Dear Danielle:
 
>Here is the dilemma I am faced with.  I have two ferrets who are not
>descented and they are driving my hubby crazy.  Cleo actually climbed into
>his briefcase and sprayed in it.  She frequently chews his shoes.  I think
>she gets mad at him for yelling, so she rebels.  She has never done this
>to my stuff.  Anyway, I had to have one of my ferrets descented at six
>months due to impacted glands and the surgery was very successful.  My
>hubby wants me to descent the other two, but after reading Dr. William's
>comments, I am very hesistant.  Is it ok to descent at one year?  When
>you say "older" ferrets, how old?  My hubby told me that if they are not
>descented, I will have to give them up because he cannot tolerate it for
>the next however many years.
 
Well I certainly wouldn't want to see your ferrets thrown out of a good
home.  Remember though, that descenting will not stop this ferret from
chewing shoes, or solve what appears to be a behavioral adaptation toward
your husband.
 
In this case, you descent regardless of the age - I'm not going to say one
year is okay and two is bad - it doesn't work like that, and all ferrets
are individuals.  All I can tell you is that complications increase with
age, so if you are going to do it, do it now.
 
We have a ferret that bites me (and hard) but never bites Colleen.
However, the ferret is a part of her life, and even though I may not
particularly appreciate this animal, I would never ask her to give him
away - I love my wife too much.  We all have to put up with things about
our spouses which we don't appreciate - some may snore, some may be
absent-minded, some may be bad cooks.  (Me, I'm the middle one.)  The rare
expression of anal glands seems like a pretty small problem, all in all....
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3222]