>I was wondering if anyone has noticed this in black sables?  Do black
>sables stress more than other ferrets ??
 
Funny you should bring this up, because I have a black sable boy,
Buckwheat, who I've always called my "sensitive boy." From when he was
a baby, I could barely trim his nails, it really seemed to bother him,
no matter how careful I was.  He got better about that as he got older.
 
Bucky was my first ferret to have a vaccine reaction, when he was only
two years old, although we have had good luck with pretreatment for him
with subsequent vaccinations.
 
He got motion sickness once when I was swinging him around in a
pillowcase, something he was really enjoying until he started vomiting!
He almost gets motion sickness from riding in the car, even a short
distance.  Sometimes it's worse than others.  Once I was taking him to
a friend's house (along with my other five) to baby sit while I went out
of town, and Bucky got so sick in the car that I was afraid I might lose
him!  He was vomiting, panting and gasping for breath.  I stopped by the
side of the road and just held him for a long time, and finally his
panting subsided.  I held him in my lap the rest of the trip and that
seemed to help a bit, but he was very lethargic.
 
Bucky was diagnosed over three years ago with eosinophilic
gastroenteritis, which is also a sensitivity of a sort.  During surgery
to remove his left adrenal, my vet noticed his inflamed intestines and
took tissue for a biopsy - the silver lining to the surgery, so the EG
could be diagnosed before he exhibited any symptoms!  Luckily, prednisone
has kept the EG at bay and he's been pretty healthy - if you don't count
losing his eyesight and getting another adrenal tumor!  But now my Bucky
is eight and I'm afraid the surgery would be too risky.  (My vet warned
me that his last surgery was risky!)
 
Despite all that, though, Bucky has always had a very adventurous
personality.  Blind as he is, he will still attack the cat when ever he
comes upon him.  It's really funny to watch the cat trying to ignore
Bucky and continue his nap, but Bucky won't give up until the cat runs
away!
 
FWIW,
 
Nancy and critters
[Posted in FML issue 4469]