To Melanie-
 
  We had one of our ferrets suffering from the same problem (and it was
our eldest by the way).  Amy would massage mineral oil into the
affected area about 1/2 hour prior to our washing her tail with Dial
Antibacterial Hand Soap.  The mineral oil would loosen up the
blackheads and the soap would remove them.  We would wash her tail
every 1-2 days, and oil her tail 2-3 times a day.  The soap also seemed
to bother her less than some of the other stuff we tried.  Phisohex
might also be a good soap to use.  It took us about 3 weeks to get
Coconut's tail cleaned up and now she's back to her beautiful fluffy self.
 
To Dick Bossart-
 
  Based on your odds, I'd say hell would have frost on its' hinges
before you could actually get rabies from a ferret...
 
To all-
 
  Some time ago I posted that one our kids took off into the wild.
Well, sad to report, but we have had no luck in recovering him.  We did
get a "replacement" from a semi-local breeder.  His name is Noah and
for now he's a hob (whole male for those of you who may not know).  We
will probably get him neutered after his second growth spurt.  At age 8
mos. or so, he already outweighs everyone else and is generally raising
hell with the established pecking order.  In fact, he got our
heavyweight champion (Merlynn) so mad the other day that after Merlynn
got loose from Noah, he went over to in front of the litterbox and
pooped on the floor.  It was definitely one of those "I'm very unhappy
with you humans for bringing that snot-nosed kid in here and this is
what I think of it!" type of messages. <grin>
 
Pete
 
>>> Ferrets are God's apology for cats.<<<
[Posted in FML issue 1107]