Hi.  I have two neutered male ferrets and they always seem to be scratching.
I have read before that ferrets tend to scratch alot but this seems to be
especially excessive.  I've had them for over a year and I think that they've
been scratching more in the last several months than they ever used to.
I am nearly positive that they do not have fleas.  I never see any fleas on
them and they have no 'flea dirt' and I don't notice any fleas floating off
them when I bathe them.  I give them a bath about once a week.  Is this too
often?  Could they have dry skin due to frequent bathing and just the fact
that air is dryer in the winter?  I also tend to use flea shampoo rather than
the regular stuff.  Could this be harsher than regular shampoo?  I use Iams
kitten food and put linatone on it, so I'm fairly certain their diet is fine.
The itching seems very disruptive to them.  They will abruptly interrupt what
they are doing and jerk around to bite at their tails for instance.  Then
they will seem okay for a moment but then they will jerk around to bite at
some other itch.
Occasionally one of my ferrets will be in a deep sleep and then all of a
sudden I'll hear him jerk awake, gallop about 10 feet across the room, stop
abruptly, and bite at some itch.  He always seems sort of startled when he
does this.
This doesn't seem normal to me, so I thought I'd ask.  I figure my ferrets
are either itchy, or schizophrenic.  :-)
If anyone can give me advice, please do so!
Thanks,
Jill
 
[Posted in FML issue 0621]