Hi All,

My name is Mary and I have been a reader of the FML for several years
now, but I don't know if I've ever posted. Maybe once? Anyway, I am
having a problem and hoped someone might have some advice.

I have a ferret named Seamus. He's about 1 1/2 years old. He came to me
about six months ago, when I rescued him from a bad situation. I don't
know what his life was like before I got him. After a trip to the vets
and a quarantine while he got over a nasty upper respiratory infection,
fleas, ticks and earmites ... I introduced him to my 3 senior citizen
ferrets. He got along just fine with all of them, although he had a
tendency to be a little too playful for my oldest kid, Sebastian, who
was almost 9, blind, and apparently felt that he already knew all the
ferrets he cared to know.

So, my ferrets were aged 7,8 and 9. I lost all three of them in the
span of a month and a half. It was very sad, and also seemed traumatic
for Seamus, who had bonded with them. Damian was the last to go, and 
it was very sudden and unexpected; he wasn't particularly sick and I
thought he'd be with us for quite awhile longer. But I woke up one
morning to find his cage bedding and his back end all covered in blood.
There was no injury, he was bleeding internally. Seamus was terrified
when he woke up and smelled all the blood, I think. I know I was
terrified! It was a very scary day. I changed the bedding for him
before rushing Damian to the vet. The vet sent him home with i.v.
fluids and antibiotics, but poor Damian had lost a lot of blood, I
think, and he died shortly after we returned home. I was devastated,
and I think Seamus was, too. I let him sniff Damian and say goodbye,
so he would know that Damian was gone. That was on Dec. 18th.

For the first two weeks, Seamus was obviously grieving. He didn't want
to play at all, and would put himself home to bed during play time. He
also went to a great deal of trouble to move a couple of stuffed toys
into his Ferret Nation cage and up the ramps to his bed. They have
become his treasured friends, and he was not at all interested in them
before. I felt that he was lonely being an 'only' ferret. He got a
little better eventually, but he's really not been himself. We've been
showering him with lots of extra love and attention.

A week and a half ago, I brought home a pair of ferrets that needed
a new home, a little girl, 6 mos old, and a big boy about a year old.
The day after they arrived here, I introduced them to Seamus by setting
him down with them. He first stuck his nose up under the girl's tail
and followed her around for about 30 seconds while she kept moving away
from him. Both of them had slightly bottle-brushy tails. After that, he
peeled off from her and they went their separate ways. I thought 'ah,
a pretty good start!' Then he caught sight of the boy ferret and he
*launched* himself straight at him. Never made a sound, just flew
through the air, landed on his back and tried to get a grip on his
neck. I grabbed him right away and he let go when I did. The poor new
guy was so startled that he leapt for my arm and luckily just grabbed a
mouthful of sweatshirt, from which he dangled for a minute or so before
I could gently get him off of me.

Anyway, I'm afraid Ive made a short story rather long, but I'm at my
wits' end. I've tried again a couple more times with basically the same
result. Also, the first interaction with the new girl was apparently a
fluke; last night I tried them together and they both *flew* at each
other! They rolled around on the floor together for a few seconds
before we could get them apart and the little girl was squealing. I've
tried holding the girl and Seamus in my arms to sniff each other. A
couple of times it went fine, but one time she snapped at him, and
another time she hissed.

All three of them are MF ferrets, so the boys are neutered and the girl
is spayed. Seamus is 1.5 years, new guy is 1 year, new girl is 6mos.
Just to be clear, I have not been allowing them to fight for any length
of time. As soon as I see that things are not friendly, I separate
them. I certainly don't want anyone to be physically injured or
emotionally traumatized.

I've been trying several different things. I've swapped poop from their
litter boxes, traded bedding, traded cages (put Seamus in their cage
while they were out playing and vice versa), and put their cages right
up against each other so they can see and smell each other safely. They
have separate play times of course, but they share the same play space.
It's been just about 2 weeks now. As it stands now, Seamus seems to
want to kill both of the new ferrets, the new girl hates Seamus, and
the new boy is apparently just rolling with the punches. I don't think
he has much time to worry about Seamus, he's far too busy climbing up
my pantsleg and chewing my foot off at the ankle.

Is there anything else I can do? Is this a lost cause? How could Seamus
have suddenly become a ferret who hates all other ferrets in just the
last month?

Thanks for reading, and for any advice you may have!

~Mary Spezzafero
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[Posted in FML 6229]