To the person wondering about whether a ferret washing his face with his
paws is ill...  I have noticed the same thing.  It looks like they are
rubbing their smell from their ears into their nose.  I have seen this many
many times in healthy ferrets - but I believe you are right that it happens
more often in ill or depressed ferrets.  You have to be careful and
interpret it right though.  They might be instead itching their ears because
of mites, or maybe clawing at their mouth due to nausea (ulcer) or a stuck
piece of food.  I have heard, but have no idea that it is true, that ferrets
like to spread their smell around many different ways - rubbing their chin
on the carpet (or your feet), sneezing, sometimes scratching and I think
this rubbing of the head with their paws has something to do with their
scent disbursement technique (SDT for FLO agents).  I remember someone
saying that you can put a couple drops of strong musky perfume on the back
of their head and it makes a nervous ferret feel more confident...
 
Our Edith's front leg was broken some couple-3 years ago. We went the splint
route which was a complete disaster. We battled infection, obesity, and much
more. If I had the chance to do that all over again - I would instead go for
a pin installed surgically or perhaps bed rest. Edith is fine now. You
cannot tell that she had a broken leg accept that she is real careful about
getting down off of things - she usually goes butt first. The splint ordeal
was really disgusting though. I would NEVER do that again.
[Posted in FML issue 1494]