Ear mites can be a problem.  They are definitly an irritation to the
ferret.  They cause itching and scratching and as a result it would be
possible for an infection to develop.  I beleive that if ear mites go
without treatment it is possible that damage might occur to the inner ear.
 
From personal experience... I realized that one of our ferrets, Fargo, had
ear mites.  I went to the pet store and got one of the over the counter
mite treatments.  Two weeks later, no better.  I went back got a different
brand.  Two weeks later, no better.
 
What the heck was going on?  It's not easy putting nasty greasy drops in a
ferrets ear by yourself every day.  It was getting old.  Went to the vet...
she said that often a regular application of Front Line will get rid of the
ear mites as well as the fleas.  She also said that some had been known to
apply the Front Line directly into the ear, but that she could NOT
recommend that.
 
I tried this and it worked, no more mites!  Fargo became a new ferret!  I
hadn't realized how much the mites had been bothering her.  Since then I
have switched to Advantage rather than Front Line and I still haven't seen
a recurrance of ear mites.
 
Your post got me interested so I looked up mites in James Fox's book (1989
edition, so it's not exactly up to date).  He mentions such terms as otitis
externa, and otitis interna, which I take just to mean external and
internal ear irritation, can someone enlighten me?  Also he makes this
statement, "In a case of secondary otitis interna, a ferret was observed
to be ataxic and circling." What does ataxic mean?
 
He does also say that although topical treatments to the ear canal can be
effective failure can result from 3 things (paraphrased):
1) ferret resists treatment (don't we know this one!)
2) small ears make it hard to get the stuff where it's supposed to go
3) this method treats the ears, but not the whole body
 
He recommends a whole body treatment.  He mentions a whole body treatment
with flea powder, but I think this is before products like Advantage and
Front Line came out, so this would probably be logical.
 
Fox also states that ivermectin can be used as an internal treatment.
 
I'd try some Front Line or Advantage, follow the directions on the
container, but just use a drop or two for each ferret rather than the whole
tube (vet actually recommended 0.2cc/ferret).  One tube/month is enough for
all 4 of our ferrets and these can be purchased at a vet's office w/out a
vet visit.
 
Leigh
[Posted in FML issue 2569]