We are having to feed Hubble on soft foods for a few days due to a ferret proofing consideration that we have NEVER heard of and never encountered despite having about a quarter century with ferrets. We have had only a few ferrets who liked to steal the heavy metal shower drain cover. Until now they have always taken it by the edge, but today Hubble put his mandible (lower jaw) through one hole all the way past his canines, and locked his upper canines far away through a second hole. When I stabilized the drain cover it took him some work but he managed to extricate himself. There do not seem to be any boney or tooth injuries, and the connective tissue between the two sides of his mandibles (Ferrets do not form a chin.) seems okay, but he has cuts to the gums behind each mandibular canine: acute gum injury. We are watching for worse injury than is showing up, and we are watching for acute secondary infection. Which gets us back to Spot years ago who had a bad infection. He had no other gum or dental problems so the cause was not known, but an acute gum injury as happened to Hubble but from a different cause was possible. We had to lose a canine but the vet managed to salvage his bone because the infection had not spread to there. Gum problems, acute or chronic (gingivitis) certainly can happen to ferrets, but appear to be very rare. For example, most of the posts I ever read about gingivitis when I take into account in combination the lists I am currently on and the ones I have read in the past (albeit a limited sample) are ones which say, "Hey, this can happen to your ferret if you feed such and such" with soft food or kibble being the things mentioned usually, and most of those -- I *think* -- have been on the FML. In that regard it is like many other parts of kibble discussions, some things just are rare (which is why I have pointed out that the other infects discussed are rare). To give a feeling for the rarity: the FHL has currently built up to 1,900 members over the space of 5 years. In that time frame 37 posts mention gingivitis. Here is how they break down: Replies from anyone who had a ferret with the problem (and those who also encountered a secondary problem/ possible secondary problem): 3 (2 are from one person who is the sole person mentioning encountering a secondary problem) Replies from people who did *not* mention ever going through gingivitis in a ferret advising vet care and home care to someone else (including such posts from me): 18 (possibly 19 because one talking about protracted feeding of soft food is unclear if he meant having encountered actual problems or avoided them with care) Posts from people whose ferrets either do or might have gingivitis at the time of the post (and increase these numbers by one in your heads just to be most fair because I can't recall if someone who recently talked with me privately was on the FHL, FML, Miamiferrets, or just talking privately): 8 (possibly 9 because one talking about protracted feeding of soft food is unclear) Ones that simply had gingivitis in something quoted rather than being part of the post: 6 Mention of other diseases that can increase the chance of developing gingivitis: 1 (It's a great post from 4 years ago on ADV, BTW, and mentions that in _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_ it says that ADV can bring on either gingivitis or cardiomyopathy, or both: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=YG10899 but I don't know the current data on that.) Now, I noticed that one situation in which two mentions were for one ferret, but did NOT go through the others to see how many of those mentioning having or having encountered gingivitis mentioned the same animal more than once. So, being most fair the maximum number of ferrets mentioned on the FHL amoong a huge number of members, over the space of 5 years as having or having had gingivitis is between 10 to 12 ferrets total, and that is a list where people do provide health care and where the diets range across the board, from sick diet soft foods, to kibble, to cooked home made foods, to raw foods. It is safe to say that a low estimate for the average membership during the 5 years would be 800 to 1,000. It also would be safe to say that a low estimate for the average number of ferrets members have would be 2 or 3 each. So, about 2 ferrets per year if they are spread out over the length of time, but let's be generous and let it be 3 would come out to be something like 2 in every thousand ferrets (1/500) having gingivitis among members' ferrets (including previously abused adoptees), even when you round numbers up to be even more generous (making gingivitis rate look larger), and no matter what the diet is. Since most cases were earlier in the FHL's life it says to me that *****most people have learned how to provide dental care well enough to avoid gingivitis, no matter what the diet is*****. Also, I do NOT know if the person whose ferret had heart problems first had ADV (See note above about the vet text.), so will assume it did not, and in that case think of 1 in 5,000 for the rate, but again notice that the numbers are not scientific and are leaned to present the worst case scenario. Granted, that is a NON-scientific sampling, but it sure seems that gingivitis gets mentioned a lot more than is it is actually acquired by ferrets, though rates of such reporting can be deceptive for multiple reasons. BTW, we have never had a ferret with gingivitis, and we haven't even had many at all with cavities. There is a lot to be said for options like Foamy Fries (a huge favorite here and I need to get more), cooked chicken cartilage to chew (also a great favorite here), Cheweasels and Marshall Chews (The latter is the same product and if licensed from the Cheweasel people, who, BTW, were FML ferret people who began their products right here!), and food flavored enzymatic toothpastes which can be used with brush or cheesecloth on a finger. I already sent 3 posts today (Sunday), a fun one and two which tackle people's health questions if I recall right, so I will have to hold this until after midnight and hopefully will remember to send it then, and I'll take off my sig this time to save space. [Posted in FML issue 5208]