Betty wrote:
>In our household we do not have hairball issues and we rarely if ever
>give hairball medicines.  I have a theory that exercise the involves a
>variety of ways to expend energy are aiding the hairball situation.  I
>believe that in climbing, taking stairs, and being active in a number
>of ways aids the body in either moving the hair through, or somehow
>strengthens the muscles that help push the hair through.  I also notice
>that when I sweep the house that I always have plenty of hair to scoop
>up.  I am grateful it is getting dropped and not eaten.
 
YES! that is such a great point!  We also have little need of hairball
remedies usually.  Part of that is combing and part is that they have
baskets that they can rub in to dislodge loose fur, and for Ashling part
is eating culinary herbs we have in the house, but your suggestion that
exercise plays a part makes sense.
 
In humans exercise which uses the abdominal muscles will assist in moving
things along.  That was a topic of serious consideration on some weight
lifting lists I was on years back.
 
There can be individual variation, too, for furball problems.  Some have
behavioral quirks like bed-snacking which causes them to ingest more
artificial fiber (and sometimes more fur), others insist on grooming
everyone.
 
We currently have one male, Scooter, with multiple deformities, including
GI tract ones who is also big on grooming others.  His malformed and
badly functioning stomach can't pass fur, and he insists on grooming
everyone.  It's a rough combination.  He's our $10K+ ferret (more like
11,500 or so now) after many ultrasounds and other tests and 5 (6?)
surgeries in as many years since he'll be six in February, all of them
attending at least partly to his deformities though one also tackled
another thing.  (This is the male with the deformed paw, the three
adrenal glands (It wasn't just ectopic tissue.) one of which remains,
the ever-growing stomach which is now adhered to his liver, etc.  When
we lose him we'll have to have a break -- maybe a long one to regather
energies and save money -- before we consider another with major
deformities since those are always the hardest.  (Gripe, gripe, gripe,
but he does give marvelous kisses, complete with a running commentary
from him, so he's worth it...) His won't be a full life, I'm afraid.
 
>I would so much like to see ferrets out of cages altogether, but until
>that happens, we need to >provide them with plenty of exercise that
>involves more than just being let out of the cage.
 
We cage at night but otherwise they are out in strictly
ferret-proofed areas, and in larger areas with supervision.
[Posted in FML issue 3958]