I wash my ferret every week. However, by the time I get ready to wash
it, a large amount of dark brown waxy substance has accumulated in its
ears. I have examined the material fairly closely and do not see
anything that resembles a mite (Although I have never seen an ear mite
and don't really know what I am looking for). I have also tried using
 
[Something that moves]
 
the drops that are supposed to kill mites, but that didn't help. I
would like to know if this is normal ear wax or a symptom of some
pathological condition.
 
[In our relatively limited experience, ferrets do seem to generate
a lot of ear wax]
 
I am also concerned about the new ferret disease that I have read
about on the net recently (related to cancer of the pancreas, I
believe).  I have three small children and we all play a lot with the
ferret.  Is there any evidence that the disease can be transferred to
people? A veterinarian friend said that there have been studies about
transmission of feline leukemia virus to people, but so far the
studies have been inconclusive.
 
                                                Ed
 
[You mean lymphosarcoma?  Some vets think that it may be a similar
thing to FeLV, but there's no real evidence that it's actually
a virus (transmittable disease) in ferrets, let alone catchable
by humans.  There appear to have been three ferret deaths due to
this amongst the subscribers to the mailing list, (our Toby for one).
If I'm not mistaken, they were all under 1 year old.]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0105]