I have a very interesting little boy who has a seemingly unusual
problem.

I got Ozzy about 2 1/2 months ago from a local pet store. I thought
that everything would be fine with him since I bought him the day
after he came into the store. I was wrong.

Within a week, I knew that I would need to get him a friend since he
had far too much energy and was too mouthy for myself and the cats to
play with. It took me another 3 weeks to find Mogli. It's a match made
in heaven and there's been a lot of improvement with Ozzy's biting...
With me.

He will bite anyone who isn't me without a second thought. And he
doesn't just nip either. This is full out fear biting that draws
blood. It's worse with men but I still cannot let anyone hold him. My
boyfriend has tried to work with him but no matter how good things
are going, the second he tries picking Ozzy up, the teeth sink in.

I've tried having people put on bitter apple but that only makes the
biting response happen faster. I've been thinking about having someone
put some ferretone on their finger but I don't know if anyone is even
willing to take that risk anymore.

I know that he's only 4 months old but this seems to only be getting
worse as he gets older. I would be less confused if he was just
outright hard to train... But he's the perfect little gentleman with
me. I can hold him for as long as I want and the most he'll do is
lightly gnaw on my fingers to let me know he's hungry. He has never
bitten me hard enough to draw blood so I don't understand why he reacts
so strongly to other people.

My boyfriend now constantly says that he's evil and although I know
that isn't true, I have no idea what to do. I have to keep him caged or
confined to a single room when I have guests... I also cannot have my
niece and nephews over out of fear that he'll bite them. He seems to be
fine most of the time with my boyfriend but there have been incidents.
The most recent involved Ozzy trying to drag my boyfriend by his toe
(to stash him of course) and then ended up attacking my bf's finger
very viciously when he tried to get Ozzy off of him.

I know that I'll never rehome him because of the biting but I'm hoping
for some advice. I don't want to be afraid that my dear little boy will
attack anyone who isn't me without provocation. I'm also having to
cancel plans for trips to CA to see family and even weekends away from
home because I know that something will happen if I leave him with a
pet sitter. This is especially bad because I don't plan on getting him
vaccinated for rabies. I've heard about the increased incidence of
reaction to the Imrab-3 vaccine and since it's not required for ferrets
where I live, I'm just not taking the risk.

Sorry about the novel. I'm just really concerned about this since I
love him so much and knowing that he's a risk to my family and friends
just hurts. He's my first ferret and he's great in every other way so
I'm kind of lost on this. Any advice at all will be greatly
appreciated.

Cecilia in Vancouver, WA

[Posted in FML 6371]