Garrison>
 
Re: Descenting - I chose not to have my male silver mitt, Havok, descented when
he was neutered (at around 6 months old). From everything I've read and my
personal experience of 5 years, descenting has *nothing* to do with the
greasiness or overall smell of the ferret. These factors are mainly
hormone-related, and usually become very minimal after neutering/spaying.
Ferrets use the scent glands like a skunk will. If the ferret is scared or
excited, often they will spray. It smells like a skunk, but is nowhere near as
intense, nor does it last longer than 5 minutes before dissipating. Havok didn't
spray all that much, but during the last year or so, he sprayed sometimes for no
reason at all. I learned to live with it, and personally think the extra expense
and possible health threats involved in having it done are not worth it.
 
Re: Grooming - Nail clipping should probably be done once a week to once every
two weeks (depends on how long you can stand them, and how often they get caught
in stuff like towels, loop carpets, etc. Bathing is totally discretionary, I
feel. I know people who have to bathe them once a week, whereas I only bated
Havok once a month - sometimes less frequently. It all boils down to whether
they need it or not. Ear cleaning is probably more important overall than
bathing, in my opinion.
 
Remember, these are just my opinions. Good luck in your fuzzy endeavor!
 
Kent Perrier>
Re: Ferret Shoulder Sliding - Try giving Don a treat while he is on your
shoulder. If you do it enough, he may start linking shoulder-riding with good
food! If he is not afraid of falling, it is pretty hard to get him to stay. My
male silver mitt, Havok, stayed on less and less as he figured out it was not
such a huge drop. He did the sliding-shirt-ruining thing, too. The treats
helped, but not enough to keep him there longer that 10 minutes or so. Good
luck!
 
Jeff
 
[Posted in FML issue 0855]