>Has ANYONE had a vet with definitive tests for blindness and or >deafness????? Our vet checks carefully for cataracts, especially in older ferrets, and it's fairly easy to figure out the condition of the eyes when cataracts are present. We might not know exactly how much a ferret can see, but we'll have a ballpark idea. For youngsters with congenital blindness, it's generally guesswork. If a ferret that seems otherwise okay tries to walk off the edge of the exam table, or into a wall, those are clues. Blindness has been easier for us to diagnose than deafness, actually. Blind ferrets are at somewhat of a handicap in an unfamiliar place--like the vet's office. I think deaf ferrets never have a clue that they're missing anything. :-) For deafess, we do squeaky toy tests and (inadvertent) screaming ferret tests. If the alpha ferret decides to drag a newcomer around (we do NOT encourage this behavior, but it happens) and the newcomer decides to scream, we watch any ferrets we suspect might be deaf. If they're awake and they DON'T run over to check it out (or, alternatively, run away in case they're next), they're probably either deaf or bloody apathetic. :-) As far as I know, there's no definitive test for blindness or deafness. Too many factors can cause either of them. Once we can teach a ferret to speak Human, and convince him not to lie, we'll have a chance. I work with people with developmental disabilities, some of whom are nonverbal, blind, with possible hearing problems as well. And there is no definitive way to diagnose lack of heaing or sight (or any other sense, touch somewhat excepted) without a clear type of feedback. If a patient cannot understand and comply with "kick me if you can hear me," or some such, all we can do is guess. Obviously if someone has a detached retina, they don't have good vision. If someone has had major organic damage to the ears, chances are good they've had hearing loss. But loss of the senses can be caused by a hundred different diseases, syndromes, types of damage--as well as by psychological damage, so-called "hysterical" blindness. I'm not a doctor (or likely to be one), just someone who works in a related field--and I've spent half a year trying to figure out if someone is deaf or not. :-) Jen and the Crazy Business http://home.maine.rr.com/tesseract [Posted in FML issue 3035]