>A friend of mine who is 3 months pregnant, owns a 4 year old female ferret.
>I would like to know if anyone knows of any special considerations a
>pregnant woman must be aware of in relation to having a ferret.  How about
>ferrets and newborns???
 
Since I just did this (my daughter was born October 19th) I guess I'm
qualified to answer.  :)
 
Although cases of toxoplasmosis gotten from ferrets are very, very rare,
it's better to be safe than sorry.  Either have the father/significant other
clean the litter box or she should do it with gloves and a mask and wash
thoroughly afterwards.  No real medical problems other than that.  I did
have one of our ferrets decide to take a dislike to me and start biting me
whenever she got the chance while I was pregnant.  Also, if I can to catch a
bouncing, running ferret, leaning over a beach ball of a tummy made it
rather difficult.  :)
 
With newborns, it will depend somewhat on the temperment of the ferret.
None of our ferrets are allowed anywhere near Katrina without extremely
close and strict supervision.  Gretchen and Tia are allowed to be on the bed
with her (when I'm there, of course) and sniff her a bit as long as they
don't get near her face.  The other four, who all have biting histories, are
not allowed anywhere near her unless Kirk is holding them with both hands
off the bed, and then they're just allowed to sniff a foot.
 
Hope that helps.
 
Michelle
Flutist
 
--
Meet my pets.  The ferrets (Taz, Coffee, Daphne, Tia, Gretchen, and
Beelzebub), the gerbils (26 of them), the rats (five of them), the budgies
(Sky and Cindy), the cockatiels (Snow and Spice), and the fish (various).
RIP Honey, Summer, Grendel, Peggie, Timmy, Racer, Sue, and Perrin.
[Posted in FML issue 1858]