Fellow Ferret owners...
Since moving my family and ferrets from Indianapolis to the Florida Keys
I have truly dropped into ferret vacuum. Although ferrets are sold at
the local pet store, none of the vets here know much about them. I have
found a vet who is interested in learning, however, and he would like to
read all the ferret mail, including early postings. I have been on the
list for about two months, and have those (all those that were posted
since Chris became a father). Will someone please send me the others?
[I will, but first send me mail as to whether (a) you know how to
unpack shar files, and (b), whether you want to stagger the 1/2 meg
or so of it over a few days or weeks.]
We adopted an almost-grown female from the local pet shelter. We already
had a neutered male. We isolated the female for several months and then
started putting them together. They were delighted (after a rocky start)
and are really good friends now. We've had the female a year and a half
now, but she has never come into heat. I'd assume she was spayed early,
like they do sometimes, but I can't find an incision. What do you think?
[In ours, the incisions healed fairly invisibly, so that unless you *really*
know what you're looking for, you wouldn't know that it was there. In
ours it was merely a dark fur line up from the belly]
Florida requires registration for ferrets, a rule with which I am very
reluctant to comply. As soon as one ferret attacks a baby, all ferrets
will be under a death sentence, and I'd just as soon nobody in the
government knows mine exist. This vet agrees, and is willing to see
mine at home (they live on the 3rd floor of our house, so there is no
worry about rabies) so they don't have to be registered. He will keep
their records with me.
Now, the questions. He wants to give them distemper vaccine, but says
all of his suppliers have all of the canine vaccines in one dose. Where
can he get just the distemper vaccine? Also, since there is a rabies
problem in the Keys, he wants me to keep current with the possibility of
a rabies vaccine for ferrets.
[I was just chatting with our vet - you'll see in a moment. This is known
to be perfectly safe apart for the usual "very rare side-effects" caveat:
Manufacturer: Solvay Animal Health
Name: FROMMD
Desc: Canine Distemper vaccine, chick cell cultured.
(I believe that this is also classified as a "dead" virus)
This is a Canadian manufacturer, but I'm sure that your vet has either
a contact for them in his library, or now that he knows what it is,
he can find it elsewhere.]
One more...Codo (4-year old neutered male) lost quite a bit of weight
last year (from 3 lbs to 2.3 lbs). The vet could find no reason...no
parasites, anemia, etc. Codo had eaten nothing but IAMS cat food all
his life, so we started using Purina ferret food, but he lost weight on
that. Then we supplemented with Nutracal, and he regained his weight,
which is now stable. Now Gumby (female) is thinner than usual. Everything
else is the same...no heat, full (!) of energy, gums pink, etc. We will
start up the Nutracal again. Has anyone else experienced these weight
swings?
[Our vet (and the ferret books) note that moderately wild weight swings
are perfectly normal and are seasonal. As are fur changes. However,
you should monitor Codo to ensure that he's eating and eliminating normally.
If he's not, it could be a serious problem.]
Somebody mentioned in this mail that fitches aren't ferrets. How do you
tell the difference? I know that mine are quite a lot smaller than some
others I have seen. Which is the fitch and which is the ferret?
Mine have lovely dispositions...Gumby will nip without breaking
the skin if we aren't paying enough attention to her, but neither
would ever bite with malice. Our two cats came to us as bottle
babies and were raised with the ferrets, so all four play
together. The Doberman suffers the most...they play on top of
him.
Thanks, everybody, from Gumby and Codo and me.
Joyce Andrews King (Florida Keys via Indianapolis)
[Posted in FML 0072]
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