Last night my oldest ferret Zooey woke me up several times frantically grooming
my neck.  She was licking me and also "chewing" the way they chew when they have
an itch.  She's never been into that sort of thing (or into licking faces), only
the past couple weeks.  I've also noticed a patterned hair loss and some
swelling in her vulva recently.  I'm waiting for a blood test for adrenal on
her--is there any connection here?  Has anyone else noticed their ferret doing
this w/adrenal?  My other ferret Linus didn't, maybe it's a girl thing?
 
Zooey is 6 years old, and is going to have surgery for G.I.
biopsy/insolinoma/possibly (probably) adrenal.  If anyone has had experience
with this please let me know.  I have been trying to figure out what's the best
thing to do here--I have never had to make these decisions.  6 is geriatric, but
is it that old?  The vet says he has seen advanced inflammatory bowel diseases
turn into lymphoma-that is much more serious that the other two problems she
has.  What would I do then?  He says lymphoma is much more serious and less easy
to control.  She's been very clingy the past couple months, she'll come up to me
and want to be held and then will sit in my arms for hours.  It's very cute but
very scary--this is so not normal for her.  I want to give her the attention but
I feel like i'm losing the other ferrets--esp. the youngest one Sybil who's only
1 1/2yrs old.  Is there a balance here?
 
thanks,
 
Minta
 
(&Zooey, Linus, Martin & Sybil)
[Posted in FML issue 2894]