printf  (Hello world !);
 
Answer to : how can you say a fert is spayed or has been in heat ?
 
You can do it ! Seems I missed the first message about it.  Couldn t find
it again.  How old is tabitha ?  Did she loss hair yet ?  What is the
problem about it ?
 
If she has been in heat, since you got her 7 weeks old, you should have
noticed.  if you did nothing to stop heat, she would loss plenty of hair and
have behaviour problems ( shouting, biting, and,typically walk backwards ),
and possibly develop a false pregnacy and the pyometra or something else.
This you could not miss.  if you didn t notice she have been in heat, and
she is 3 years old, she is probably spayed, or you are blind (!)
 
To say if she has been spayed is quite easy.  Spayed ferret stinks alot less
than entire ones, even females.  We are in summer, now, when smell is the
strongest.  Another sign is hair loss.  entire females loss much more hair
than spayed one s.  Those keep all year long a sort of undercoat.  If she is
an albino, you should not notice it, but if she is a fitch, the undercoat is
white, and not yellow.  Hair is softer among spayed females, too ( in this
period of year).
 
There is a simple way by palpating, but don t try it until you are very
experienced.  Surprinsing your vet couldn t tell !  Maybe an echography
can do it ?
 
But if you did not notice her heat yet she is probably spayed.  Too bad in
Usa you do that very very young, the best way to tell this is looking for
the cicatrice.  it is quite difficult to explain by mail, and so easy to
tell by view !  Hope you undestand what I mean.
 
Answer to different kind of ferret :
Ferret stinks, ferret bites... ( known folk song)
 
If you put your finger in the cage of an animal the man warned you it is
a biter, Don t go look at tigers in the city zoo, they are biters, too !
(Scuse me for the joke, I could not hold myself).
 
For your little ferret, I wonder if this little jill is spayed.  This kind
of behaviour is very common after heat.  Does she eat, and did she loss
weight ?  Does she shout or cry when she sees you and what does she do with
other ferrets ?  And last, most of all, does she attack on sight, or only
when you approach ?  Does she walks backwards ?
 
You could test her for an hormonal dosage.  If there is something wrong, the
best is to spay her QUICK, for this is very difficult to overcome and very
long to recover.  Id she comes in heat again soon, she is very likely to die
of bone marrow depression.
 
Of course, if you are sure she is payed, this doesn t apply.  Then it is
only a bad temper, or maybe the man who owned her before you hit her on the
nose when she was bad.  This is a very nasty habit and makes good biters.
[Posted in FML issue 2335]