From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-08-29 19:42:00 UTC
Subject: New to the group (long)
>I have two ferrets, both about two years old. A couple weeks ago I
>noticed that they started to cough.
...
>that it was, so I removed the pine that night and washed out the
>bottom of their cage. Also, over the weekend I gave them both a bath
>with their ferret shampoo. Their coughing decreased, but is still
>there.
...
>I posted again on the forum today and realized that I never washed
>their hammock and there could be pine dust causing the cough to
>remain. They are eating well, drinking, and playing just as usual.
>
>Any advice? Do I need to take them to the vet or is the cough due to
>the pine/pine dust that could be remaining?
>
>Please let me know and thanks in advance.
You can try it and see what happens. Meanwhile, if the coughing is
persistent, or strong, or other symptoms exist it would likely make
sense to ALSO get them a check-up to be safest just in case they
share an infection. Fortunately, they sound like they are doing well
on all other regards which is reassuring. We have never had a
problem with pine ourselves. As per a now-old compilation study on
cedar and on pine, in studies of pine there are some individuals who
are sensitive to it, while cedar is just plain dangerous. Read the
article at http://www.trifl.org/cedar.html .