Hello all,

I posted a couple weeks back about a ferret my husband found in our
neighborhood. No one ever claimed her, so she now has a permanent home
with us. Her name is April. I learned very quickly that this special
little girl is not only deaf (she's a DEW) but is blind as well. We,
along with our vet estimate her age to be in the range of 4 to 6 years.
She is still very thin in spite of a very healthy appetite. Although it
has been almost three weeks since she came to us, she eats and drinks
much more than any of my other guys do. She goes through multiple bowls
of water daily (she hasn't caught on to the idea of a water bottle
yet). They are small bowls, but it still seems like a lot. I'm feeding
her Totally Ferret. I've taken her to the vet twice.the first day we
found her to make sure she was not dehydrated. Then the following week
once it became apparent that no one was looking for her. During both
exams, an irregular heartbeat was detected. We had blood work done,
which all came back normal. Her heartworm test and fecal test were also
negative. I will go forward with x-rays and EKG/ultrasound soon. I want
to let her get used to life first. I tried to integrate her with my
other kids last week, but after a couple of days she stopped eating and
developed diarrhea. That has since resolved. I think it was too soon
and too stressful for her to be with the others. I have no idea if she
has ever met another ferret. My girls are older (both are 8 years old)
and very gentle, but my 3 year old boys are rambunctious and can be
overwhelming in their enthusiasm. For now, I'm keeping her in her
own cage in my office downstairs (the ferret room is upstairs). I've
brought her into the ferret room a couple of times to meet them more
slowly, but she mostly just sits on my lap. Basically, I think she does
not know how to be a ferret. She will explore when I give her time out
of her cage, but only for short times and then she finds her cage or
carrier and curls up to sleep. She seems very content to be in her
cage, which I have never seen in a ferret before. My other kids will
go in their cage to sleep.until you close the cage door and then they
want out. Not April. She also likes to be held and will sleep in my
lap in the evenings while I watch TV. This is nice as I've never had
a lap ferret in my 16 years of ferret family.

I guess I'm just looking for some input or suggestions from anyone
who may have experience with ferrets who are deaf and blind. I've had
ferrets who were one or the other, but not both. Is there a good way to
introduce her to the others without scaring her? And, any of you who
have taken in a ferret who was out on its own for a while, how long
does it take to recover? She was skin and bones and covered with fleas
and stickers when she was found. She is slowly gaining weight and her
fur is getting softer. Don't get me wrong, I realize she is older,
probably didn't have proper care in her past, likely has a heart
problem and she also shows hair loss, so I suspect adrenal as well. I
don't expect her to act like a "normal" ferret, I just want to make
sure I'm doing everything possible to make her life as happy and
healthy as possible.

Thank you very much for any input.

Lucie

               @-"-@

              (=^ ' ^ =)

           o00 -\o/- 00o

[Posted in FML 5951]