Melissa, I'm sure you know that giving pills with a laxative can cause them
to pass undigested or insufficiently digested through the body, and isn't
Petromalt a laxative?  If so, I expect you meant to write Nutrical or
something similar.  Even in that case, DO check beforehand to make sure that
the medicine being given can be given with fats, minerals, and vitamins,
just as you check to make sure which ones can't be safety exposed to saliva
or water.  Another useful trick is to get a narrow width pill gun (The two
we have are two shades of blue but I can't recall who makes them) which your
vet should have in stock.
 
I'm afraid I had problems accepting the Smokey story.  We've had ferrets in
convulsions and they were easy as pie to restrain and move, referring to the
child as having her face chew up or chewed off or whatever seemed an
excessive description for anything which left no scars, the number of bites
was excessive (as perhaps by an order of magnitude) given how quickly a
child of that age could have grabbed the ferret (especially if it was
convulsing as described), I've personally never seen a convulsing ferret or
human bite, the idea of testing for an illness which causes hind limb
paresis in an animal described as breaking from a cage and climbing a bed
bothers me, and I wonder if mites can go to the brain.  Perhaps one of the
vets could read the letter and comment.  Hopefully, one already has; I am
catching up on a couple of days reading.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 1731]