I was told that my ferrets had to be put to sleep to clean their teeth.
I completely believed this.  And it led to the death of Maria several
weeks ago.
 
Mind you, the adrenal carcenoma removed 3 years ago was believed now to
be metastisized throughout her body, and she was about 10 years old.  So
she did not have long to live under any circumstances.
 
Your ferret does NOT have to be put to sleep.  ( I was told that Maria
almost died during her surgery 3 years ago, and that I should never put
her under again.  This same hospital also told me that they, therefore,
could not ever clean her teeth.  This is not true.  You can clean the
teeth with no anesthesia.  )
 
1. I would have the distemper shot first..and not on the same day.  any
possible reaction to that should not be confused with any possible
consequences of the teeth being cleaned.
 
2. There is an instrument that can be used to scrape off the calculus of
ferrets in situations where it might be dangerous to put them under.  Ask
your vet if he or she has such a tool.  You can hold your ferret while
your vet opens the mouth and scrapes off the gross debrees.
 
3.* Get a flavored antibiotic to follow up with, to avoid an infection
from the mouth spreading throughout the little body.  Make sure that you
give that twice a day.*
 
4. I was given something for Maria to swab on her gums and her feet by
another vet a few weeks before her death.(as she also had suddenly
developed huge growths above her tiny nails) I do not remember the name.
It was a light blue liquid.
 
Ask if you can also use hydrogen peroxide and water(50/50) to swab on.  I
did this with her feet.And it is good for humans.  I do not know if it
should be used on ferret mouths.
 
5. There may be a number of drugs to use to make the ferret sleepy, so
as to do a good job scraping the teeth.  I would think it would be
possible to use one of these instead of anesthesia?
 
I was given no alternatives, and look forward to reading about any
that are out there.  I just found a local, non-exotic vet who holds
the ferrets while I scrape off the stain and tartar.
[Posted in FML issue 4446]