From:
sukie crandall
Date: 2005-08-13 17:47:06 UTC
Subject: exercising Telemna despite poor eye sight
To: ferret-list <ferret-list@cunyvm.cuny.edu>, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <E120EB6B-C99F-4319-9B5E-6F59CA026796@optonline.net>
As we all know, exercise is incredibly important for health, but
Telemna has been something of a couch potato and has been beginning
to get overweight. Her behavior struck Steve and me that she may
have worse sight than most, so I tried a bunch of scents on her until
I found one she loved (roses) and put that on a toy mousie hung on
cord from a stick. TOTAL CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR! She worked her heart
rate up to a total buzz and would have kept going chasing the mousie
and me through the house (up, down, all over) for longer but i had to
stop due to an asthma attack, so next time I will use my inhaler
beforehand and we'll work some more on making her happier, more
active and more muscular.
I figured that I would mention this trick for others whose ferrets
have poor vision. As I recall there were additional scent tricks in
a past "Ferrets" column by Bob Church, so I will have to dig that out
to see which may be most useful for a little girl with poor vision
who needs more exercise.
BTW, Scent mapping info to make a home safer for such ferrets can be
found in both the FML and FHL archives to help ferrets whose vision
is very low or who are blind. I think I'll today be doing that to
things she might clunk against so that she feels safer running again.
-- Sukie (not a vet)
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