This is in reference to Sandy Streit's message yesterday about her ferret's
glaucoma.  (I haven't mastered the computer adequately to include a portion
of the message with this reply).  You can call off your search for a seeing
eye rat for Bandit - if he should go blind - it won't slow him down a bit!
I have had two ferrets go blind, and one, Panda, is still with me.  The
blindness occurred so slowly (from cataracts) that Panda adjusted to it with
no trouble.  He knows "his rooms" (my bedroom, bathroom and closet) so well
that he continues to zoom around at top speed.  (Well, top speed for an
eight year old ferret, which is still pretty darned fast!) It is truly
fascinating to watch him race along using the wall as a guide and his
whiskers as feelers.  Occasionally he will bump into something that has been
moved out of place.  He'll bounce off, then glare indignantly - who put THAT
there?  Then he's off again.The only real problem blindness causes him came
with the advent of Yancy, the new baby.  (Yes,THE Yancy of electrical cord
fame, evermore to be known as "Yancy the Supercharged Ferret").  My excuse
to myself for getting Yancy two weeks ago was to cheer Panda up after the
death of Osie Ferret.  Panda, however, saw through that ploy at once, and
recognized little Yancy as a serious threat to FERRET TRANQUILITY.  Yancy
had to be eliminated (or at least, thoroughly cowed).  This is where being
blind becomes just the tiniest liability.  It took Yancy exactly two days to
figure out that every time Panda caught him, he'd get chomped; one more day,
and he realized that PANDA COULDN'T SEE HIM!!  Now Yancy dances in circles
around Panda, who doggedly pursues by smell and sound.  Panda doesn't manage
to corner him very often, but on the rare occasion that he does catch Yancy,
he literally struts with pride for hours!  So you see, Sandy, a blind ferret
still has plenty to dance about!
 
                                Barbara Austin (Panda and Yancy)
[Posted in FML issue 1486]