To Pam Greene concerning fleas -
 
        You need to exercise a lot of caution when using flea shampoos on your
ferrets.  Make sure that the shampoo is pyrethrin-based, not an organophosphate
or carbamate.  Check with your vet to see if it is safe for young kittens - if
so, then it is probably safe for ferrets.  make sure to follow the directions on
the bottle very carefully.
        Keeping your ferrets in the cage probably won't keep the fleas out of
the carpets unless they are in a distant part of the house.  You can use a
premise spray around the cage, but often, the house requires bombing, too.  Get
a bomb from your vet which contains methoprene (a flea growth regulator).  This
will allow you to complete the job in just two applications - one to kill the
adults and larva, the second two weeks later to get the ones that have hatched
out since the first spray. (Make sure of course to remove your ferrets from the
house at the time of the bombing...)
        Fleas can be a real nuisance - before you bomb, make sure to wash all of
their bombing and vacuum carefully so you only have to do it twice....
 
 
 
Bruce Williams, DVM
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[Posted in FML issue 0627]