First question, what in mice makes them dangerous for cats and ferrets to
eat, anyway?  Aren't they the natural prey of cats and ferret-like animals?
What about mice from the pet store (you know, those feeder mice for
snakes)?  I'm just wondering, because I know my cats eat mice, moles, and
birds when roaming outside, and we've never had a problem with any strange
diseases....
 
Second, someone asked about shaking.  I read in a ferret care book that
ferrets don't shake from fear, that if they are afraid, they will stay
perfectly still...but I think that's a total crock!  My two ferrets shake
like leaves in the wind whenever we go outside, and they immediately
beeline for the door to get back in.  I've also seen them shake in reaction
to a loud, sudden noise, like a motorcycle flying by under the window.  Not
to mention the poof...and that lovely smell :-)
 
Finally, the poop question *sigh* Molly keeps having grainy looking poops,
which the vet says is most likely a non-specific infection of some sort, so
she's on antibiotics AGAIN!  He claims this happens in reaction to stress,
yet at the periods when I would think she'd be most stressed (like when I
first adopted her and brought her home, and then when I brought another
ferret home--her first ferret companion), she's fine.  Giving her the
antibiotics is definitely stressing her out--now she is having diarrhea!
Any ideas or suggestions?  I did have a bag of Marshall food that was
kinda old, so I threw it out (Molly was the only one eating that).  The
vet said food would be really low on the list of things that would cause
seedy-looking poop.  It's normal colored, normal consistency, just has all
these undigested food bits in it.  HELP!  I'm sick of strangling my ferret
to get half the dose of clavamox down her throat and the other half all
over me!!!
 
debbi
[Posted in FML issue 3038]