Howdy all,
 
Recently, (last friday night) my room mate and I picked up from a local pet
store a slightly older ferret.  She was somewhere over 6 months old.  This
is the second ferret I've owned, and I feel she might be a bit of a
challange to work with, since she's a bit older to start litter training,
and bite un-training.
 
However, I'm a slight bit worried, because last night while I was in the
room with her, she suddenly started sneezing.  This was not surprising,
since the room we are keeping her in for the moment (until we move next
weekend) is a bit dusty.  What had me worried is that she sneezed about
20-30 times in a row, and so violently that she was slamming her own head
into the floor.  Hard.  It was enough to make a serious thumping noise.  I
finally managed to grab her and pull her out of the make-shift cage (a cat
carrier that we leave open for her to go in and out of, so she has a place
to feel is a room for her.) and held her until she stopped sneezing so that
she wasn't smashing her head onto the floor.  (I don't know if it's possible
for the ferret to hurt herself, but I don't like to take chances.)
 
Could this be from some type of allergic reaction?  Two new elements were
introduced last night, litter for her box, and Ferretone.  The litter was in
the room for a while before this happened, (several hours) and she had
sniffed it, and walked through it.  The ferretone she had many twenty
minutes to a half hour before.
 
Has anyone else experienced this type behavior?  Should I be worried, or is
it okay?  Also, she tends to shiver a LOT whenever she is held.  I do not
remember my last ferret shaking so much when held.  Perhaps I'm overly
concerned, but chalk it up to wanting to be sure that my pet is okay.
 
Thanks for the help folks.
 
Ed Greaves
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[Posted in FML issue 1807]