Hey all.  I've been offline for over a week now and it takes forever to
catch up!  I feel like I've missed so much (and sometimes not so much).
Edie had surgery for a blockage a few weeks ago (I mentioned) and it was
discovered that she has a severely ulcerated stomach.  The pathology report
from another lab says it's a "interesting clinical case."  We haven't fixed
the problem yet, either.  Supposedly allergies are the cause, but her hair
isn't growing back and she's actually losing weight.  The cortisone
treatment (shots) hasn't stopped her teeth from grinding either.  Any
suggestions?  Anybody like to look at the pathology report and tell me more?
 
I liked what Dayna mentioned about the "secret tunnels" that ran from room
to room through the walls.  Dayna, how do you get them out if they decide to
sleep in the tubes?  or stash their food, your food, toys, your keys, etc?
I've often thought about doing something similar, but practicality says that
with Reverend Maynard around, I'd have to nail everything down or I'd never
see it again!  It would be inside the walls until the house was torn down!
 
I recently came across a product that is made to keep ants out of pets
bowls...anybody used this product?  It's a teflon product, not a pesticide,
so the theory is that ants can't climb up it.  I hate to say I have a
problem with bugs, but we have to worry about keeping ants out of people
food, too!  With ferrets needing food 24 hours a day it's been impossible to
keep the ants out.  I haven't had any ants inside the bowls since I've used
the product, but I'm still worried about the safety of it.  Anyone know
about it?  (it's applied to the outside of the bowls and can be washed off).
 
Oh yeah, one other thing.  I got stranded with my ferrets this weekend.  My
roommate and I visited our families in San Antonio over the weekend and when
we started back to Houston on Sunday, the roads were super icy.  After
several near misses, we decided it would be safer to get a hotel room and
stay the night in Luling, TX (small natural gas town 40 miles out of SA).
Little did we know that the next two days the ice would get worse!!!
Anyhow...we didn't prepare to stay at a hotel, but we snuck the four frits
in.  There was the standard "wall-unit" heater/ac and as I was checking to
make sure the hotel room was ferret proof, I noticed there was a large air
intake underneath the unit.  I didn't know if the ferts could get into the
heater through the hole and I didn't want to stick my hand up there and see
where it went (I value my typing fingers!).  I ended up doing a complicated
jimmy-rigging of the underside of the wall-unit with the two halves of the
travel carrier and a trash can while still trying to allow air in and keep
the ferrets out.  It was very complicated (and they worked all night to try
to undo it).  Is this a hazard?  Has anyone traveling with ferts
encountered/solved this problem?  Thanks.  I never thought I'd be in that
position and I'd like to be prepared next time (JIC).
 
Thanks in advance for all the advice!
Kelly
Reverend Maynard, Edie, Cosette, and Static
[Posted in FML issue 1818]