Just a few comments:
 
Andrea:
 
Believe me, I know how worried a mom can get about putting her "kids"
through surgery. I've done it several times myself.
 
You asked about a vet. One vet I highly recommend because of his
excellent work with ferrets (including two of mine) is Dr. Tom Kawasaki.
However, he is located in Woodbridge, Va., which is pretty far from where
you are. But if you are really concerned about getting a great ferret
vet, he's the one to go to. I have his number if you need it.
 
Russ:
 
If you purchased Zuki from a pet store, chances are about 99.9% she is
fixed. The only way to really tell is if she goes into season (marked by
a very increased and wet-looking vulva). All of my ferrets are fixed, and
they *all* sniff each other's butts!
 
Paula:
 
It seems to me (but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong) that females
for some reason have more of a tendency to stash food. My 3 1/2 year old
female has been doing it all her life. I'm sure you're a great mom; those
darn children just *love* to hide things :).
 
Jennifer:
 
You were talking about Maggie's habits now that she's older. I have a
ferret going on 8 years who basically does nothing but sleep. For the
past two years, she really hasn't played or anything - just comes out a
"twinkles" around and then goes back to sleep. They really do slow down
as they get older - I don't care what anyone says. BTW, she's had a rat
tail for about a year.
 
It's funny you should mention ferret acne. My 2 year old black-eyed white
went through his first real coat change and lost a lot of hair on his
tail. Indeed, he had blackheads galore. It was recommended to me that I
use those Stridex pads to clean his tail. I didn't; I kept getting them
out myself and eventually his hair all grew back.
 
Now, on to more sober matters. Speaking of the 7+ year old ferret,
Elektra, I would like anyone with any experience or detailed knowledge to
*please* give me information on stomach ulcers. Elektra and her fuzzy family
went on "vacation" a few weeks ago (while we did the same) and she had
been eating fine. When we got back, we were surprised to see she had
gotten up to a pound (she usually weighs about 14 oz.). From then on it
was all downhill.
 
She stopped eating and drinking anything. Not even duck soup. Now she's
been a finicky eater the past couple of years - doesn't eat for a while,
then suddenly does - but she would *always* eat duck soup. I got to the
point where I was force feeding her several times a day just to keep her
alive. When we went to the vet on Tuesday, he put an IV in her to get
fluids going but bascially gave us the impression that we should have her
put to sleep.
 
I think she's had ulcers for a while (grinding of teeth) but they never
seemed to bother her that much. Now suddenly, she wasn't even moving
around. We put her on amoxicillin, and she is showing a tiny bit of an
appetite now, but she's still not eating enough. Also, her teeth are
really covered with tartar (it's hard to get into that tiny mouth to
scale teeth - she fights too much and there's no room). So my question
is...could it be the ulcers or the teeth? We don't know what to do.
 
Any information anyone could give us would be great.
 
Amy & Dave (and their gaggle of giggling ferrets)
[Posted in FML issue 0976]