I have a question about my two year old ferret, Merlin. His wrestling match at 1 am last night got out of hand. After separating the ferrets, I noticed blood on one ear. I cleaned the ear with a damp paper towel. There was not much blood, but a lot of brown discharge. (looked like earwax, but it wasn't there before the fight) Once clean, the ear looked fine and I put him to bed. When I got back from work, however, there was more discharge (dried blood, the brown stuff, and a little clear fluid). The ear was also a little swollen. I became concerned that there might be injury to the inner ear, or a punctured ear drum or something like that. My regular vet office was closed, so I took him to another clinic that often treats ferrets. The vet looked at the ear briefly. I asked what the brown fluid would be and he insisted it was dried blood and not a concern. He prescribed an oral antibiotic, Clavamox and said the swelling was probably the start of an infection. I guess I'm posting because my concerns are not yet relieved. I expected him to clean the ear and look inside with an ear scope; and I expected him to comment on the fact that Merlin's right ear is not normally formed. I have no idea how serious an injury to the eardrum would be anyway, so I'm left worried about pain and deafness. Do I just watch too much Emergency Vets and come down hard on this guy for not acting like them? I don't know if I should bring him to his normal vet tomorrow or not. I'd feel really stupid if I took off work, made an urgent appointment, and paid another vet bill to have her say the exact same thing. But I'd also feel a lot better if someone would just look inside there and tell me he's fine! Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post. [Posted in FML issue 3840]