My husband introduced us ages ago, but I'll do it again.  Ron and I have 4
ferrets (Totoro, Neko, Akira, and Judy), 3 cats (Kamaria, Frigate, and
Mesu), one iguana (DOLOOP:), and one human rug rat on the way (Robin
Thomas).
 
My possible problem is this, about a week ago Judy, who is about 3yrs old,
possibly going on 4 (we didn't get her as a kit), started coughing.  Not
the usual sneezes and occasional coughing like the others do, but a serious
hack.  Her who body kind of spasms as she coughs.  Ron felt her tummy while
she was coughing at one point, and he said it felt somewhat hard, but so
did Totoro's, and he has been fine.  Judy seems fine once she's done (each
bout of coughing lasts a minute or two at most), but is pretty unhappy
during, letting me hold her, which she dosen't normally do.  Could this be
hairballs?  Something worse?  She seems fine other than the hacking.
Should I get her to the vet?
 
On a less worrisome note, our neutered male cat, Frigate, has recently
decided that Neko the ferret is pretty neat.  Several times we've caught
him hauling Neko around by her scruff, just like a big wild cat with a
kill.  Neko dosen't seem to be at all bothered by this, and he's not
drawing blood, so we haven't intervened.  Until yesterday, that is, Frigate
realized that Ron was watching him, stopped, felt Neko with a paw, then
started stepping on her, so Ron interrupted.  Neko was fine.  Has anyone
else ever seen anything else like this?  If Frigate was a full female, I
would guess he wanted a kitten, but that seems highly unlikely.  He plays
with all the ferrets, but only picks out Neko for this special attention.
 
Another idea for biting that nobody else has mentioned.  This one I learned
from Ron, who has been using it on dogs for years.  When a ferret bites
unacceptably hard or without good reason, we bite back.  Yes, it sounds
blech, and you have to have a tolerance for fur to do it.  We usually get
the scruff.  Ron occasionally proves he has a bigger mouth than Akira by
putting Ak's whole head in his mouth.  Biting back seems to impress them,
and you have to bite a LOT harder than I would have believed before they
even squeak.
 
Well this has gotten longer than I meant.  Thanks in advance for replies.
 
Ron, Liana, and all the assorted rug rats.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0565]