Do be careful with toilet paper and paper towel rolls; although it is
rare I'd estimate that through the life of the FML (around 16 years
now?) there have been something like 3 or 4 separate mentions of ferrets
getting these stuck and then going into a panic with running, resulting
is fatal neck injuries.  I'd guess that a lot more have been through this
without injury but apparently it can happen in the wrong circumstances.
Rare, but possible is the upshot.  We rip the rolls; the time invested to
do so is so minor.
 
Mark, we had a different problem: the fake fleece and fake fur can cause
"fur" balls in the stomach.  One of our's had two or three removed one
time which turned out to have very little real fur content.  He was a bed
snacker: someone who loved to take food into hammocks and lined bags to
eat there.  The upshot was that we sewed sheeting over all fake fur and
fake fleece in bedding.  That has been a win.  Not only did it help
protect them from this medical problem, but the bedding cleans up much
easier and it lasts longer, while still being very padded.  Now, I know
that I have only read of a few whose fur balls have been checked and
found to be bedding material (Some people did so after our situation and
at least one had a vet check them independently.) and even though the
time needed to do the sewing is large we know the pain and the expense
(about $1,000) from our experience so I am doing it even though such
blockage origins might not be common (unknown).  (We all weigh things
and make choices in this life...)
 
>It seems fairly clear that the general opinion is...
 
Well, it's pretty hard to derive general opinion from the offered
comments of a half dozen to a dozen people when about 2,900 have been
mum...
 
You know the drill: find what is a hypothesis and what isn't and then
make your choices because folks get really confused and sometimes hurt if
they assume that something is a known fact when it isn't.  Knowing that
something might not pan out helps avoid that discomfort.  That isn't a
problem when something turns out to be right, but it has when hypotheses
have failed when tested.
 
Even excellent seeming hypotheses from people who are exceedingly
experienced and credentialed experts don't always bear out on testing.
One example (and only one of many) was the hypothesis that blood tests
might diagnose lymphoma/lymphosarcoma.  The originator did NOT present
it like it was a done deal, but she is such a highly respected ferret
veterinary expert that some others did ASSUME that the hypothesis should
be treated as fact.  When it did not pan out on testing the originator
was frank about that, but there are still those to this day who think
that blood tests are diagnostic for lympho in ferrets when they are not
and that can lead to ferrets who instead have systemic infections being
given medications that impair the immune system -- so worsening things.
 
Another (of many hypotheses that are or have been in question or have
been disproven due to later information through the years) is that it
pays to give antacids to ferrets with ulcers.  From trying it some vets
have found that can backfire at times, so Carafate seems to now be one of
the preferred approaches because it bandages instead and therefore allows
healing.  The WHY and WHEN and WHO the backfires can involve remain
unknown.  One thought (hypothesis) is that the stomach responds with
higher levels of acid, and another (hypothesis) is that if the infection
is caused by a bacterium which can shield itself from stomach acid (and
there IS study-proven understanding of how the human form of helicobacter
does this by making ammonia from stomach contents though it's not known
if the ferret form does the same trick, while it is known that H.
mustelae does tend to set up shop usually in the least acidic stomach
region) then reducing the acidity of the stomach may actually make the
stomach a better place for bacteria to populate.
 
So, unless there are careful studies and unless you see firm proof of
things like mechanisms, longevity changes, health improvements, etc.
just do remember to separate hypotheses from facts, because that way if
a hypothesis does not pan out you will be more prepared to respond
constructively and without pain to the new information.  We ALL have
hypotheses we follow; just don't confuse them with facts.
[Posted in FML issue 3941]