Hi all--
 
Well, all this talk about cleaning teeth here and in Modern Ferret inspired
me to pry open Cully's mouth and look at his teeth, which lo and behold, do
indeed need cleaning.  Funny how when you _want_ to see his teeth, he clamps
his mouth shut.  I remember a while back on the FML everybody was saying
knock your ferrets out to scale their teeth, and now people seem to be
advocating doing it yourself.  I don't think there's any way I could do
Cully's teeth myself; he's very strong and panicky.  I'd also rather have
him mad at the vet than at me, since his trust has been so hard-won.  Could
anybody tell me if there are any serious risks in having a healthy, five
year old ferret anaesthetized (hoo boy, I know I spelled that one wrong)
long enough for the teeth cleaning?  Or should we just have a couple of
people to hold him down while the vet or vet tech works on his teeth?  And
what's a more or less reasonable price for cleaning?  I'm willing to pay
whatever it takes, but I'd just like to know.  I'd understand it's being
expensive-- it's time-consuming and I'm sure the vets get bit a lot.
 
On baths-- until fairly recently, I was one of those bath-a-week people
(for the ferrets, that is;), but over the summer I slacked off, and then
our apartment was cold in the fall before we turned the heat on, so I
didn't bathe the ferrets as I didn't want them to catch a cold afterwards--
well, to make a long story short, it's been at least two and a half months
since their last baths and they smell just fine.  If I don't clean their
ears often enough, sometimes their ears smell a little.  It's hard to make
that mental leap and believe all of us who say your ferrets will smell less
with fewer baths-- I know, because I made it.  But it is in fact true.
Using a clean-smelling litter makes a bigger difference than the actual
baths do, I found.
 
To Jim and Dayna-- what a happy postscript about the shrimp-- sounds to me
like she was saying thanks for the care and giving Dayna the best gift she
could.  I hope all those little shrimps can give a real boost to the shelter
funds.
 
Me and Cully have been sharing the same flu and sleeping lots-- the happy
side to that is that he's been sleeping in the bed with me.  Everytime I
feel down about life I think about how far I've come with Cully and feel
better.  Respect out to all those who deal with frightened ferrets on a
regular basis-- just this one has sometimes made me want to tear my hair out
with frustration.  You rehabilitators must be pretty special people.
 
On a totally non-ferret note, have any of you geocities people out there
been having trouble adding new files to your site lately?  I've been trying
to create a new file for more than a week now and keep getting an internal
server error or misconfiguration message.  For those who've asked me about
it, it's the tattoo file, the link that doesn't work from my home page, that
I can't create.  I've sent a help request to the webmaster but received
nothing.  Any ideas appreciated!
 
Regina (snuffle)
Cully (snuffle)
Amelia (I'm  not sick! I want to play!  I'm going to bite your toes til you
get up and play with me! C'mon, get outta bed!)
 
*********************************************
Regina Harrison
PhD Student, Anthropology
Joint Co-ordinator, AGSEM-- McGill's TA union
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec
"If that's all there is, my friends, then let's keep dancing" --Peggie Lee
[Posted in FML issue 1784]