In a message dated 96-12-30 02:04:55 EST, you write:
>Itchy, itchy Frettchen that is bathed frequently and scratches a lot.
 
To begin with, most ferrets scratch a lot (?) normally.  First of all,
ensure absolutely no fleas or other external parasites.  Second, ensure your
Frettchen is getting some clean and blanched beef or chicken fat or
Ferretone in her daily diet.  Also offer some avacado after you've had it in
your mouth and have juiced it up a bit saliva-wise.  Cast it out in the palm
of you hand and let her try it while you are holding her lovingly,
preferably when she's really hungry.  Thirdly, change the bath water from
water to clean dirt and let her dig, dig, and dig for a couple of hours,
such as we do here at Ferrets NorthWest.  Several benefits: they wear down
their claws so you need not trim them ever; they quickly develop neck,
shoulder and chest muscles we didn't even know they had; they lose the fat
around their dorsal abdomen; and, boy, let me tell you, they really seem to
enjoy themselves
 
After 2 or 3 hours of digging, even with the big 2 to 5 year old, 4 lb
intact males, you pick them up and deeply inhale with your nose pressed into
their butt fur and they smell so clean and fresh, just like the mother
earth, oh yeah.
 
Here at FNW (Mercer Island, WA) when the earth is dry ,in the summer, none
of our 25 to 45 ferrets in the shelter are ever water bathed, with the
exception of the times when they bathe in the muddy water, on their own
choice, after the digging grounds are watered at ground temps of 75 degrees
F.  or above.  Othertimes, when the rain in Spain falls mainly on Seattle
(just across Lake Washington from Mercer Island), then we'll provide the
Frettchen with indoor pools of water into which they dive to retrieve
finger-flattened raisins off the bottom of the white pool buckets.  Several
old and worn beach towels are cast into the far corners into which the wet
Frettchens rub themselves dry while at the same time bouncing around on
rubber legs in what we call Frettchenlustbarkeittanzen, or ferret frolicking
dancing.
 
I hope this helps you help your kleine Frettchen & give her a little
hug for me.
 
                          Frettchenvenvergnuegen !
                          Edward   Lipinski
                          [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1805]