I almost had a heart attack when I looked in Joopie's small cage
(where he has been banished by himself until he *remembers* how to use a
litterbox again) last night.  After two days of me (lazily) not scooping
the litter, there were only two little rabbit pellet sized poops in
there.  But the food dish was almost completely empty and Joop was
bouncing off the bars trying to get out and play with his buddies.
 
xxx I had an inkling that he might have a blockage, or rather a partial
blockage and visions of large sums of money floated through my head.  I
gave Joop the evil eye and asked him what he had been eating that he
shouldn't.  He smiled back and said innocently "Nothing mum", but I
thought he was lying.
 
    So I took his food away and gave him a teaspoon of mineral oil and
sent him to bed.  When I got up this morning there was nothing but a
teensy weensy little oily looking mass in the litter.  Off to the phone I
trundled, dialled the veterinarian...  "Is he active?" he asked.  (yes)
"Is he drinking?" (yup) "Does he still want to eat?" (everything in sight,
uh hum) "Has he been sick lately?" (well there was that bout of rather
gross diarrhoea about two weeks ago.  But he's been fine until now.)
 
    The long and short of it is that my vet suspected a stomach irritation
and reccomended Kaopectate (sp?) three times a day until normal stool is
acheived.  Tah Dah!  After the first dose, Joopie gave mama something in
the litterbox to be proud of.  What a good boy :)
 
    My newest question....are there any breeders in Washingtom State (say
Seattle or thereabouts) who breed Panda or Badger ferrets and will have
any ready at about the mid - end of August?  Or this weekend, whichever is
better for the breeder :) I have been searching desperately for a male kit
of this nature here in BC for the last year and nothing has turned up.  By
fluke, the woman who runs our rescue operation located a beautiful panada
at the SPCA but she kept him herself ( :P to you Tracey) (*grin*).
Rescued Pandas are fine too, although I kinda have my heart set on a
kit....
 
    Also...what are the statistics on ECE in Washington State???  I know
it to be virtually non existant here in BC and I would *hate* to be
responsible for importing it.  What are my chances of buying a baby with
this problem lurking in it's system?  Is there any way to have it screened
before I buy it???
 
    All feedback is appreciated :)  I'll be haunting my e-mail
(P.S.  no picture of BooBoo & the ferret frolic in the paper yet....I'll
keep looking....)
--
BooBoo *give.me.that.fuzzy.mouse.NOW. I've-asked-you-nicely-lotsa-times-already*
Joop *oh look!  mum cleaned the toliet facilities recently*
(me) "JOOP! not on the FLOOR!!!*
Ashley *I wanna join that Hairclub-For-Ferrets thing...*
the ancient Fang*(if I bite her on the ankle she's _bound_ to drop the raisins)*
Chloe and Shadow (in the halfway house) *we hate this crazy house! we want out!*
Ferrets And Friends Club And Rescue e-mail : [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1265]