I got Rocky 2 years ago.  He is a Marshall's pet store sable, and was
exactly 8 weeks old when I picked him up.  From day one he had almost
total free run, as no cage could hold him.  He was the Houdini of
Mustelids.  This became a problem as we lived in an apartment at the time
and we couldn't totally ferret proof the place.  (for one thing, the gap
under the front door was so large he could slip under it) Not good.  Then
I found a rabbit cage made locally that was of much better construction
but had a wire floor.  After a trip to the local remnant store, poof - a
ferret proof and ferret-feet-friendly cage.
 
Still, he never minded being alone in his cage all day, he would just
snooze in his cage and awake when we got home, ready to come out and
spin, jump, pounce and dance for hours.  He ate like a horse and grew
pretty chunky.
 
Then his roof caved in.
 
My wife took in a 14 week old silver who the owners didn't want because
she is stone-cold deaf.  They were going to take her up to Flathead Mtn.
and let her go.  (Here in Alaska that is a 100% death sentence for ANY
ferret, let alone a deaf one)  We brought her home, put "Mysty" in with
Rocky, and about a day later noticed something strange.  While Mysty is,
and always has been, the archetypical frantic ferret (LOUD dooking,
spinning, crashing into walls, climbing the stereo cabinet just to hurl
CD's at us, ect, ect) Rocky seemed to slow down.  He stopped eating as
much, he wouldn't play as hard, and if Mysty was out and he was in the
cage he would just lie on the floor and stare at her.  (Not watch, STARE)
After a time Mysty grew large enough that she and Rocky couldn't
comfortably use the same cage and we moved her to Rockys first one.
 
Slowly Rocky began to pick up again.  He was eating better, Started
playing more, even went back to hiding my socks under the La-Z-Boy again.
(That La-Z-Boy, BTW, has been "disabled" to prevent any accidents)
 
Then things turned around again.  In the time span of 2 weeks my wife and
I closed on a house, moved in, and 3 more kids have come to live with us.
Zeus - a petstore Cinnamon/Champagne that was a "Impulse buy" one day
when we went to get food and ferretone for the others and my wife "just
had to have him".  3 days later came Chocolate, a tiny, tiny little 3
month old sable that one of her friends sisters was giving away because
"she didn't realize they stink so much." (Well, DUH, clean the damn
litter box more than once every 2 weeks!) and on the heels of her came
Bandita, a 4 month old 1/2 starved light colored sable that had also been
a "Friend of a friend's" who didn't want her anymore.  Well, we promptly
went back to the pet store as we realized we were out of cage space and
bought "the 3 stooges" as the last three have come to be known one of
those 6 story deluxe "apartments".  The freaking thing is bigger than the
Armour (sp) in our bedroom.  The 3 kids in the condo have gotten along
fantastically well, just a skirmish here and there over territory.
(Chocolate sleeps in the top hammock, Zeus sleeps in the middle hammock,
Bandita sleeps on Zeus) (It IS Alaska, Zeus has turned into the LARGEST
ferret I have ever seen meaning he puts out a lot of body heat, and
Bandita es no estupida)
 
So after a long pre-amble, here it is.  Mysty gets along great with Rocky
and Zeus during playtime, and will tolerate Bandita, But she HATES
CHOCOLATES GUTS!  She only nipped a little as a kit, and quickly trained
out of it after only a couple of applications of bitter apple, but if you
open her cage even a tiny bit while Chocolate is out she will damn near
tear your arm off to get out and attack her.  Serious, blood-drawing,
going for the jugular, out to kill type stuff.  And with her at 3 1/2
pounds to Chocolates just a smidge over one she does have the advantage.
We can never let them out together during playtime, even supervised.
Mysty just doesn't care.  She wants Chocolate dead and that's all there
is to it.  Their cages have been next to each other for 2 1/2 months now
to let them get used to each other (well, 2 inches apart, after Mysty
grabbed Chocolates foot through the bars once), we have exchanged bedding
(that only resulted in a confused Chocolate and a highly pissed off Mysty
who decided to sleep in a "toob" until we washed her own bedding and put
it back), we tried spraying Chocolate with apple bitter which didn't slow
down Mysty's psychotic rampages one iota but had Chocolate BEGGING for a
bath-in short, we don't know what else to do.
 
Second, Rocky has slowed down more than ever.  He barely eats anymore,
when I used to get a serious "lunge for the bars pick me up dad PICK ME
UP!" greeting at night I now only get a head raise, a sigh, and then back
to sleep.  When its playtime he mostly just follows one of the others
around, occasionally making a hop here or there but nothing that
resembles a dance.  If I bring him out for a little one-on-one play out
in the garage with me, however, he is soon spinning through those
cornstarch peanuts and slapping golf-balls around like he's in heaven.
While the others have been packing on the pounds (ounces?) in preparation
for winter (yes, up here it is time) he has remained summer-thin.  Also,
his coat has gained a "wiry" feel while the others all seem to be filling
in and getting longer.
 
Any ideas?  Do I have a couple of depressed ferrets on my hands?  If so,
what can I do about it?  Is a vet appearance needed?
 
/dale
[Posted in FML issue 3913]