Hello Folks:
       We have two ferrets, one silver mitt (the calm, reasonable one) and
one sable (the juvenile delinquent).  They are quite a pair.  A couple of
queries for you all.  First, has anyone else encountered selective nipping
by a ferret?  Our sable (Mudpie, or Muddy for short) seems to like to chomp
on my wife.  Not extremely hard, but certainly hard enough for my wife to
notice and be irritated.  She will not bite me.  Maybe I taste bad.
Second, our silver mitt (Dipstick, or Stick for short) came down with a
rash of sorts last summer.  She developed orange crusting on patches of her
skin, and her underfur turned orange/yellow in those spots.  She still has
this stuff, though it is in different spots now and does not seem to bother
her greatly.  Further, this rash has not been transferred to Muddy.  The
vets at Cornell (I work right next door to the vet school) could not come
up with a definitive diagnosis. I'm not super-concerned because the rash
has not hindered Stick, but I would certainly like some potential
diagnosis.  We do not believe it is an allergy, since we basically
sterilized their room, and replaced their litter with another, etc.
Ciao - Dave and "the girls"
 
[Posted in FML issue 0707]