Some people have asked what Chiclet looked like.  Here is a photo of her
concept of what is fun to do in a shower.  Scroll down.
http://tingilinde.typepad.com/ .  The movie mentioned below that which
can be downloaded is in the big cage which we can divide into two (and
did while the ferrets were learning each other.  The bottom was being
cleaned and the top was soon to be cleaned and that shredding they did of
the ramp carpet to the second level addressed (Each half of the cage has
3 levels.), but they were asleep and very young so you know how little
they were about to do at that point... The reason there is clay litter in
there is because for a while (just a matter of weeks) Hilbert decided
that other litters were treats to be eaten, so we were at that point
trying shredded paper and clay, then we rapidly went all to shredded
paper which was a real mess with them after a quick trial because Hilbert
could deal with clay litter but Chiclet would get it stuck to her bum.
After a few weeks they could use normal litter fine.  I'd forgotten about
that till I saw the movie again.
 
I have also been asked how old she was when this massive infection that
was so impossible to control (and which caused cellulitis and sepsis
despite loads of treatment, even around two weeks of IV antibiotics)
killed her: 7 months old.  The strain of fighting the infection finally
caused her to go into heart failure.  At this point there is
investigation into the recent extremely small and regionally localized
grouping of what look to be massive bacterial infections; no one knows if
they are related or not, because it could be either.  IE: there is no
reason to panic since this might be plain old coincidence so when folks
(including me) threw around speculations they should be remembered to be
nothing beyond speculations at this point.  That's been repeated many
times by everyone discussing this at the FHL and here but is worth
repeating.  Also, it is good to know that in none of the few affected
households (or store in one case) have any other individuals of any
species gotten ill.
---
 
Well, one issue voting leads to serious problems and greatly needs to
be avoided, but this IS an opportunity to try to get across to the
California media and politicians the importance of the votes of animal
lovers.  The ferret question would be good one to have in among the
others; for many it is an important aspect of quality of life.
[Posted in FML issue 4209]