Last night a woman called me and asked me to take some of her ferrets off
her hands.  Seems she had bred her pair and couldn't find a soul who wanted
her kits.  Both parents are beautiful badgers, and one kit looks like mum
and dad, the other is a sable.
 
However, here's the odd thing - it seems that when the kits were a few weeks
old, the woman put another adult female in the cage with the mum and kits.
This adult female was apparently a wanna-be mum and spent a great deal of
time grooming the babies -so much in fact, that she appears to have licked
off their genitals.  The male kit has a teeny weeny dot where his penis
*should* appear, and the female appears to have no "privates" whatsoever.
What a pickle.  The woman who bred them said "Weird, huh?  I guess they'll
grow back."
 
Eek.  Is this common?  What will happen?  I just got them this evening and
of course I'll monitor them and see if they are urinating effeciently, and
I'll get them to a vet, but I am curious - will they be permanently damaged
as a result or will they recover?  Any breeders with helpful hints are
REALLY welcome to respond.  This is a first for me.
 
By the way - I offered to undertake the cost of spaying mum, and she agreed,
as well she gave me the other wanna-be female who is guilty of the genital
mutilation, so these babies are going to be up for adoption as soon as we
figure out how they are physically.  Except maybe the badger male ... he's
real cute and we may just keep him for ourselves!
 
Sheena
Wherret Ferrets Halfway House and Ferretry
Ferret Association of Greater Vancouver
[Posted in FML issue 1653]