About the badger mistake, here is one for you (and one that Bill will
enjoy, since he knows and indeed recommended the vet involved).
[Moderator's note: I think you mean Bill Killian... though I have met and
recommended the vet as well, I don't think I was involved here.  BIG]
 
It was this past Christmas and our first visit to Dr. Kawasaki, recommended
to us by Bill, and since we didn't know yet how long a drive it would be,
we were early that morning and they had barely opened the clinic.  The
doctors had not arrived yet.
 
One of the fuzzies we brought along for a visit was Cronan, a beautiful lug
of a fairly big and very gentle and mischievous ferret, silver-mitt with a
gorgeous blaze (I have heard that blazes are sometimes prone to blindness,
but in Cronan's case he is blessed with great eyesight, hearing, sense of
smell and physical strength).  He was restless and excited while we waited,
so I took him out to relieve himself and then had him inside with a lead.
 
Suddenly we were accosted by this gentle and mild-mannered middle aged
Caucasian man who looked at Cronan and excitedly asked, "What do we have
here?  A badger?"  My initial impression that this nice gentleman might be
one of the janitors was reinforced by the fact that he obviously didn't
have a clue as to what ferrets looked like.  "No, he's actually a
*ferret*," replied I, not consciously meaning to sound patronizing but
realizing that I did the moment the words left my mouth, even as I
realized that there was a slight hint of an "And-who-are-you,-oh-wretched
one,-who-cannot-even-tell-what-a-ferret-looks-like?" attitude in my tone,
again, not consciously intended.
 
Well, I had my answer soon enough.  The gentle, lovely man was no other
than Dr. Kawasaki, the international authority on ferrets!  I was a bit
shell-shocked throughout the rest of the visit because the name "Kawasaki"
had led me to expect him to look in a way that the good vet was not.  Beth
also was a bit surprised.
 
As for him apparently mistaking Cronan for a badger, well... I have
never seen a life badger (the closest I've come have been the lovable
illustrations in _The Wind and the Willows_).  I'm told that they are
blazed and that they are related to ferrets.  Also, Cronan is a fairly
*large* ferret.  It is quite possible that all of this might have caused
good Dr Kawasaki to mistake him for a badger.  On the other hand, it just
occurred to me today after reading the FML that maybe he meant a
badger-like blazed ferret, in which case the joke is on me.
 
Badgers aside, I heartily recommend Dr. Kawasaki for anyone in his area.
He is fantastic, conscientious, caring, and thoroughly knowledgeable.
 
Hmmmm, cats fancying themselves ferrets... In fact, Beth pointed out to me
that our kitten Timur apparently thought that he was a ferret, and very
much for the same reasons you mentioned Melissa (excepting, regrettably,
the war-dancing).  The other two cats in the household don't go to that
extreme, but they watch in fascination the ferrets as they play, and the
one who is still a kitten also loves to play along.  The older, more
respectable fart does so also, on occasion.  The fact that some of the
older and less rambunctious ferrets tend to ignore them as they save their
energies for the important business of playing with one another might also
aid in making them want to belong to the eminently elitist ferret coolness
club.
 
This is rapidly leading me to believe that cats apparently consider as the
ultimate in "totally cool" (maybe the cat in "Red Dwarf" should have really
been a ferret...).  It would then follow that young, child and teenage cats
who are still trying to reach a sense of identity would naturally consider
these totally cool ferrets as their adult role models.
 
As for wood stove pellets, I just switched last weekend.  I was concerned
that one or more of our fuzzies might try to eat the durned things, but
they are working out allright, and they are cheap.  One initially
noticeable difference is that the composite smell of compressed sawdust and
ferret discharges is quite different, and slightly more pungent than that
given up by clay.  I don't mind it, but then I don't feel I'm home unless
I'm smelling my fuzzies.
 
Finally, on the issue of colds and flu, both Dr Kawasaki in VA and Dr Gay
Chamberlain in Kingston, ON (the local Kingston ferret-vet of choice as
far as I'm concerned) usually prescribe a suspension of amoxicillin, not
because it can do much against the flu virus, but to keep them form
catching something else.  And it works quite well in my experience.
To relieve cold/flu symptoms, Dr Kawasaki was agreeable to our using
Children's *Alcohol-free* Benadryl Allergy fluid.  It works fine, but our
fuzzies adore it and consider it a treat, so we have to be careful to stick
to the recommended dosage (1/2 cc twice a day for male adult ferrets, 1/4
cc twice a day for female adult or kits).
 
Cheers,
 
Jaime
[Posted in FML issue 2952]