Lynn Mc. wrote:
>Her heart murmur is about a three on a scale of six, with no heart disease
>symptoms present (the second vet thinks she had a separate infection which
>only led to the diagnosis of heart murmur).
 
Hmmm.  This is interesting to me as our old girl was diagnosed with a heart
murmur too.  Can something secondary, like an infection rather than heart
problems, cause a heart murmur??  Do they ever fix themselves?
 
Lynn Mc. also wrote:
>We have seven ferrets and are refinishing an oak floor.  We want to use
>the strongest finish available so as to absolutely (if possible!) resist
>urine. What can we use?
 
When I refinished our upstairs floors one room at a time I was also
concerned with finding a urine-proof, vomit-proof, claw-scratch-proof
finish.  I used a varnish that is recommended for boat decking and
basketball courts (there was a paragraph on the can that actually said it
resisted urine and fruit acids).  It has worked like a charm so far (about
1.5 years).  I do not remember the name of it (a lot of help I am!) but it
was *very* expensive about $50 gallon.  I put on three coats sanding in
between.  I put a 4th coat of it on in the corners of each room that is not
noticable to me - although a professional wood finisher might not approve.
This finish was a pretty big pain because it took a couple of days to dry in
between coats (rather than the typical 8 hours or less).  It was nasty nasty
nasty to smell and to clean up after.  Very high gloss and it darkened the
wood pretty considerably.  And all in all was a bigger pain then I think it
could have been.  In retrospect, I think it was a bit of an over-reaction on
my part to look for something so industrial strength to prevent stains and
stuff.  Now we are going to refinish our wood floors downstairs and I will
probably not go to such lengths.  Let me know how your project turns out.
Hey, isn't BIG a weekend wood worker?  I thought he mentioned that one time.
Charlene
 
[Moderator's note: Not a weekend wood worker, but perhaps knowledgeable
nonetheless.  Polyurethane *extremely* durable.  You don't need the marine
stuff for indoors - the main difference is that the marine ("spar") finish
has UV inhibtors so it stands up to the sun.
 
So, as far as the stuff goes, you can get water based or the regular oil
based.  Water based with an added hardener is also extremely durable and
will not darken the wood much.  It also is environmentally friendly and
dries very quickly.  The oil based is less expensive and darkens the wood -
it brings out the features and leaves a more golden glow.  Either will
withstand water (or worse) very well.
 
Buy a good one.  The cheap stuff tends to yellow and takes forever to dry.
I would recommend the water base with hardener.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1454]