Q: "How can my blind ferret find the waterbottle?  When I move it, she
    still finds it. I know she can't see it."
 
A: You move the bottle around?  You don't, like, also make funny faces
thinking she can't see them, do you?
 
Well I don't know for sure, but I think ferrets can smell water.  That
is, to a ferret, water has an actual smell.  We humans do not have the
receptors on our olfactory nerves to smell water (if you think you CAN
smell water, you would be some sort of olfactory mutant.  When people think
they are smelling water, they are actually smelling minerals and other
stuff, not the water itself).  Many mammals can actually smell water as a
specific identifible smell, including horses, pigs and dogs.  I have no
doubt that ferrets also have that ability, but I cannot cite a particular
reference to prove it.
 
When Foster went blind, he could not only find each of the water bottles
in the room, but also the ice dish and the swimming pool.  Not a problem.
And if you watched carefully, you could see that he was following his nose
to the source.  I have recently noticed a similar ability in Fraggle, who
when adopted had only one eye, and who lost her vision in the other one
last year.  With Fraggle it is more obvious.  She will move forward, stop,
sniff, adjust her heading, move, sniff, and adjust until she finds her
water bottle.  I also put out water dishes, but never put them in the same
place twice, and she sniffs them out as well.  I am pretty sure the ferrets
are actually smelling water.
 
Q: "I've noticed my ferrets drink more from dishes than from bottles....
    do you know why?"
 
A: Yes, but if I told you I would have whack you.
 
I've noticed a similar phenonmenon, but I don't know exactly why.  It could
be that lapping up water from a dish is "more natural" to the ferret than
licking a metal ball at the end of a bottle.  However, I think it has
more to do with taste and/or smell.  Most water bottles are not regularly
cleaned (just refilled) and it is possible they pick up tastes and odors
over time which may be objectionable to ferrets.  At least I have found
that to be the case in my plastic canteens.  Or the metal tube and ball may
be imparting a taste to the water.  The ferrets may simply be selecting
water which smells or tastes better to them and drinking more of it,
although both sources may be absolutely safe to drink.
 
It may also be that gasses contained in water escape better from open
dishes compared to water bottles.  You know, like when a cola drink goes
flat in a glass, but keeps it's fizz longer when in a bottle.  I hate city
water because it simply tastes bad to me, although I intellectually know
it is probably better for me than some of the bottled waters I consume
(especially those with cola and sugar "contaminants").  Since I know the
ferret has a sense of smell maybe a 1000 times better than mine, and that
the sense of smell is a major portion of taste, I assume (and fairly, I
think) that the ferret's sense of taste would be better than mine as well.
 
So, I think it would be a safe bet to assume that a ferret would drink more
water if they liked the smell and taste than if they didn't like them.  I
also think a ferret will drink enough to stay properly hydrated, so even
though they might be drinking less from a water bottle, they are still
drinking enough.  But if it bothers you, try replacing the water bottle
with a new one, or try cleaning the older one.  I use 3 bottles for each
place; I remove the used bottle nightly (replacing it with a fresh one) and
run it through the dish washer.  I let the cleaned water bottle "outgas"
for at least one day before reusing it.  Personally, I *DON'T* recommend
just offering water in a dish because ferrets drop stuff in it, spill it,
and otherwise dirty it.  So offer them both a bottle and a dish, and they
can drink where they want to.
 
Bob C and 19 MO' Waterpups
[Posted in FML issue 2880]