After lurking for a few months, it's probably time to get my first posting
in this list.  After 14 years of ferrets underfoot, I think I've experienced
at least one of most everything discussed on this list.
 
A posting from Fred & Donna Howerton questioned whether or not raisins are a
cause for most of the illnesses.  I had the exact same thought some years
ago, when our original gang of four each went through serious illnesses.
Back then, I was on my own as far as ferret knowledge goes, and the four
weasels got a huge number of raisins: each time they used the litterbox,
each time they did a trick, each time they just stared up at me looking
pathetic.  Since each of them over time had become seriously ill, I tried to
figure out if there was a common cause.  The only thing that seemed to be
common among them was that they each ate a lot of raisins.  I cut back on
the freewheeling raisin givaways, but the number of serious illnesses with
subsequent ferrets remained pretty much the same.  I guess I didn't realize
that the real common link between them was that they were all ferrets.
 
On declawing, my experience says it is a bad idea.  We adopted Phoebe from
our vet after her owners never bothered to pick her up after having her
declawed.  Even though she still had her back claws, she was at a severe
disadvantage with our other ferrets.  She couldn't follow them up onto the
couch or much of anyplace else that required a bit of climbing.  We put a
small wicker stool next to the bed so that she could get on it when she
wanted.  She had a pretty difficult life, but we tried to make it the best
for her as long as we could.
 
One final thing.  I never would have believed how close ferrets can become
to one another until I saw it myself.  We had always had several ferrets at
a time, but due to illnesses, over time the number of ferrets dwindled down
to two. Nolan and Louweasel were each other's companion for a number of
years.  Two years ago, Louweasel died very suddenly from a punctured bowel
caused by cancer that showed absolutely no outward symptoms.  Nolan went
into a very severe depression (at least now I know that's what it
was).  He lost weight severely, and many trips to the vet with many, many
tests from bloodwork to ultrasound failed to find anything.  He just started
to waste away.  He wouldn't wake up to greet us as usual in the morning, and
would just curl up under my chair most of the time and sleep.  We decided he
really needed a companion, but were worried that he was too ill to have a
new "friend" thrown at him to upset his world even more.  But, that was
really the last thing possible to try, and since Maila became his new
companion he has come back to 100% normal.  I really feel that two is not
enough, since a sudden loss can cause such severe loneliness.
 
---
Randy A. Brown
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1439]