Years ago to avoid even any appearance of misappropriation of funds donated (after an incident with an individual rather than a shelter) shelters went to listing not themselves for most contributions, but the vets they use. Donors make contributions when they prefer to the veterinary hospitals (and if they wish can first verify those). That is very responsible on the part of the vets. Since then whenever we have contributed to such things we do so only through verified vets -- largely because we got scammed that time. Anonymous wrote: >I must disagree with Marshalls that kits should be kept in cages with >cloth bedding and hammocks. Baby ferrets will eat anything, and >especially love to chew on soft bedding. The only hammock I would use >in a kit cage is the nylon type, and even then I would watch it very >carefully. Kits under about 16 weeks should be given small cardboard >boxes to sleep in, Kleenex boxes, cut down cereal boxes, etc. Even if >they chew on the cardboard, it turns to mush and breaks down fairly easily >in the gut, and gets passed without a problem. Not the case with cloth. Unlike Anonymous we've run into very few cloth eaters, so have had not problems with cloth bedding with the vast majority in 19 and 1/2 years, but I do like many of Anonymous' ideas of alternative bedding. One note: we have also had an inadvertent cloth eater who liked to eat food in bed and got a "fur" ball of fake fleece doing that, so in our house we've sewn sheeting over all of that material in the beds they use (and have more to sew still, including a few fake fur things that have found also shed badly and which also matched some fibers in the "fur" ball). Not all fur balls actually are fur. Obviously, for some things there are not hard and fast rules, but instead the humans must be observant and suit their choices to the animals involved. Folks new to ferrets: read as much as you can, and observe behaviors carefully and consistently. If using herbs for anything do remember that anything strong enough to help is also strong enough to harm. Other drugs come with specific warning attached in relation to what meds they interact badly with, what conditions counter-indicate their use, danger signs, etc. Herbs don't. Therefore, to use herbs most responsibly it is absolutely essential that YOU have reliable references so that you can know the bad along with the good. Here is a listing that will help you, and there certainly are more out there so a reference librarian or good book store employee should be of help in finding balanced resources that give both sides of the situation: _PDR for Herbal Medicines_, _Herb-Drug Interaction Handbook_, Varro Tyler's _Herbs of Choice_ and _Honest Herbal_ plus anything he's likely to have done since. In the ferret community in the last whatever number of years I know of a few (#?) people who have killed their ferrets with herbs by giving ones that were counter-indicated, one with a holistic med years ago (or actually due to it not working and the family ferrets getting CD since it was supposed to replace the vaccine but did not work), one who killed a ferret with supplements, and three (if memory serves) who killed ferrets with OTC drugs since they didn't realize that what may be safe for humans may not be safe for ferrets. Obviously, none of these people meant to do so, also obviously, there just are NOT truly researched herbal data out there for use in ferrets so exactly what is safe or unsafe for which ferret is still not fully known. That is also the case with some standard meds. Still, it may be possible to avoid some risks by being careful. NOTHING can take the place of a good ferret vet. Hey, that's obvious as well. Oh, and on the FHL site (See yesterday's FML for addy.) you can find vets listed in the Files section in both the recommended-vets list and in the SOS shelter list. The later is also available thorugh the FML -- fevering so not able to reconstruct how for you rihgt now, and another vets list is at the miamiferret site also listed yesterday. FYI: the average age of death in wild polecats and in wild BFFs is incredibly low. Believe the age number for polecats is actually lower than one year due to high kit mortality. In the wild the typical ferret which does reach adulthood does not get older than 2 to 4 years. In captivity that is greatly altered with most domestic ferrets dying from late in the 6th year to the second half of the 8th year. Please, don't think that they chew on plants and repair themselves when actually they die, also don't think that certain things can be diagnosed without careful testing, biopsies, etc. There have been some useful posts here on the FML about the many, many ways that people misuse words like "cancer" and "tumor"; see the archives for those. You do know that many vets will find ways to let people pay on time, and that some will let people exchange labor for health care, right? Many of the folks here who recall Bob Church will remember his tight year when he cleaned cages, mopped floors, and otherwise assisted because paying for kids' schooling, his own doctoral studies, and all the rest just made a lot of sick ferrets more than his budget could handle. There also is insurance. That, too, is among resources in yesterday's FML. [Posted in FML issue 3618]