>From:    Rob McNish <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Cloth eating baby reforms?
>This makes me wonder if cloth eating is some kind of ferret eating disorder
>where cloth bulk gets substituted for the protein they really need, sort of
>giving them a full feeling while starving.  I would be interested to hear if
>others' cloth eaters are thin and if so, could the Neutri-Cal treatment
>help.
 
Mia also eats cloth like it was the greatest thing since raw rodents.  She
never does it when she's out playing, just when she's in her cage.  After
trying several different types of cloth bedding, I had to remove all traces
from her cage for fear of obstruction.  Even when she was munching cloth
heavily, though she still ate healthy portions of her regular food, which is
Bench and Field Super Premium Cat Food.
 
For some time, she has been without cloth in her cage, since I could not
find a way to break her of this habit.  I have tried a number of alternative
beddings (Yesterday's News was recommended by my vet), but they just don't
look comfortable to me, and she scatters them everywhere.  For all I know
she has been eating these as well.
 
If anyone knows of a good way to break a ferret of eating his/her bedding I
would also like to know about it.  Although she doesn't appear to mind the
wood floor of her bed (a 1' x 1.5' x 1.5' box), again it does not look
comfortable to me.  Then again, even when I did have cloth, she just dug
under it and slept right on the floor anyway.
 
Mike/Mia
[Posted in FML issue 1879]