(This is Susie Lee writing )
 
George Washington Ferret is doing fairly well, eating his special-diet
stuff and drinking, but just to be sure he's getting "enough" I have
made some plain soupy stuff of this low-pH kibble with a jot of
ferretvite and a splatter of ferretone in it only For Georgie and am
feeding him some on my every-four-hour feedings-list-of feeders.  He's
slowly gaining strength but I don't think he'll stand up to Kyle
CinnamonCoat's all-body-tackles any more, plus, Kyle Ferret never was a
"junk-food" eater when they were out playing, he'd zoom-zoom-zoom and
Georgie'd sit and gnosh at the cats' junk-food bowls.
 
The stones from Georgie were'nt cystine, according to his vet, who
checked them under the scope right at the animal hospital and ran
several tests while he was there overnight, before.
 
They were tiny bladder stones.  Searching for culprits, we realized
that Georgie was one of the out-to-play ferrets who spent most of his
playtimes munching at the "junk food"...the cat's' el-cheapo store-bought
food that we'd decided to allow our 7 cats to go through for just a
while, while we're getting our budget under balance (donated by the
Emerald Coast Greyhound Rescue).  And, also, confirming our suspicions
as to this "culprit" of cat-junk-food is this quote taken from a pet
nutrition site...
 
(quote) "Urinary tract disease is directly related to diet in both
cats and dogs.  Plugs, crystals, and stones in cat bladders are often
triggered or aggravated by commercial pet food formulas.  One type of
stone found in cats is less common now, but another more dangerous type
has become more common.  Manipulation of manufactured cat food formulas
to alter the acidity of urine and the amount of some minerals has
directly affected these diseases.  Dogs also form stones as a result of
their diet."
 
 ...so our immediate solution is to remove all traces of the cats'
"junky" food and give them each some of the same "cat-UTI-low-ph" special
stuff and we'll switch them all back eventually to a we-buy-it higher
quality stuff that's not QUITE so "junky" for the ferrets to steal some
of when they're out and about.
 
Now the junk-food will be set out at the wild-animal feeding station that
Wes stops by twice a week, or also some of it will go to the seagulls,
crows and ravens, because it seems that junky cat food is not for ferrets
in any way, and not even for cats!  It's for the birds!  :)
[Posted in FML issue 4789]