As some know we have one ferret who is and has always been a rude
fighter -- normally biting ferrets' anuses. Also, we have one who
had her left adrenal removed several years ago (right still fine
on a recent TN Panel) whose vulva never went down completely. For
that reason Telemna bites Whizbang's vulva when they have a serious
argument. Whizbang has a bad problem with infections afterward and
normally needs me to clean the area during that time and to have Steve
give her antibiotics (since I am highly allergic to one that works).
This latest time I tried something different. Whizbang's vulva looked
so sore that i cleaned it with olive oil. The result was that Whizbang
groomed it and lo and behold it got a lot better.
Then it struck us that perhaps due to early removal from her mother
that Whizbang may have never learned good self-grooming.
So, we began putting oil on her vulva at least once a day. There is a
complete and rapid change for the better -- even faster than the
antibiotics could do.
Steve and I have noticed that if ferrets groom cuts we have the cuts
tend to heal faster, so this isn't a huge surprise even beyond the
simple cleaniness aspect.
So, if someone has a similar situation consider that perhaps the
grooming the ferret is getting may be only from others and maybe that
edible oil put on the areas will help teach the ferret about needed
self-grooming.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6224]
