Hello again,
 
I have a change of pace here - a pet store that actually takes very good
care of its little fuzz-ball inmates.  I was amazed, the little ones were in
a big, well venilated cage with the food on one end and a BIG, clean litter
box on the other end (they must have changed it 3-4 times a day, there were
a good 15 kits in the cage).  In between, the cage was lined with nice
fluffy towels, and full of little boxes, hammocks, chew toys, and
hidey-tubes.  Wow.  They also keep the ferrets well away from the rodent
cages, which apparently cuts down on respiratory problems.  I now buy my
ferret food there, and they always have happy, healthy scruff-monsters for
sale.  Anyway, I thought I would give them a free plug for doing a good job -
but now I can't remember the name of the place.  Ooops.  Oh well, it's in the
Walmart Shopping Plaza across from New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg,
Virginia (a town adjacent to Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech is).
 
Which brings me to the point of this post.  They had a large number of new
kits in stock (5-7 weeks) old, and I while playing with one of them, it
occurred to me that the animal was completely blind.  He responded to sound
and touch, but he did not respond at all to visual input (I was letting him
play with a leather strap I have on my keychain, if I removed the strap from
his mouth, he would wave his paws around searchingly - even if it was in
plain sight.  If I jangled the keys, he would pounce in the direction of the
noise, and search for the strap with nose and paw).  My question is, how
common is blindness in ferrets?  I seem to remember someone posting about
albinos and blindness, but this one was a standard looking sable with a
white blaze, and four white paws (he looked remarkably like two of mine,
actually).
 
Oddly enough, the kit probably would make someone a very good companion, he
was by far the most inquisitive and adventurous of the bunch, and had a
sweet personality to boot.  I hope he finds a good home...(no, I can't have
another, I can't have another, I can't have another, STOP ME!)
 
Gwen M. Daley
[log in to unmask]
Department of Geological Sciences
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0420
[Posted in FML issue 1506]