Hi all . . .
 
This will be my last post Re my ferret, Smokey, until I receive the lab
report from Animal Control--then I'll post what I find out from that.
 
Sukie: I don't mind the information that I gave being questioned, though I
do find your openly skeptical tone a bit insulting.  I'm passing the
information along the best I can w/o having the report to refer to, and w/o
having been present at the time.  Please keep in mind the incident happened
over a year ago, and the child's mother was hysterical when she called me at
4 am.  The whole reason I related the story was to point out that the animal
was NOT being accused of "just suddenly becoming vicious" and was not being
used as a scapegoat.  There was background info that animal control DOES NOT
include in their statistics of reported bite incidents.  The ferret, who had
never been caged long-term in her life, was caged EXCESSIVELY before the
bite incident, which could have been a contributing factor to the biting.
The other issue was an unchecked and untreated infestation of ear mites.
Whether they were actually *in* the brain, I don't know, and I'm waiting for
the lab report, which I mentioned in FML two days ago, which should at least
partly answer your questions about the report today.  I also think the
ferret should have been in a more secure cage at night--this would have
never happened if they'd had Smokey in the cage I provided.
 
The little girl turned 3 about a month after she was bit.  The doctor
*stopped counting* puncture wounds when he reached 30--two wounds per bite
makes 15+ bites, on cheeks, ears, head, nose, and eyes.  I called it "chewed
up"--what else do you call that many bites at one time?  A couple is 2, a
few is 3 or 4 .  .  .  It was 4 am when she was bitten, and she's a "hard"
sleeper and wakes up disorientated (She's going to be a coffee drinker, I
bet--wakes up slow and crabby <grin>).  She's always been this way, and
probably waking up in pain caused even more disorientation.  By the time her
screams woke up mom and mom got into the room, the child was holding Smokey
at arms length .  .  .  and had *already* been bitten that many times.
Perhaps some ferrets are slow, but mine have always been very quick.  And 3
year olds don't have the greatest coordination in the world, either.
 
Yes, there are scars, a lot of them, still.  I said there would be no
PERMANENT scarring--her young resiliant skin will shed old cells, renew
itself, and in a few years the scars will disappear.  In a year's time
they've faded quite a bit.
 
Ok, my use of "convulsing" was poor word choice.  "Freaking out" describes
what was *described to me* better.  They said she was throwing herself at
the cage door and sides, rolling, thrashing, writhing, and biting anything
she could reach.  She was acting this way when they left for the hospital,
and still when they returned, and kept it up until animal control took her
away, four hours later.  Anim.  contr.  transferred her to their own cage
wearing gloves, and even then, she got away twice.  I can only hope they
treated her humanely.  It breaks my heart to consider that they might have
been impatient and cruel.
 
I quote the mother when I say "Smokey was not the same sweet animal she had
been the day before."  And I don't think they were using her as a
scapegoat--they were never angry at Smokey for biting, just wanted to know
what caused that behavior.
 
I'm not "dissing" ferrets--I have one again, now that I have an "animal
friendly" landlord, and I love my Pepper very much.  I'm addicted to the
little critters.  The child's mother likes Pepper too, and the child herself
is crazy about him--she wasn't traumatized by being bit, and her family
hasn't gone on a "ferret-bashing" crusade.  Far from that--they've wracked
their brains to figure what happened to make her bite that way.
 
When cats and dogs bite, most people assume they've been mistreated somehow.
When ferrets bite, the general public assumes they're "wild animals."
Samantha was bitten pretty seriously--I was trying to relate the oddness of
the behavior and find underlying reasons for it, I was not attempting to
"ferret-bash."
 
I don't know if this post appeases any skepticism, perhaps only having known
animal and child would accomplish that, but I hope I answered some of the
questions.  When I get the lab report, I'll let everybody know what it says.
Until then, there's no point debating the information--I've explained
everything that I can, with only the best of intentions.
 
--Sherri
[Posted in FML issue 1733]