Pivot, a standard sable, was born almost 6.3 years ago, a Danee DeVore
ferret, and till now her only problem has been that the large cingulae
which strengthen her teeth against breakage have meant that she needed
a professional dental cleaning (though she fortunately had no decay
and no gum disease).

With age she has begun having problems with her scent glands which
could not be handled sufficiently with warm compresses or soaks. They
became impacted and infected, so the vet expressed her, the pus is
being cultured, blood testing has been done since there is a good
chance she will need surgery and also at her age and with her infection
it just makes sense, meds have been started, and compresses continue.

Years ago we had one other with age need hers removed and she did fine.

We will see what happens.

Although this has her a bit more quiet and a bit uncomfortable, she
does not have pronounced symptoms, and remains an active ferret, though
only moderately so with this infection. She has very good muscularity
for a ferret her age and except for the thick claws of an older ferret
Pivot looks about three or four.

[Posted in FML 8128]