Something from a private discussion with Wolfy: There are good aspects and bad to ferrets spending time outdoors. It pays to know both so that things are tackled in the safest ways for the ferrets. Following are some risks to take into consideration and some links to use. When ferrets spend much time outdoors heartworm prevention is needed. With Climate Change and with the worsened spread of heartworm from the early relocated dogs after Hurricane Katrina heartworm is a very common problem now and is gotten from mosquito bites. Heartworm is a terrible way for a ferret to die but is preventable. http://www.heartwormsociety.org/download/Incidence-Map-2010.pdf http://www.heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm.html Heartworm outside the USA: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18486691 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15885913 http://www.edis.or.at/ <http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/storytemplate_process.cfm?story_no=309> <http://www.mvol.com.au/semaphorevet/heartworm-and-intestinal-parasites-in-dogs.html> For all: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL10409 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL11616 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL10402 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL5195 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL5194 http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL353 http://www.miamiferret.org/heartworm.htm <http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Parasitology+Center/Whats-new-in-heartworm-disease/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/666572> Besides heartworm, ticks, fleas, pesticides, predators, wild animals carrying diseases the animals can contract like CDV, etc. there is also the light pollution aspect, and that way that too little darkness exposure causes way too little melatonin production which in turn triggers the body to produce too much FSH which is how adrenal disease is started. Do remember that ticks themselves can carry some illnesses. The preventative meds do not work on all parasites; for example, the paralytic tick in Australia can not be prevented by Frontline. Some light pollution maps: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/light-pollution-map/ http://www.lightpollution.it/worldatlas/pages/fig1.htm http://www.farnham-as.co.uk/2010/11/light-pollution-and-dark-sky-maps/ Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." [Posted in FML 7403]
