For something out of the norm like that it would likely pay to check
beforehand with the ASPCA literature and perhaps also poisoning experts
(if the lit doesn't cover it) at
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=apcc
 
BTW, you can always easily find such resources by using the Crit. Refs.
portion of
http://www.ferretcongress.org
which is an excellent addy to have in anyone's bookmarks bar since it
is so useful so very often.
 
You didn't mention this ingredient, but with ferrets avoid pyrthrins
like the plague; there have been some poisonings.  Natural doesn't
translate to safe.  Sometimes it is and sometimes not (says she who
had a hemlock relative pop up in her home outdoor flower pots with
the very wet weather in our swampy area).
 
>We started as a simple group that organized to help one another.
 
Partly, yes.
 
We also started to get away from a persistent harasser.
 
Going back to the early 80s I guess it was when the ferret posts began
we started with rec.pets, then more companies, university labs, and such
had people on-line so there was rec.pets.alt, then rec.pets.alt.ferrets.
There wound up being someone who would flood us with posts about
butchering and eating ferrets, esp.  faked up recipes.  He probably
thought he was being cute but was very warped.  Often there were more of
his posts than others.  So, Chris Lewis began to talk with those of us
who were there then (I guess maybe about ten to a dozen people all told)
and Chris began the FML in 1987.  That killed the rec.pets.alt.ferrets
group.  It was many years before someone began a second
rec.pets.alt.ferrets at that addy, and I heard, but have not verified,
that the second one failed only to have a third start up a while later.
 
You can get a copy of the first FML by writing to
[log in to unmask] using the command SEND FERRET 1.
 
Bill, who has been the FML moderator for a very long time now was doing
things to help people even before he became moderator.  He worked up the
first automated (somewhat automated?) anonymous address-hider to protect
those in FFZs, of which there were a huge number more before the mid to
late 90s.
 
We were all so incredibly naive back then... Didn't have the chance to
read a lot to avoid bad problems beforehand because the resources just
didn't exist, except for some very basic things.
 
Among the notes of congratulation on Hilbert's successful treatment were
some asking about my feet and ankles.  I have only good things to report
on that score so anyone who hates me can stop reading now ( ;-)  LOL!) .
 
Okay, first off, my hands have not changed so now everyone thinks it is
NOT MS.  Whew!  Secondly, I am continuing to do better with PT than had
been expected and while I certainly have some mobility limitations and
pain I do not hurt anywhere like I did, and I have even recently been
practicing on uneven surfaces (like lawns) and on hills.  I can even
walk the sides of some short and steep grassy berms here now which is
incredible, way beyond expectations but essential for my quality of life
in this area.  Granted I weave and toddle doing so, and have had people
think that I am on a continuing drunk and that I am exercising an
obsession for babystepping up and down the berms, but the heck with them.
I am actually doing it, and that is what matters.  My suspicion is that
at the end of this third month-long set of PT appointments that I will be
able to continue the work at home without appointment.  That will depend
on what the orthopedic expert thinks and if I no longer have signs which
indicated needed further hands-on help.  I almost never need a cane
anymore, usually just the braces, though I take the cane for things like
going to the movies because waiting on a line is unfortunately very
painful.  That's it.
[Posted in FML issue 4549]