Re: ALLERGIES
Our air filter/cleaner and negative ion producer I mentioned in an earlier post
has really helped reduce floating fur and dander. We have a friend that visits
often with terrible allergies (we have cats too so we don't know if he is
allergic to them or the ferrets or something else). When he comes we put the
air cleaner in his room and it seems to improve his condition almost 100 %.
I understand that the special shampoos and powders used on cats to prevent fur
and dander allergies don't work on ferrets. My mom has also had terrible sinus
allergy problems and she has found aromatherapy to be very helpful. The
theory is that certain fragrances may relax the sinus passage...
 
Re: WATER DISH TIPPING
All of our animals used to tip over the water dish SEVERAL times a day until we
got a water dispenser. It's a big plastic jug that holds a gallon of water and
is tipped upside down into a dish and as the water is used more water comes
down to replenish the dish. The weight of this thing when it is full of water
makes tipping it prohibitive. The babies still stir the water around in the
bowl before drinking it (moving water theory) but they are unable to tip it.
We dispense some of their food this way too as our babies love to tip the food
dish over too.
 
re: AMOUNT OF FOOD
Our 3.5 lb boy must eat at least 1.5 cups of food per day. But, he is still
growing, not even a year old. Our Granny beast (1.75 lbs) needs to be hand fed
about 3-4 times per day though. I put her on my lap and hold a small handful of
food (Iams Cat Maintenance) under her mouth and I don't let her get down until
she eats at least most of it. This equals about a quarter cup per day. She gets
up on her own a couple times per day too & eats out of the dish, but she can't
seem to hold her weight up for very long so she tends to only eat 6-8 pieces of
food on her own at a time.
 
Re: PRINCESS
I'm so happy to hear that Princess is doing so well and all of the babies too.
 
Re: NOT EATING SO GOOD FOR ABOUT A MONTH
I think the ferret's name was Frisky who hasn't been eating so good for about a
month but is now coming around with TLC. I hope Frisky is truly getting better.
The vets will be able to give you better advice I'm sure. But, these were
the first signs in our Nina before she was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma. She
wasn't eating well, sleeping a lot more than usual and TLC seemed to perk her
up. Our vet took a blood test and a radiograph - it took about 1 hour and cost
less than $100. The blood test showed elevated lymphocyte counts and the x-ray
showed a tumor. If you catch this disease early, there is the possibility of
treating it with either chemo or homeopathic methods. I recommend going to the
vet. Why would you have to 'admit' the patient though. Can't you have a CBC
done out-patient? and even x-rays or biopsies? (BTW, Lymphosarcoma is not
always so easy to diagnose). Charlene
[Posted in FML issue 1128]