Hi all,
 
I got a few reactions to my post about the Ferret Fanciers Club.  If I'm
correct all those who mailed me got a personal reply from me.  If I forgot
anyone: thank you for your mail and apologies.  Everyone was positive about
the Modern Ferret Magazine, so I'll probably subscribe to that one and I'm
convinced that I shouldn't spend my money on FFC.
 
Now for something completely different:
In the Netherlands it is against the law to descent ferrets unless there's a
medical indication to do so, so Max isn't descented.  Now I may have a
problem with him.  He seems to be 'poofing' quite a bit more than 'normal',
at least what I read in the books and hear from other people who have
ferrets.  Every day I smell this strange, unpleasant (!) smell on/around him
that I think is a result from the scent glands.  Not all the time, but once
(approx) every day.
 
Also I've noticed him trying to poop, but without results.  Or just a little
pee, or a very small poop or nothing at all.  I half think that it has to do
with the fact that we won't let him out of his cage until he has done his
thing, to prevent accidents on the floor from happening.  This works great,
by the way... Max has a 90% hit-rate.  Anyway, sometimes he will 'fake' and
I'll just wait long enough until he has done a serious effort.  But now he
also does it at times that he is not normally let out of his cage and in
fact goes right back to his hammock without even begging to be let out.  By
the way, a lot of the time his poop looks perfectly normal, in size and
texture.  I don't know if this has anything to do with the poofing-problem,
but I am discribing it anyway, because it struck me as odd.
 
And then we've had two other ferrets here for two days (a week ago).  A
brother and a sister.  The male was a very dominant ferret and he had Max in
his scruff for quite a while several times (I've noticed 'the odor' around
them at one of such times, I suppose Max poofed).  Since the ferrets left
Max hasn't wardanced at all.  He doesn't seem depressed or ill.  Just not
playing as enthousiastically as usual.  He walks the room, dooks, chases the
cats, but no dancing.  Once again it might be irrelevant, but it's odd so I
mention it.  After our vacation we'll find a kit to keep Max company, we
don't plan to keep him as a single ferret.  His poofing/pooping routine
doesn't seem to have been influenced by this visit.
 
I've thought that mayby Max has some blockage and has to push so hard that
accidentally he looses some from his scent glands.  But lots of the time his
poop seems utterly normal.  He's eating and drinking normally too.
 
So maybe his scentglands are infected or overfull (if that is possible) or
maybe there's something else the matter entirely.  By the way, I've not seen
him trying to scratch his anus or whatever.  Dog do the butt-scoot when
their anal glands are infected: they draw their anus over the carpet to
scratch it.
 
I'll be going to a vet tuesday.  Monday (tomorrow) is a holliday here due to
Pentecost.  Max doesn't seem to be in severe discomfort or immedeate danger,
so I'm not taking him on an emergency visit.
 
I hope I gave enough data for you to help me make an educated guess.
 
Sorry that I rambled on so much, but any information you can give me before
(and after) my vet visit is very welcome.  Thanks.
 
Greetings,
Janneke.
[Posted in FML issue 2326]