"Ilena E. Ayala" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Subject: shed study-bat virus
>
>>The standard quarantine would work for ferrets, but they want to test a
>>series of BAT rabies viruses, which have not been tested on domestic
>> pets before.
 
>Am I reading this right?  Are you saying they won't OK the quarantine yet
>on account of a test that they HAVEN'T done for dogs and cats yet?
 
It looks like you are.  What can we do, as a group, to verify that this
testing HAS been done, and completed, for ferrets?  If the skunk and raccoon
tests have been done, and bat tests HAVEN'T been done on cats or dogs, then
it is time for us to demand a change in quarantine procedures, nationwide.
If bat tests HAVE been done on cats and dogs, we'll have to wait awhile
longer.
 
I know bat-spread rabies is the major rabies concern in Utah, (I was heavily
involved in legalization there before I moved to CA) but I don't feel we
should wait for those tests, if dogs and cats haven't had the studies done
already.  (It's not as if our ferrets are going to be meeting a lot of bats,
after all..)
 
People, what do you think?
 
>From:    Bill Pelfrey <[log in to unmask]>
>1. I know ferrets travel well and like to travel, but I was wondering how
>do most people travel with them?
 
I built a custom travel cage for my two, since I have to be a little
circumspect, here in Califurnia.  I took a good gym bag and made a PVC frame
inside it (I could stand on the bag without crushing it now), added a
litterbox and cut out one side panel so there's a large mesh opening,
instead of being all closed up.
 
Mink, the ferret I raised from a kit, knows it's her bag, and when I used to
live in ferret friendly states, and would take them to the park, I could put
down the bag and carry her across the park, set her down with her harness
and jog with her back to the bag - she knew it was her bag.  :)
 
>2. I live and work on a college campus, and as most other campuses we are
>overrun with squirrels.  ... but I was afraid that there could be disease
>problems.
 
There is always a possibility of a squirrel passing fleas or some such to a
ferret (more of a worry in areas like Utah, where Bubonic Plague is often
found in rodents, up in the mountains), but I wouldn't worry too much - I
would assume that most squirrels would hightail it away as soon as they
smelled a ferret - mustelids and rodents don't get along very well, most of
the time.
 
>From:    Karen Daigneault <[log in to unmask]>
>Today Mommy get home from work and decided to take me along with the lil'
>dogs on a "walk".  It wasn't until we got halfway round the block that Moms
>realized that I wasn't squirmin' cause I was scared....see, I had just woked
>up and didn't get a chance to go potty....
 
Gotta be careful with that!  I brought one of my pair in to work one day,
and because people were too eager to hold her, she never got a chance to use
her litterbox - as my boss found out to his detriment, and my embarassment.
(eep!) :)
 
--
Matt Ouimette, Tech Support Weasel, Netscape Communications Corporation
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   #  It may be great to soar with the eagles, but you never see  #
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[Posted in FML issue 1935]