All of our ferrets have been shedding since a few weeks ago --- not blowing
out their coats exactly, but some hairs come off when we cuddle them and
their litterbox also has hairs in it.  We've been Petromalting them every
week since they started, but now Mithril, our shaded silver sprite, has
started to hack a lot.  She still eats the same amounts of food and water
(piggy piggy -- she's the fattest of the lot), and seems to have normal
amounts of feces from what we've inspected (no greenies either), but she has
spells of hacking.  Sometimes the other ferrets hack, but not as extensively
as she does.
 
Is it because of the hairs they have swallowed?  (They love to groom each
other.)  Would it possibly be a hairball forming?  We've decided to step up
the Petromalting to twice a week for her, but we want to know if it could be
something more serious first and bring her to the vet if it is.
 
Other than the hacking, she's her normal destructive self, digging up the
brand new carpet floor of their cage, pushing the others aside for more than
her fair share of linatone, and being an overall sweetie.  No discharge from
noses, eyes, etc., body temperature feels the same as the others, etc.
 
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                                                Thank you,
                                        Martin and Anna G. Ralya
[Posted in FML issue 1539]