I’ve dodged this bullet for SEVENTEEN years!  Imagine that!

Well – actually that’s not entirely true, as Muis my albino girl who developed insulinoma got it at the end of her life but the AGD was as a result of her insulinoma.

You might have read my post about Seamus, when I thought he had AGD and took him for an ultrasound and biopsy, but – thankfully – both found that there was nothing wrong with his adrenal glands.

There have been a few Google alerts in my mailbox to warn owners about xylitol and ferrets in the past few weeks and just today there was a story about a vet who examined a ferret suffering from liver damaged caused by eating Tic Tacs.

It seemed a good time to remind all ferret owners, both old-timers and newbies, about the dangers that lurk in our houses that could cause problems for our little guys.

Xylitol

Xylitol is a sugar-free additive found to be toxic to dogs for a while but now it’s been found that ferrets which have eaten products which contain xylitol have the same bad reactions to it as dogs.

Like everyone, the scenes of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan have left me shell shocked and now, with the problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, it makes you wonder when enough is enough for the poor country.

I don’t know anyone who lives in the affected region but the tragedy was made more personal when I got an email from someone telling me that he couldn’t contact a vet, Dr Yuji Matsuda, whose house was apparently on the coastline in Sendai, the worst affected area by the tsunami. Dr Matsuda is listed as a ferret savvy vet on my page on Japanese vets and the thought of his house being right in the path of the tsunami made the hairs on my arms stand up with horror.

It’s been so hot recently that I was wondering what I could do to keep the ferrets cool and then I had a great idea … ice cubes in their water dish

I know they melt quickly but I was very curious to see what the reaction would be so when Mojo was at the dish, I dropped a few cubes in and stood watching.

It was hilarious! Talk about bob the apple

She was mesmerised by the ice cubes floating past her nose and decided she had to catch on and see what it was all about. I didn’t think she’d manage but manage she did!