From:
"sukiedaviscrandall"
Date: 2009-12-04 16:07:21 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: New Member - Question
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Fake sheep fleece has certainly caused blockages.
We are among the people who have had ferrets have
to have surgery who turned out to have that be the
major component.
Polar fleece, on the other hand barely seems to shed
so I don't worry about that though I do check each
item.
If you can easily get the fibers off with your fingers
then your only choices really are to throw away the
items that shed fibers -- which is not only safer and
less painful than stomach surgery but will also save
you about $1,000 -- OR sew safe material over the
fleece. I'm lousy at sewing so our ones that I covered
do not look good, but it works and it turns out that
the beds no longer need repeated washing to come
clean and they last incredibly longer (years longer)
than the ones with exposed fake sheep fleece. I
even had to do that sewing trick for the octopus, and
have a few extra beds put aside in a box to sew later
if I ever get time but there has not been need yet.
So, my advice would be that if you have an old sheet
or something else that would be tossed buy a few
straight pins, a pack of needles and some thread.
If you are not worrying about appearance then use
a contrasting thread that is easier on your eyes.
Fold the edges under so they don't fray apart when
washed, pin in place, keep your stitches as small as
you can to achieve the job and even use a lock-stitch
or stitch over each section twice. Remove the pins as you
progress and then turn it right side out again.
It saves a lot of heart-ache to totally skip buying any
ferret product with fake sheep fleece, and to pluck at
things to see how much they shed, but I think that
most of us have been in the position of tossing items
or covering them to be safe.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
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