Have you checked his health? Get a med and dental check and do a
sensory check. Behavioral changes can happen with health changes for
the worse, but also can happen with painful social changes (like if
one of the other ferrets is picking on him too much), with inadvertent
reminders of PAST abuse before you got him, or with sudden sensory
loss. When one of ours lost much her vision early we went to adding
safe scents for scent mapping (Go to the FHL Archives addy which is the
second link below or the FML Archives addy which is in the header of
each day's FML because I think the info is there, too, though I am not
sure of that.) and also scenting toys, and we got her more adventurous
with a rose scented bell mousie on a "fishing line" and using
interesting feelings beneath her feet (even bubble wrap). Years ago we
let some rescues who had been kicked and beaten beat up shoes till
they no longer caused fear, and we noticed that one also freaked if oil
cloth was worn so we let her tear into an oil cloth jacket repeatedly
till she felt that it posed no risk to her. Oh, and check if any
possibly painful noises have been added to the home.

---

Has anyone heard any news about the granting of permission for
deslorelin/Suprelorin Depots of the right size sfor use in carnivores
to be sold in the U.S.? The okay usually takes about 2 years, and being
willing to manufacture a drug in the U.S. (which Peptech was at that
time of application) usually speeds things, but there has been no news
on that score which I have encountered.

Meanwhile, for some of the potential ferret uses the work of people
like Dr. Bob Wagner of Pitt tells a great deal about treatment and more
(as those who attended the IFC symposium will know -- so I wish I could
have been there for more details but look forward to buying any data
sources later available through the IFC), and the long term work of
Dr. Nico Schoemaker of the Netherlands will address further questions
(chemical castration, life long adrenal disease preventative use,
whether the med becomes less effective over time in ferrets as that
class of meds can in humans, etc.)

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html

[Posted in FML 5669]