THE INDIVIDUAL WHOSE FERRETS DIED MYSTERIOUSLY SHOULD NOT -- REPEAT NOT --
BE INTERACTING WITH ANY OTHER FERRETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sorry about
shouting, but it just freaks me when such things happen.  BTW, I am glad
that you mentioned the importance of autopsies and pathology work; they
save lives!  Not only do the vets and techs learn but when there is a
mysterious illness in a group they save the lives of survivors.  It really
makes sense to do a post-mortem in any case with a mysterious death.
 
Congratulations on finding out why the baby ferret was having trouble
learning and then finding a non-painful, constructive way to teach him.
 
One of the things being sold to help a shelter is a container which can be
used for cremains.  I'll have to try to remember to find the catalog and
add that before I send.  Can't open that door right now or I'll unleash a
business of havoc into the rest of the house.  Okay: it's FAIR, P.O.  Box
952, Westmont, IL 60559, 1-630-968-8142, and it's the Ferret Etched Glass
Box, $11.95, which they say can be sealed afterward with hot wax or clear
caulk.  There's a 7% tax for same state purchases, and a flat shipping rate
of $5.00 for any order of any amount.  I want a few things: some gorgeous
fake-fur lined dream sacks ($11.95) and the ferret "boat" for them to play
in ($15.95), though if there aren't any low air holes I'm going to make a
few since it's plastic.  Have to get our order out.
 
Any hit to a nose or surrounding facial region can be a harder hit than you
suspect.  In the sinuses are very fine, almost paper thin, complexly curved
bones.  Ask to see a exploded skull some time; those are done with such
care that these are present.  You aren't going to find them in the standard
models -- just too fine and too easily shattered to survive processing;
they often don't cope well with stresses during life, either.  The tougher
bones a ferret has are easily enough injured (given how strong humans are
and how small their structure is) so imagine what you can do to things so
delicate.
[Posted in FML issue 2664]