A little background first....
 
I posted here a couple weeks ago, about one of our ferrets, Amber, having a
reaction in our house.  As it turned out, the best we could figure was that
she was allergic to something in the house (not something we could
determine - it wasn't specific to any one room).  So we decided that we
couldn't keep her, and she went on to a new home, where she's fine and
healthy.
 
However, we did decide to keep her playmate, Odin, to whom we had become
very attached, and just get a new playmate for him as soon as possible.  We
are still waiting, but we seem to have come up against a new behavioral
problem that we are not sure how to handle.
 
Because Odin is now by himself for the first time, we're trying to give him
as much love and attention as we can.  Our routine is that we usually take
him downstairs with us for an hour or so in the morning - we have a section
of the kitchen blockaded off where he can run around and play, and not get
into too much trouble!  Then he gets caged during the day, and let out again
in the evening when we're home.  He seems to be doing okay - eating and
drinking well, playing pretty good with us.
 
Now the problem...
 
Whenever we leave the section of the kitchen where he is, we come back to
find that he's peed (and sometimes pooped) in a number of places on the
floor.  Almost always in front of the door to the basement, and often right
near the litter box.  I've heard of ferrets doing this, cuz they're upset at
you, but this morning was really extreme.  We had to go out and shovel the
snow (this is spring in New England?), but we wanted him to have his
playtime.  So we left him out to play.  I came back in and found 5 or 6
different puddles (and a few were pretty small, some almost clear), plus one
small poop on the bottom of the door (like he just backed up against the
door and went a little bit).  We were only outside for 20-25 minutes *max*.
I have to assume that he is doing this deliberately!
 
Generally, he is so-so about the litter box.  He knows it's there - he uses
it sometimes - we try and catch him the rest of the times.  (He's perfect in
his cage.) Sometimes when he's playing hard, he just backs up anywhere and
goes almost immediately, and pretty frequently in small amounts.  His poops
also seem to be a little bit runnier when he's out playing - but they're
normal in his cage.  I was almost wondering if he had an incontinence
problem, but it only seems to happen when he gets really excited.  (Odin is
about 7 months old.)
 
Any suggestions on how to handle this?  Will it just stop when he has
another ferret to play with again?  I know he misses Amber and playing with
us just isn't the same.  And I'm feeling really bad about not being able to
spend all our time with him, but stuff just isn't getting done around the
house that needs to, and we can't do it all from the kitchen!  (And right
now, letting him have the run of the house just isn't an option.)
 
Thanks.
 
Amy
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Amy Goldman
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[Posted in FML issue 1535]