Jessica,
It's not normal for a ferret to scratch herself to the point of
having sores. I would seriously consider getting another opinion...
Here's a few things you could try, though:
Add some oil to her diet. Linatone is great, but you can only give
a small amount. For my dog, who has serious dry skin problems, I put
some olive oil on her food. (Fara also mentioned Mira Coat as a
Linatone alternative. I've never been able to find it, though.)
Start sprinkling a little brewer's yeast on her food. This should
help keep the fleas under control (it's possible she's having a problem
with them, even if you can't see them). And, there's also some
evidence that it helps avoid insulinomas.
Use a ferret cream rinse when you bath her.
I assume you are already feeding her a good diet...
A great trick for clipping nails is to put a drop or two of linatone
on her belly. She'll be so busy licking it off, she'll barely notice
what you're doing to her paws. And don't squeeze the paws, they *HATE*
that!
Cut her nails to just short of the quick (the pink part). If you
accidentally cut into the quick it will bleed and really hurt her.
I wouldn't use any ointment on her cuts. She'll just lick it right off.
You could probably dab them with hydrogen peroxide to avoid infection.
PSYHANK,
Make a ferret "stop quickly when he's doing something wrong"... Ha, ha, ha,
snicker, chuckle.... ;-)
Sorry, but as you've found, ferrets aren't much for obedience.
I guess my only advice is that whatever you do, be consistent. My method
is to say their name in my "you had *better* do what I say" voice.
But there was still a considerable amount of training involved to get
them to associate that with the realization that they had better do it,
or they'll get in trouble.
Start out by saying their name in *THE* voice, if they don't stop say
it again, sterner, then if they still don't stop go discipline them.
Eventually they will learn what it means when you use that tone when
saying their name.
Mine are pretty good about listening to me now. Although it does depend
on the amount of fun they are having at the time. If it is a low to
moderate amount of fun, they are very good at obeying. If it's a moderate
to high amount, I usually say their names a few times, then have to
get up and run towards them before they stop. If it's a very high amount
of fun, they won't pay any attention at all, and I'll actually have to
walk over and physically stop them.
Everybody,
My sister is still at the hospital, but she's supposed to be going to
Magee rehab center on the 10th. (Yea!)
They have pulled all her drains, so now all she has left is the feeding
tube (into her intestines).
She's has gotten 3 passes to leave the hospital. The first she went
on a date with Mike to see Terminator 2, then the stopped by their
house, and she got to read Alex his bedtime story. The second we
all went to the mall to shop for some birthday presents. And the
last one she went home to see Alex's dinnertime, then they went out
to the movies again. She's really enjoyed the passes, although it's
also depressing because she realizes how much her disability is going
to affect her, and of course it's depressing to go back to the
hospital after being free for a few hours.
They started tube feeding her again today (she's been intraveniously
fed most of the time, with a few unsuccessful tries at tube feeding).
Hopefully that will go well, and she'll be able to eat real food again
soon.
Another problem has surfaced recently, though. Her stomach isn't
draining fast enough. Hopefully this is just because she hasn't
used it in almost 3 months, but it could be a result of the spinal
cord injury, thus permanent. Since they had to remove 1/2 of her
stomach, anyway, that will mean she'll have to eat about 6 small meals
a day. That will really make life difficult, especially with a young
child.
Thanks again for all the support!
- Nancy
Nancy Hartman CIS graduate student
[log in to unmask] U. of Delaware
President and founder, Delaware Valley Ferret Club
Owner of Percy & Bree
[Posted in FML 0185]
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