Make sure first that it's not ascites by having the vet check, then if it's
definitely fat add exercise; that's a good thing to do for almost all of
them, anyway.  The ferret may still retain more adipose (fat) tissue than
desired (Hey, Meeteetse, Steve, and I all have more than Steve and I like.)
but if the lean tissue (muscle) levels can be kept up then the health
down-sides can be greatly reduced even if the width isn't.  Got to get a
lot of physical and mental exercise to stay well, but two of us enjoy food
and Meeteetse just plain worships it -- both in belly and about to be in
belly.  There are a number of athletes in this world with a lot of fat;
Meeteetse is just one of them, and she has good enough musculature to pop
some nodes out a bit -- always has had for about 7 years now.  (Oh, also
remember that some babies go thorough fat times before a growth spurt.)
 
I've decided to add an extension to our 5'x2'x2' cage so now am waiting to
hear when a place has between 25' to around 30' of extra cage wire.  All
this help people gave about door guards so I wouldn't be cut up and now
I'll go and get cut up again when the wire is available...
 
Grace you don't need to think us twice for telling you that we love the
Weezil watcher Gates we have, but that they are too short for one of our
athletes ( Jumpstart).  Know what we'd love on them?  A little locking
hinge with an extension flab that could be raised!!!!!!!!  Then we'd just
raise and lock the flap to keep in Jumper, but when we had to cross over
(with our pitifully short Celtic legs) we'd unlock the flap and put it
down.  That would be SO great!  Doubt it could be done except for ones
that would stay in place, though, because then it couldn't be bent and
that bending feature os SO useful for fitting it to some spots.  Know what
else we'd love?  Something they couldn't easily shift for behind the doors
in the rooms where "behind the door" translates to "perfect toilet".
 
Alicia wrote:
>Yes, by campaigning to put Modern Ferret out of business you are
>essentially cutting off your nose to spite your face.
 
Can't resist: perhaps this action is in keeping with Halloween; the results
are dramatically worse than the obviously fake gore.  (Okay, this is sort
of an action pun since there are horrid results if Modern Ferret, THE most
reliable and most accurate publication, is hurt due to a few screamers --
but also some miserable looking results if the folks really do cut off
their noses.) Hey, you can ignore this if you like -- it's just from the
viewpoint of someone with over 16 years of ferret experience and an anatomy
background.  Okay, I'm being a bit silly and a bit serious, but we really
HAVE had ferrets for that long, and we personally find Modern Ferret to
better fit our needs and what we personally demand in a publication (like
accuracy) before we'll purchase it.  Others will disagree.
 
I am hoping while writing this that the Petco choice was a temporary one
which didn't cause great harm to Modern ferret.  Hey, we have no problem
buying from Petco's competitors till they stop censoring.  Did so just
this morning with ease.
 
I have NOT -- EVER -- "seen" Petco or any of the people who own the other
ferret publications spend some of their own hard earned cash and/or
difficult-to-come-by spare time to help fight the NYC Health Dept's ban
on ferrets, or pursue other issues relating to the welfare of ferrets.
I've "seen" Mary and Eric do these sorts of charitable actions time and
time again, typically with people completely unaware of their personal
work.  This is not JUST business to them and that's worth a lot for folks
who care and want to shape a future.
 
How about we stop gripping and name calling?  People will take the actions
that they will take and that's that.
 
Know what I wish?  I wish that even HALF the people who are screaming on
either side will go out and carefully read the articles on caring for a
ferret after surgery, dealing with urinary tract problems, getting a safer
canine distemper vaccine, and the other pieces in there in WHICH CAN SAVE
YOUR FERRETS' LIVES!  Let's get down to the THINGS WHICH MATTER!!!!!!!
[Posted in FML issue 2788]