bill & diane killian wrote:
>before.  Well there have been really odd ferrets that poof more than others
>and have a pscychological need for descenting.  None I know personally but
>have heard of a few.
 
Easel was one, we had her descented, it was an uncomfortable situation but
mostly uneventful recovery, and I would hope not to have to do it again.
When we got her, for whatever reason, she was *terrified* of Noodle and
Friday and would poof whenever either laid a hair on her. Noodle's form of
love is a rather 'rough' love, so she ended up poofing two or three times
a day. Even when she wasn't afraid of Noodle any more (after two months or
so) she would poof whenever they'd fight.
 
We decided to get her descented because:
 
1) both me and my boyfriend are asthmatics, and her poofing aggravated
   that condition
2) we've both got other pet allergies, and the poof residue also appeared
   to aggravate that, and
3) she stank to high heaven *all* the time.
 
Please, FML folks, DON'T flame people who make the decision to get their
pets descented.  There was a person who clearly felt persecuted about their
decision to descent their pet - I'm pretty disappointed that FMLers would
react like that to someone who'd put thought into their decision and wasn't
making it rashly.  The proper response, as many of you know, is 'if there is
need, do it, otherwise it's unnecessary.'
 
If, for some reason, you HAVE to descent your ferret, I've found the
following post-op procedures help a lot in having the ferret recover quickly
and without complications.
 
1. Have a hospital cage in isolation from the other ferrets.  The incisions,
because of the way ferrets walk and use the litter, are obvious candidates
for painful infection.  Infection can cause the openings to swell, which can
prevent the ferret from defecating.  Have a supply of old towels and line
the cage with those.  Clean the cage daily or twice daily.
2. Do NOT NOT NOT let the ferret play with other ferrets until the incisions
are CLOSED.  I cannot stress this enough.  This will take a few days.
Better to wait a full week to be safe.  Keep the ferret ISOLATED and play
with it yourself.  The day after the op, don't let it out - force it to be
bored and sleep.  The second day after the op, only play with it a little.
Don't let it get riled.  From that point on, based on the state of the
incisions and your own good judgement, play with it a little bit more and
more.
3. You may want to put the ferret on a course of amoxi to prevent infection.
4. Don't bother washing the ferret or the incisions - if they've closed, you
may re-open them.
 
I found that after about two weeks of careful monitoring and isolation,
everything was kosher again and everyone could play with everyone else.
If someone needs any advice I might've skipped over in this message, send
me email.
 
And FMLers - remember, we're all here for the same reason - we love ferrets.
If someone's on the list, it's probably because they care enough to learn -
so offer information and advice, don't flame!  On the other side of things,
recognize that a sternly-worded reply is often NOT a flame - the worst thing
you can do on the Internet is jump to conclusions.
 
Melissa
 
 ___ Melissa Litwicki __ [log in to unmask] ___
 By the whole newsgroup devoted tennis showing
     it after scarfing fork and laughters
[Posted in FML issue 1896]