Lori writes:
 
>First, Our 3yr old, fixed male, Andy, has become suddenly aggressive.
>For the last few weeks, he has been really attacking our 3yr old, fixed
>female, Ramsey.
 
This reminds me of two cases that I was involved with in the recent past.
Neither ferrets were mine, but I knew one of the ferrets extremely well.
In fact, I had known him since he was a kit.  His name was Jeepers, and he
was 4 years old.  (Yes, he past away, but his passing helped save another's
life.) Jeepers was housed with another ferret(a neutered male) that he
seemed to have become "attracted" to.  My friend, Denise, and I found it
amusing at first.  (Jeepers wasn't as big as the other ferret so he wasn't
hurting him.) What was even more confusing was that Jeepers was from
Marshall Farms and was neutered very young.  He never experienced being a
whole male.  Eventually, puss was observed coming out of his penis.  Even
with this, he showed no signs of stress.  Denise took him to Dr.  Kawasaki
who had seen this once before.  Jeepers had an adrenal tumor and what he
called "triple bladder syndrome" (the bladder and two pockets of puss).
The next day, Dr.  Kawasaki operated on Jeepers.  He removed the tumor and
the two pockets of puss.  Unfortunately, Jeepers died after surgery.  We
were all shocked.  Other than this, he was extremely healthy; the best
candidate for surgery.
 
A few weeks later, I spoke to another friend who described a similar
behavior in her male ferret (7 years old).  I suggested she see Dr.
Kawasaki.  He confirmed our fear.  Bandit had the same condition (adrenal
tumor and "triple bladder syndrome").  My friend was devastated.  Dr.  K
had seen two cases, and both died.  The question was whether to put a 7
y.o.  through a surgery that he probably wouldn't survive.  But Dr.  K had
an idea.  He wanted to do the surgery (no charge) and try something
different.  The ferret would never be in any additional pain.  He would
simply not wake up from surgery if it didn't work, just as the others if
the surgery didn't work.  This time, Dr.  K drained the pockets instead of
removing them as before.  (It worked in a dog that had a similar
condition.) Bandit survived.  He had to be on batryl for a while to keep
the infection from coming back but he's still alive after 2 months.  He has
his ups and downs, but he is also 7 y.o.
 
Of course, I'm no vet.  It just may just be the move that triggered this
behavior in Andy.  But you asked if anybody had seen this behavior before.
I don't know if Andy is just being aggressive or if he is also trying to
"mate" with Ramsey.  But when you stated that Andy was acting like an
intact male, I thought of these two cases.  If you decide to take him to
the vet, and the vet thinks that "triple bladder syndrome" is possible, he
can call Dr. K at 703-494-0094.  Dr. K will be happy to help if he can.
 
Good Luck!!
 
Ellen Byrne
Shadyside Ferrets
Metro Ferret Rescue League
[Posted in FML issue 1336]