Tyler's _Herbs of Choice_ and _Honest Herbal_ plus anything he's
likely to have done since.  In the ferret community in the last whatever
number of years I know of a few (#?) people who have killed their ferrets
with herbs by giving ones that were counter-indicated, one with a holistic
med years ago (or actually due to it not working and the family ferrets
getting CD since it was supposed to replace the vaccine but did not work),
one who killed a ferret with supplements, and three (if memory serves) who
killed ferrets with OTC drugs since they didn't realize that what may be
safe for humans may not be safe for ferrets.  Obviously, none of these
people meant to do so, also obviously, there just are NOT truly researched
herbal data out there for use in ferrets so exactly what is safe or unsafe
for which ferret is still not fully known.  That is also the case with
some standard meds.  Still, it may be possible to avoid some risks by
being careful.  NOTHING can take the place of a good ferret vet.  Hey,
that's obvious as well.  Oh, and on the FHL site (See yesterday's FML for
addy.) you can find vets listed in the Files section in both the
recommended-vets list and in the SOS shelter list.  The later is also
available thorugh the FML -- fevering so not able to reconstruct how for
you rihgt now, and another vets list is at the miamiferret site also
listed yesterday.
 
FYI: the average age of death in wild polecats and in wild BFFs is
incredibly low.  Believe the age number for polecats is actually lower
than one year due to high kit mortality.  In the wild the typical ferret
which does reach adulthood does not get older than 2 to 4 years.  In
captivity that is greatly altered with most domestic ferrets dying from
late in the 6th year to the second half of the 8th year.  Please, don't
think that they chew on plants and repair themselves when actually they
die, also don't think that certain things can be diagnosed without careful
testing, biopsies, etc.  There have been some useful posts here on the
FML about the many, many ways that people misuse words like "cancer" and
"tumor"; see the archives for those.
 
You do know that many vets will find ways to let people pay on time, and
that some will let people exchange labor for health care, right?  Many of
the folks here who recall Bob Church will remember his tight year when he
cleaned cages, mopped floors, and otherwise assisted because paying for
kids' schooling, his own doctoral studies, and all the rest just made a
lot of sick ferrets more than his budget could handle.  There also is
insurance.  That, too, is among resources in yesterday's FML.
[Posted in FML issue 3618]