Although diabetes in ferrets is very rare here's a new edible compound
discovered in a fungus which is in preliminary testing (now in labs but
first found on a leaf from a still unidentified plant).  It appears to be a
promising and edible insulin replacement.  It's very hard to get meds that
work for ferrets with diabetes, and this one also might not, but who knows?
Whether or not it has human uses as the final result it eventually might
have veterinary ones.  Vets might want the pharmaceutical researchers to
keep them informed on this as well as human physicians being informed since
a range of critters get diabetes.
 
http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/5_8_99/fob1.htm
 
Scooter is not a kit, and we are not breeders (and therefore not his
breeders).  He came as a slightly handicapped freebie baby, with the
understanding that we will always provide the special medical care he needs
as he needs it due to the damage.  Novice mothers sometimes get overly
enthusiastic when grooming new kits and remove body parts.  In Scooters
case some segments left of fingers grew together and in one of those
sections a partial phalanx is now (at age 2 years) exposed at the end
because of tissue retraction; infection has set in and the situation needs
correction for his comfort and to prevent worsening.  Steve and I tend to
have mostly individuals who have handicaps or were abuse victims, though
the severity sometimes isn't very bad as in Scooter's case.
 
Reading about Tiffany and her ferrets in Modern Ferret didn't bother me at
all; in fact, having met her through the FML a while back and knowing how
much she has loved her ferrets from the start, I was happy that something
turned out the way she wanted it be.  Women are more than bodies but we
are also more than minds; like men we're a full package and might as well
appreciate our qualities.
[Posted in FML issue 2680]