The mascot / ferret ambassador for our shelter is a little fuzzy named
Mountain Dew... MD for short.  He became our shelters mascot because I
believed he stood for a large part of the rescue problem.  Lack of
education and information.
 
MD is a DEW, and he is stone deaf.  This is how he came to our shelter.
He was dumped anonymously at the local SPCA, which does not take in
ferrets and would normally call me.  We do not know why he was dumped
there.  A worker at the SPCA had apparently been wanting a ferret so she
just took him home.
 
I learned of all this about 3 weeks later when this person called me and
told me the story and that there was no way she could keep this ferret.
Why?
 
Because he was mean, nasty, vicious and scary.  He attacked and bit her
children and cat and could not be trusted.  I told her to bring him on
over and figured I would have my hands full with a biter rehab.  She also
told me it was an "albino" ferret.
 
She brings him over, as we talk about the situation it becomes clear that
WHEN he was jumping and *attacking* her kids and cats was when he was out
playing and they ran into the room or grabbed him from behind.  One glance
told me this was no albino, but a black eyed white.... and no tattoo...
Hmmmmm, I do know of a backyard breeder outside town who was trying to
produce large numbers of DEWs and Marked Whites but was clueless about
breeding and getting a lot of deafness.
 
So, we do a few "tests"..... there was not any doubt he was deaf.  I
explained to the woman that he was *attacking* because he couldn't hear
them coming up behind him and was startled.  Well, no matter, SHE was not
about to deal with a "problem defective animal" (Her words not mine).
Obviously MD was treated accordingly for being deaf, he lived at the
shelter for a month or so and was adopted by my shelter assistant who has
had him a year now.  My children and her grandchildren have played with
him, he has gone on many public outings with the shelter etc.... Since
that first day MD came to the shelter until my writing this letter, he
has NEVER ONCE bitten or even nipped anyone.
 
- He has NO behavior problem, no attitude, no bad temperament.
- He is a gentle, sweet, loving ferret.
- He was simply misunderstood.
 
Sorry this got so long but the point I hoped to make is not everyone
out there knows to check for deafness, or how to work with it.  In my
experiences as a shelter, deaf ferrets have a higher risk of being
abused, neglected or abandoned.
[Posted in FML issue 3114]