Thank you very much to all that responded to my Friday email for help with
the 1 year old male fert I am sitting thru this evening.
When I wrote the "roommate cannot stand the stench of his urine" I was
quoting the owner, and ass-u-med he is neutered and descented. From my
observations since 11pm Thursday night thru Monday morning, the urine
doesn't smell, it's the ferret himself:
1. Cassidy "dribbles" urine, especially when one of my female ferts are
nearby. My hands are "sticky" after handling him. I assume this is from
his urine. (TLE - I don't know what an abnormal urine smell smell's like.
The color is deep yellow, definitely darker than my females' urine. He is
litterbox trained, so I could not observe color consistency.)
2. He has a strong odor all over, not a bad smell, just a ferret smell. In
general, I cannot smell his odor in my home, only when I am holding him or
standing over his cage/blankie. The litterbox does not smell.
3. No testicles. I pressed down on where the testicles should be and it
was "hard." I did the same thing to a different male fert on Saturday and it
was "soft."
4. No other ferret interaction after Cassidy attacked Gina Thursday night.
To me this aggression was not dominance fighting. I experience it every
time I "sit" with Chipper and a visiting fert. Interesting observation -
Chipper is scared of Cassidy, backed up and hissed. She has been hiding all
weekend, where as other times she sits outside the visiting ferts cage and
glares at him/her. Whenever Cassidy was out of his cage, he was actively
looking for my two girls, who of course, were in a protected area.
Suggestions you gave me were: Not descented, Protein Imbalance/Lab Workup on
Urine, Incomplete Neuter, Adrenal Tumor, and Urinary Tract Infection. I
have printed out the email responses, and will be providing her with the
name of a known ferret vet in our area, the FML FAQ, and Pam Grant's food
analysis info/chart.
Any other thoughts before 5pm east coast time are welcomed.
[Posted in FML issue 1701]
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