Received more replies to my inquiry, and another (Should have asked
permission to cite her.  Hey, S. can I cite you?) noticed one subset which
seems to be cohesive and involves kidney illness along with palate sores,
sometimes among multiple individuals in one location.  This leads me to
wonder what forms of possibly contagious kidney illnesses the vets here
know exist in ferrets.  Reports to others who then passed on info to me
came from MD, PA, CT, NY, and NJ, if I recall correctly.
 
Spotty's inflammation continues to decrease; the pred seems to agree with
it, so in his case it could well just have been related to his inflammatory
bowel problems.  Can see well enough now to verify that it was NOT a
scratch -- more like a huge blood blister taking up much of the soft palate
which burst and then bled a lot.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2385]