Hi there, my friend and I both got ferrets last year from a private breeder
that does not descent her ferrets (neutered, just not descented).  She
explained how it was cruel and unnecissary and that those anal glands mostly
just let the animal spray (or "poof" as we cal it) when it thinks it's in
danger, but that it didn't happen very often.  Well we've had these ferrets
for a year and a half, and I thought she was right.  My 2 have only sprayed
once a piece that i know of, and that was right after I brought them home,
and my friends, up until recently, had done the same.  My friends male
albino recently began spraying every time we let him out.  The first time we
really noticed it was a few weeks ago.  We thought him and my male were in a
fight and he was scared or something (but we still thought it was odd since
they play together religiously).  It was a VERY pungent odor.  I have
smelled ferret spray a lot due to going over to this breeders place to play
with all her ferrets, and this was worse than anything I've smelled before.
The following day we let them all out together again, and he sprayed again
while playing with my female.  We thought maybe he was just having a bad
week or something, we we seperated them again and chalked it up to
experience.  Well every day that she has let him out since he sprays.  Even
if he's not playing with any ferret.  It's very bad in our one bedroom
apartments.  Do we need to run and have him descented because his glands are
not working properly?  Should this woman have descented them as kits?  Is
there anything else we can try to stop the spray at all?  If you have any
suggestions please email me.  On a side note, my friend has a third ferret
whom she adopted from a different breeder.  This ferret was a breeding
ferret for this lady but miscarried a litter because of some serious
internal problem (my friend knows more about this than I) and the doctors
ended up spaying her.  I do not know if they spayed her because of the
problem or because the woman didn't want to try to breed her anymore because
of the risk.  At any rate, the ferret was about a year old when she got her
a year or so ago.  She is very light, it feels like she only weighs about
half a pound, like her bones are hollow, and it's always felt like that.
The kits at this breeders house at 1 month old weigh more.  Well anyways,
about the same time the albino male started spraying all the time, this
little girl became totally listless.  She was always small, but she could
always "hold her own" with the other ferrets.  Now she just lays around,
doesn't eat much or poop and refuses to play with the other ferrets.  If we
let her out, she just tries to find a secure spot she can sleep without
anyone else bugging her.  She is very crabby around the other ferrets,
except for the albino male.  We are taking her to the vet today, but we were
wondering if this is some how related or just an odd coincedence.  Well
thanks for taking the time to read this, take care.
 
Shaeryn
[Posted in FML issue 2095]