I've had Peanut for 2-1/2 years, he came home as a baby.  He has always
been my ambassador for fosters, rescues, etc.  But within the past 2 months
he has turned quite vicious with any new ferrets that come into the house.
My first suspicion was adrenal, but that has been negated by a vet.  I plan
on taking him for a second opinion to Dr. Allum.
 
He is fine with the ferrets who have been here prior to February, but
anyone since, he has literally been attacking.  I have the older little
girl, Mira who came through with Cupcake, caged separately because he is
horribly vicious with her.  She is tiny and pretty timid to begin with,
she does not even try to defend herself.  I have a large carrier that I
put Peanut in during group runtime so Mira came be out with the group for a
bit (they bounce in and out of the group cage for play items).  We had a
very nice day here today and everyone was out on leashes at some point.
When they came back in, my daughter was just letting them in the rec room.
Peanut was in the carrier at the end of the happenings and I did not know
that Mira was asleep in the group cage.  I rounded everyone up and put them
in for naps, believing Mira to be upstairs in her cage.  I just sat down
when I heard her screams (and screams they are).  She had been asleep in
a hammock when he went after her, hell it is a hammock he does not even
sleep in!!  Usually he will release as soon as I get there, but he just
kept biting at her.  I finally grabbed him from under so the hammock was
between my hand and him (hoping for some protection!).
 
Does anyone have any clue or experience???  We also picked up a sweet
albino boy this weekend from a terrible family in Maryland.  Peanut has
went after him several times too, but this guy is big and young and has
fought back.  If Peanut were a child, I would be looking to take him to
see a counselor for such physical outbursts!!  Can a ferret develop mental
problems??  I'm not kidding, this is not the same ferret I've known for the
past 2-1/2 years.  And his attacks seem to be getting worse.  He is even
pretty mean with his old cagemates during playtime, he grabbed one of the
guys by the neck the other day and started to drag him!!  And no, this is
was not normal play, he has never done this in his life.
 
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.  I hate having him
confined, but I am really starting to worry about the safety of the other
ferrets.  I have two ferrets age 6 (Jack just had surgery on the 12th and
Mira needs to go to Dr. Weiss soon), plus a 4.5 year old and an almost 8
year old.
 
Please if you have any clue, I've never seen this type of behavior before
and have no clue how to help Peanut.
 
Hugs,
 
Jen and Gang
[Posted in FML issue 3066]