Hi all - it's been a while since I've written.  I've wanted to send in an
update for several weeks, but just haven't gotten around to it.  Ferret math
(sorta planned) struck our household in mid-December.  We finally found a
really good playmate for Odin - one who Thor has even accepted (after a few
dominance attacks, which luckily didn't intimidate the new guy too badly!).
Probably no surprise to anyone that we named him Loki :^) (I had my
reservations, knowing that ferrets live up to their names, but I got
overruled!  :^) Interestingly enough, in a crossword puzzle a few weeks
after we named him was the clue "Odin's adopted brother" - and the answer
was Loki!  How perfect!)
 
Odin and Loki get along GREAT!  They play together every chance they get -
wrestling and chasing each other and playing "patty cake" (what I call it
when the ferrets are on their back, pawing at each other!).  I am really
happy about this - Odin has wanted a true playmate ever since we got him in
March.  Thor is a companion, but doesn't play like Odin likes to play.  It's
such a joy to me to watch Odin and Loki now, hear them chuckling away, and
then have them curl up on me, worn out from playing so hard.  And Thor's
doing well too - I'll send a separate update on his eye(s).
 
I do have a slight concern about Odin.  Starting about a month before we got
Loki, Odin was having intermittent boughts of diarrhea, and some nasty
poops.  He'd also strain and strain sometimes, with nothing or only a dot or
so coming out.  We started him on a bit more Petromalt (which he gets as a
treat anyway), but that didn't seem to do anything.  He'd have some normal
poops, and he was eating and drinking normally, so I didn't suspect a
blockage.  The vet said that it sounded like Claustridium (a bacteria), but
the stain was negative.  We tried a couple things, including changing food
away from Totally Ferret (thinking maybe it might be too rich for him),
which had no effect.  She decided to try him on the meds for Claustridia
anyway.  That seemed to help for a bit (finally, after a week+ of
treatment), but now it's happening again (2 months later).
 
Everything else is normal - eating and drinking just fine, he had lost a
little bit of weight, but as of today has put some of that back on - he's
acting normal, etc.  It's definitely intermittent - he can go a couple days
with everything normal, then have one or two "bad" days, or even just one
bad episode during a day.
 
Neither of the other ferrets have exhibited this problem (and Odin had it
before Loki came along).  I'm not sure if I need to be really aggressive
about trying to track this down.  BTW, all three are fed a mix of Totally
Ferret and Excel kitten food.
 
Does this sound familiar to anyone??  What else should I/we be doing to try
and track this down??
 
Thanks!
 
Amy (and the butt bros - Odin, Thor, & Loki)
 
------------
Amy Goldman                      Voice: 617-663-4427
BGS Systems                      Fax:   617-663-4904
1 First Avenue
Waltham, MA 02254-9111
[Posted in FML issue 1816]