Hi -
 
Can ferrets get depressed?
 
My Otis (10-month old Silver Mitt) normally pretty much ignores us
unless he wants to play or we have a cheerio or a raisin
box about.
 
Yesterday he started *staring* at us with the saddest ferret face
I've ever seen (in his hammocks - eyes open/sad face; in his bed -
eyes open/sad face; under blankets - eyes open/sad face poking
out - I don't think he closed his eyes at all).  This morning
same thing - very mournful ferret...
 
Everything else seems "normal" - litter pan O.K., picked at his
Iams but ate 3 cheerios, 2 raisins, a 1/2 peanut and 2 drops of
ferretone.  They (he has a brother, Elmo) were out to play all
morning and on/off in the afternoon & evening.
 
What's making him so sad?  Could he be coming down with
something?  Maybe I upset him?  Maybe I worry too much?
 
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of ferret
behavior?
 
thanks,
beth
 
P.S. Nothing new or different happened to him yesterday except
that they got a new toy (a dryer hose that they loved & played
with for over an hour, so I don't think it traumatized him in any
way) and he hissed at me for stopping him from his Spider-
Ferret-climbs-up-the-wall act, so I hissed back at him (I never
hissed at him before).
 
[Posted in FML issue 0747]