Message Number: SG12876 | New FHL Archives Search
From: neinta@hotmail.com
Date: 2005-02-22 06:22:38 UTC
Subject: Warning: Cheap water bottle leads to dehydration
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1488446.1109053358266.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>

As a new ferret mommy, I dislike leaving my kids for any long period of time. I have this fear of coming home and finding something went wrong. Well my worst fears came true.

I went out of town on Sunday, and was gone for about 9 hours. I made sure the kids had fresh food and a full water bottle. I came home to find the water bottle had slipped and in doing so, came unsealed, breaking the vaccuum and leaking the water all over their bedding. Judging by the dampness of the bedding and the amount of water that leaked, I could tell it had been over five hours.

The kids acted ok, running and playing, so I refilled everything and let them play. Sonic started drinking and wouldn't stop. She drank about 6oz in a matter of minutes. The poor girl was so thirsty. Then, after consuming so much water, she threw up all night. This morning she was somewhat disoriented but still wanted to play with her brother. Her gums were white instead of pink. She wouldn't eat the kibble and didn't want to drink unless it was from the medicine dropper. I made a soup of wet kibble and baby food, which she finally ate and she's doing much better now.

All of this because I bought the cheaper water bottle. Now I'm using more expensive bottles and I have a second one available to them.

Consider this my PSA, The expensive bottles are much bettter and make sure the seal is good. All it took was a bump by my fur-kids to empty the cheap one.