After reading of little Pippin Ferret's warming solutions, we thought
we'd share an other one which we've been doing for our Felicia My-Dear
Ferrette, who has both adenal cancer symptoms as well as having been
diagnosed with insulinoma about four months ago by her veterinarian.
 
Felicia began getting cool-bodied about three months ago and her former
cage-mates, Simone So-Lovely and Lady CokeLeSweet, were each less willing
to help her get warm than their former habits had been, curling their
furry selves around one another and leaving Felicia to shiver.  Since
Felicia was nearly 10 years old (she is, now that it's January, 2004) and
pooping anywhere she happened to be, plus needing to be hand-fed for her
insulinoma and, apparently, forgetting where in the cage was the food, we
moved her into a smaller single-ferret cage, actually the size of a large
small-bird cage (which would be fit for a pair of lorikeets or
cockatiels) of her own and I had two old-fashioned electric heating pads
which fit on most of the bottom of the cage (which I could interchange
in the event one needed to be washed and dried).  This was covered with
several layers of soft cottony material (mostly old T-shirts) and then
some nice smooth linen of an old pillowcase (because we noticed long ago
that most linens don't get caught on most ferret's nails.).  Inserted and
tied down a small food dish for those occasions when she would look for
a snack, and a water-bottle for the same if she were thirsty in between
her every-four-hour feedings, and a pair of her favorite sorts of sleep
sacks.
 
When the heating pad was turned on to it's lowest setting, it would take
a little while, some ten minutes or so to get going, but after a bit the
entire bedding area was a just-nice and gently warm, so that at least
Felicia has never been shivvery again.  Sure I have to change her bedding
a lot, often nearly every feeding if she doesn't poop on the soft paper
towels she is fed over while eating...some days we get all of it on the
paper towels, other days not, so we give a warm-water and baby-bath
wipe-down and put her A& D ointment on her sensitive areas (which has
totally eradicated the bit of rash she'd developed from the routine
incontinence plus her more recent "bicycle-pedaling" that she does a
lot of, now).
 
With many thanks to all the folks who have sent hammie And sleep-sacks
to us over the X-mas holidays, of which two to three per day are given,
changed out and washed for Felicia Ferrette alone, plus a stack of
already-been donated big soft cottony t-shirts and big pillowcases, we
have plenty to be able to change and keep little Felicia Ferrette clean,
warm and comfortable for so long as she wants to stick around.
 
Well, the thing about warming any ferret is, each ferret's human parent
has to consider what's practical for their charge.  I think that it's
probable that a warming-pad like this would not be practical for a more
active and alert ferret such as Pippin, where, for an elderly, much less
active, and now sedentary ferret like Felicia, it's come to be just
right.  Anyway, just thought it'd be nice to share this while I have a
moment between care-rounds...sometime another among you may have occasion
to recall this for an elderly, less active ferret of yours, too.
 
 :)
Susie Lee of the Ferret & Dove Sanctuary, Inc. ...see us here...
http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/ferret_rescuer/index.html
[Posted in FML issue 4391]