I'm not too worried, but my husband is.  Errata is "his" ferret, unless she
poops under his desk, and then she becomes "my" ferret along with the
demonic Francine, who keeps trying to bite off the moles on the back of his
neck.  Francine's just concerned, I tell him.  She wants to remove the nevi
for biopsy in case they're cancerous.
 
Anyway, Errata has gotten huge.  She tips the postal scale at over 2 lbs, up
from her usual 1.5.  To me, the reason is obvious.  She has been eating like
the proverbial pig for the last couple of months.  Mark thinks the change
has been sudden, but to me it has been gradual and attributable to her
intake.  To him, she's obese.  To me, she's just plump.
 
She's pooping fine.  She's a little lazier than usual, but I think I would
be too if I gained 50% of my weight.  I feel no lumps or bumps around her
neck and groin--just rolls of fat.  She's not distended or bloated--the fat
is pretty nicely distributed all over.  Eyes are bright, coat is glossy and
soft, she's scratching less than she did last year this time.  Vulva's
normal, no discharge.  While she is shedding, there's more fur coming in.
She's a late-alter, and will be 2 years old in June.
 
I'd attribute it to seasonal change.  She had a very nice winter coat, but
she didn't gain much weight.  In fact, she had been a little on the scrawny
side since last summer.  I attribute that to the high-fiber diet she had
been eating--polyester fiber, cotton fiber--and the Linatone-flavored
Vaseline I gave her to wash it down.  I suppose, too, that she could just be
filling out to a normal weight--she is a big-framed ferret.
 
We had been caring for two foster ferrets before this change for the bigger
in Errata, and a couple of months before had switched from Iams Kitten to
50/50 Iams/Totally Ferret.  I think that having the foster boys here upset
the routine enough to "cure" Errata of eating the blankets on our bed.
 
Mark thinks that there's some strange hormonics involved--that she thinks
she's pregnant and is now eating for 10.  That would concern me, since it
might indicate some adrenal involvement?  As far as actually being
pregnant--no.  The certain conditions necessary for that outcome were not
present, and I am not ready for a Mustelid Messiah.
 
I also think she may be a little bored.  The fosters were a great exciting
thing in her life, and now we're back to routine.  She's always needed more
stimulation than does Francine (who, if given lemons, would make lemonade
and then go on to develop a hydrogen bomb).
 
Any theories that could put my husband at ease or alert me to a possible
health problem would be appreciated.  Francine would appreciate them, too,
since she's on the losing end at the food bowl.
 
-- Lee
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[Posted in FML issue 1905]