Georgette asked about:
 
>a thing called a ferret sphere, in 13" and 16" sizes.  I'm very interested,
>but the $29.95 & $39.95 US (plus tax, plus shipping & handling) kinda makes
>me wince.  It's a heavy duty hollow ball with a hole in the side - like a
>big hamster ball for your slinkies!
 
Is it white and made of plastic?  In any case, you can get a "ferret sphere"
from your local lighting shop.  Just call around and ask if they have
plastic globes--the kind that go on top of a lamppost or yard light.  I had
a friend in Australia who had a few for his ferrets to play with (but it
seems they mostly slept in them).  You can find them cheaper than $30 or $40
bucks, I should think.
 
On another topic: Regarding the guy who did a Heimlich successfully on his
ferret to remove a stuck bit of food.  I just read in an anthropology book
that humans are the only animals that can actually "inhale" food.  Has to do
with the fact that our pharynx became elongated in order to accomodate
speech, and in the process overlapped our esophagus.  Speech led to a defect
that had too many advantages to be selected out.  According to that book, no
other mammal besides us has this problem.  So, it seems the ferret in
question was saved from an uncomfortable situation, but he was not
suffocating.
 
Is this right, vets and anatomy specialists?
 
--Sue
On the lovely Bosphorus...
       Koc University
       Istanbul, Turkiye
[Posted in FML issue 1389]