>As I started to get very worried (typical furkid mom!!  :), her new coat
>finished "arriving" and strangely enough, KC's symptoms disappeared.  I'm
>asking because my younger baby Jasmine who was born in March '96, hasn't
>gone through this shedding period yet (she still has her summer coat) & I'm
>curious to hear from vets and other fert experts if this is a common
 
Everyone in our house has a different "version" of winter shedding. For
Zoey, one day she is normal and the next day she is a whole different color
and looks like she has gained three pounds her fur gets so long and poofy -
can barely recognize her. Edith, on the other hand, changes her coat some
years and not others. Henry, every winter, he gradually over a period of a
few weeks grows a black mohawk down his head and gets much denser fur, but
not poofy or long. Clarence, he gets a much whiter face in winter and the
fur on his tail gets especially long. Usually during the shedding season we
hear more coughing and sputtering I think because the ferrets are ingesting
a lot more hair while they groom themselves and when they groom each other.
Petromalt or Laxotone helps this coughing during shedding season, and so
does brushing with a soft brush and also more frequent washing of bedding to
get rid of all the fur they shed. As babies go, so far in my experience,
they don't have a dramatic change in summer to winter coats their first year
if they were born during the winter season (in our area March is still
winter!) And then again, some ferrets just don't go through a dramatic coat
change at all ever.
[Posted in FML issue 1749]