Hello, 

I just got back with Sas from our regular vet and thought I would let
everybody know what all has happened.

For Valentine's Day, my bf got me the two-story Ferret Nation cage. I
am thrilled with it, but even seeing it fully assembled in the store
did not prepare me for th sheer size of it in my house. It is taller
than me, so that should tell you a bit about me lol. Although they seem
to have completely forgotten that they were potty-trained (yep, I put
the same litter pans in the new cage) and my girls (who are the more
territorial ones of my business) have been staking out their claims and
occasionally having disagreements, the overall response to the cage has
been very positive. They are now closer to my bed and have been keeping
me up at night with their rambunctious play on the metal floors (prev.
cage was all plastic), but I'm sure I'll adapt soon. Ear-chewing
behavior has mostly stopped, happens occasionally during a wrestling
match, haven't had to seal the two floors off yet.

As for Sas's fecal re-check, he is all clear, no blood in the stool and
has gained back the ounce he had lost. All four have finished their
coat changes. For those of you still in winter, I live in the heart
of Texas and summer has been in full swing for the past two weeks.
Usually, Feb is really cold here (for the heart of Texas), so I am
really disconcerted by the weather. I hate the cold, but this is
ridiculous. 80 degrees in February in the heart of Texas isn't right.

Many people wrote me personally advising that I consult ferret vet and
calling into question my current vet's knowledge. There are two things
I want to say to that. The first is that my first ferret, in 2000, died
of the flu because the vet I used for my cats didn't understand ferrets
and prescribed the wrong treatment. I would not take my ferrets to a
vet I did not trust 100% ever again. These two vets are the only
recommended vets within an hour of me and they have always listened
to my concerns and demonstrated not only their knowledge of the ferret
but also their love for them. One of the vets has ferrets of her own.
Still, the emails made me paranoid enough to contact the South Texas
shelter's preferred vet (this shelter serves ALL of South Texas, not
just my city). I consulted her about the symptoms, my vet's diagnosis,
and the anecdotal info I had gotten from all you wonderful people that
emailed me. She, too, gave my boy the all clear.

None of the vets felt that doing exploratory surgery on a
healthy-looking ferret with no hair loss was the right choice and I
agree. All 3 advised a bigger cage and all 3 felt it was dominance
issue. My observations support this conclusion.

I am taking all of your advice, both those who think I should be
alarmed and those that don't, very seriously and will use the
information gleaned to continue to keep a close watch on all of my
ferrets. Thank you so much for spending the time to contact me and
to read this long email. Take care!

~Jennie

[Posted in FML 5896]