Hi to everyone and their wonderful fuzzies!!!
 
First off I would like to mention a little about the five rescues we have
gotten in the past two weeks or so and then I will ask my questions about
the wood pellets as litter.
 
Lucy is a 6 yr. old chocolate sable who was raised as a "only child" for
her 6 yrs. of life.  She is very petite and very sweet.  She has decided
that she hates any and all ferrets!  She has a clean bill of health from
our vet so all is well in that department.  (How am I going to coax her
into loving the ferrets that already seem to love her?) She was given up
to the shelter because her owner was now almost 16 and is busy doing the
"teen thing" and didn't have time for Lucy anymore so the girls parents
gave me a call.
 
Slash & Mouse are both about 12-18 months old.  Both of these guys are real
hams!  Their owners had just split up and the lady couldn't afford them
anymore on her own so she gave them up to our shelter.  Slash is a 3 lb
blaze with such a "sexy" little face.  Mouse is a stocky 3 lb silver with
paws the size of king kong.  (I swear I would almost think that this guys
father was a ferret and his mother was a rat or something) (LOL).  They
have a clean bill of health also and are ever so sweet little guys.
 
Smoky & Bear are both around 3 yrs.  old and are very healthy and sweet.
Smoky is a 4 lb cinnamon sable and Bear is a whooping 6 lb black sable.
Bear is HUGE!  The man had an ad and was trying to sell them for $150,
but he then turned them over to our shelter.  The guy said that Bear had
already lost some of his winter weight and that he was somewhat heavier in
the winter.  WOW!  I'd love to get a look at him come winter time.  These
guys are really "people" friendly and love to be held.  They were well
taken care of from what I have seen.
 
First question is pertaining to Bear.... I know I have already stated that
they were healthy and got a clean bill of health from my vet but, yesterday
Bear threw up about 6 times and had diarrhea.  He refused to drink or eat
all day so when I called the vet he suggested that I give Bear 5 ml of
Pepto (I did this twice in about 8 hours) and some pedialyte.  I managed
to get the Pepto down him and about 4 syringes full of pedialyte (about 40
mls).  He fought me tooth and nail.  He slept all day yesterday and all
night also.  This morning he seemed to feel a little better but I haven't
seen him eat or drink yet.  I checked the litter box and there was no
diarrhea today.  Could Bear just be a little stressed out due to his move
and different environment?  I am planning on forcing much more pedialyte
down him today and I am going to thaw out some "Duckie Soup" to see if I
can get him to start eating a little.  The vet suggests that he is just a
little stressed and homesick.  Does anyone have a comment on what's up
with Bear?
 
Now to the wood pellet questions..... I switched from my regular recycled
newspaper litter (CareFresh) to wood pellets about two months or so ago.
Before I switched to wood pellets I had never really had a sick fert on my
hands or one that would vomit either.  Since my switch to the wood pellets
I have had three or four different sick ferts on my hands that have vomited
and had diarrhea for a few days each over the past two months.  I have also
noticed a "fume like" smell coming from the wood pellets after the wood
pellets have gotten wet from fert potty.  This smell has on more than one
occasion made me feel a little "queasy".  Now before you ask.... I clean
their litterboxes at least once a day if not more because I can't stand to
see poopies in them and plus my mother shows up all the time unannounced
and gripes about how "unclean" ferts seem to be.  (You know how some moms
are..she hates animals anyway so for the sake of trying to keep her mouth
shut I just clean them a lot!).  I have also noticed flies galore in my
house and I can't figure out why??  Am I trippin' or do any of you ever
experience this??  I am worried that maybe the wood pellets aren't so good
after all.  Now the man who turned Bear and Smoky over to us also gave us
the last of his ferrets litter which was that CareFresh recycled newspaper
which I used until it was gone yesterday morning and then I had to put the
wood pellets into Bear & Smokys litterbox and then within hours Bear
started getting sick.  Coincidence???  I just don't know.  I did empty
everyone's litterboxes and washed them really good and went to the pet
store and purchased CareFresh recycled newspaper again and I am using it
right now in all the ferrets litterboxes.  I just can't figure out what
the problem is here.  Can anyone help with this unusual deal??
 
Thanks for listening to my babble. :)  Dooks to all!
 
 
                  Michelle (HeadFerret)
      Little Orphans Ferret Shelter & Rescue
       Rooter, Ringo, Roach, Baby, Possum
                  with special guest star
                               Cleo
                  and her new co-stars
                Mouse       &        Slash
                               with
                              Lucy
                (the petite ferret hater)
                                  &
                  (last, but not least)
                Smoky     &        Bear
[Posted in FML issue 2690]