>From:    Anonymous Poster <[log in to unmask]>
>Hello Everyone, I am kind of new to the ferret world and I had a
>question.  Is there really any way of telling if a ferret is deaf or
>not before buying it???
 
Rather than answering your question- since I'm not sure there's a way to
tell for sure before you buy- I'd ask why you wouldn't want to consider a
deaf ferret?  I think most of us who have a deaf ferret probably didn't
choose it on purpose, but they make just as good pets as "hearing" ferrets!
My friend has a deaf ferret, and she's very sweet.  Peanut has obviously
never learned to come when her name is called (as 2 of his others do),
but she is very smart and a lot of fun.  She's also deaf- but you wouldn't
know it unless you observed her very closely over a long period of time.  I
would urge you to consider buying whichever ferret you like after getting
to know it a bit - the fact is that there will always be some medical
problem down the line, but to my knowledge, deafness doesn't carry any
health risks, and it certainly doesn't change the fact that you'll have a
wonderful, loving pet.
 
>Also, I have heard that the toe tattoo on the MF ferrets is an
>indicator that  it is deaf, is that for a fact???
 
I can't really comment on this- I've never heard this before, but I'd be
really surprised if a large breeder (or any breeder, for that matter),
would "mark" a ferret who had a handicap of some sort- they are in it for
the money and it wouldn't seem to be in their best interest to do this.
btw, Peanut is a MF ferret, but she has no toe tattoo and has lived her
almost-3 years completely disease and sickness-free so far.
 
Jaime
[Posted in FML issue 3216]