I am afraid that my computer has become so sllooowww on-line that I have
to read and erase quickly.  But Sandy wrote of the danger of racoons.
The good news and the Maybe bad:
 
The good news:
I do not let the ferrets on the porch or let them near the porch when they
are outside.Nor do they eat grass.
 
The Maybe bad news in the eyes of some:
 
Every day that it is not too hot or rainy, and there is still some light,
I take a ferret outside and let him walk, run, and sniff in the fields and
woods.  In the summer, I can get two of them out each night: one at a time.
They may get ticks, worms, fleas, or God knows what else.  My ferrets get
to go to the pet store also, where they Have picked up fleas.  They take
Ivomec and have had their rabies and distemper shots.  But still.... They
may get sick or die from something related to me bringing them outside.
 
I have been feeding feral cats, oppossum, racoons, skunks, fox, coyotee:
whatever needs food on my porch.  I have a home I built here also, on the
porch, for anyone cold or wet.  I leave 5 pounds to 10 pounds of food out
a night.  I leave 20 pounds of corn every night in the field.  I probably
have all sorts of hideous things I could be carrying on the bottom of my
shoes.
 
I capture about 5 feral cats a year, and my retired neighbor takes them in
for "de-sexing" and shots.  If they are kittens, we try to find them a
home.  Otherwise, we release them.  I cannot imagine what they might carry.
 
I think that animals eat each other on the porch.  I find little bones
sometimes--when I have not left a whole chicken out for the critters.  My
ferrets would not make it alive for a night out here, I would guess.
 
I keep a feral cat during the day.  He is on the chair sleeping here now.
He must go out at night, and is often gone for several days.  He will sit
on the porch with the skunks and the others.  He could be killed by a fox
or a coyote at any time.
 
Tried drugs to keep cat from wanting out, as perscribed by different vets,
and was destroying his liver-another vet told us.  So no more drugs.
 
Just the way it is here.  I occasionally see stumbling wild animals here in
broad daylight that probably have rabies.  Houses, reastaurants, nursing
home, condos been going up the last 2 years.  The acres of land all around
here have dwindled and disappeared.  Don't ask anyone else to feed off
their porch.
 
But if you do--I leave flea powder on the rugs the animals sit on, clean
the food and water bowls out with gloves on and disinfectant, scrub down
the porch with bleach and water, throw the house for any cold or wet
animals away twice a year, as I don't know what all is in there in terms
of bugs.  And the ferrets are not ever allowed on the porch.
 
I don't just take care of my isolated family.  We are all members of Gods'
family.  And there are many in need.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 3495]