Does anyone have a good method of ear-cleaning that a single ferret mom
can perform on her own?  I'm at my wit's end with Dervish; she absolutely
refuses to let me get near her little ears.  My best method so far is
dropping the stuff in her ear when she's sleeping, but then she runs and
hides and I can't Q-tip her or get the other ear done at all.  Besides,
then she just starts sleeping under the bed where I can't get to her.
I'm terrified I'll hurt her by holding her too tightly, so scruffing and
restraining her is hard.  I tried that mouth-scruff thing, but I couldn't
see what I was doing.  Any suggestions would be welcomed.
 
The other problem is one we've had off and on before: night prowler
Dervish.  She just can't bear for me to get any sleep at all these days;
it's starting to affect my performance in class.  If I leave her loose in
the room, she climbs on the bed and bites my feet.  (I put her on the
floor, and she climbs right back up.)  If I put her in her cage, she
scratches incessantly; failing that, she grabs the bars with her teeth and
shakes.  I'm afraid she'll loose a tooth!  Should I play with her more
before bedtime?  Less?  Feed her before bed?  Give her food at bedtime to
distract her?
 
She gets plenty of exercise during the day.  I let her out in my room for
about an hour before I go to class.  Then I get home around 2 ... she gets
at least an hour or two of daily free-run time in the whole house; she's
loose in my room to do as she pleases until bedtime, which is around
midnight.  And I'm in there a lot, so she's not neglected.
 
-(TX) Meghan and Dervish the WonderFerret ("Official ferret of the
  University of Texas")
[Posted in FML issue 2646]