From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-07-22 18:41:44 UTC
Subject: RE: Teddy - fever, bloody stools, vomiting, mucous, stayed at the vets
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2036269.1122057704177.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
I so hate exposed fake fleece and exposed fake fur on ferret bedding or shelf covers.
The main reason is that we had one who loved to eat in bed and he got a massive partial blockage from those fibers when what had been thought to be a fur ball was analyzed.
So, bit by bit (and there are still some hard to do old ones which I haven't gotten to that are still in storage) I began sewing sheeting material over all of the fake fleece and fake fur. The result was that ferret never had to have anything removed from his stomach again, but the benefits went beyond that. The bedding became much easier to clean, the washer and drier (and drier vent) stayed cleaner, and the beds have lasted, and lasted, and lasted, so covering the fake fleece and fake fur has even saved us a good chunk of money.
The big thing, though, is that since covering the fake fleece and fake fur we have had only one ferret who had bad furballs, but that one had a deformed stomach which was flaccid and unable to even move food well (even still having food in his stomach after 8 hour fasts) which was what eventually killed him as it gradually became so huge and thin that it finally shredded despite 4 corrective surgeries to give him more time. He had multiple deformities of the GI tract as well as complicated syndactyly.
So, basically, removing the one with the deformed stomach from the equation since his problem was a rare structural one, with the fake fleece and fake fur covered we have gone back to the rates of bad furballs that we have before we used bedding with exposed fake fleece or fake fur -- i.e. none. Nor are we people who give a lot of laxative meds. We give them only during heavy shedding seasons and even then sparingly, preferring to use a flea comb to dislodge and remove most of the falling fur, and we also use them if a ferret gets the "glatchies" -- you know, sounding like trying to dislodge junk from throat or stomach. Since covering the fake fleece and fake fur, though, we don't have many "glatchies" bouts at all, either.