That gingivitis rate stuff is per ferret-year, which seemed the best approach not knowing ages of the individuals usually. Still it came out for about 1 in 500 for gingivitis per ferret-year, and about 1 in 5,000 for gingivitis with secondary health problems per ferret-year even when trying to allow for worst case interpretations. Again, certainly, not scientific by any means, but it does make a person step back and think about how effective care has become as people have learned more, and how many ways there are to avoid gum problems. Hey, Hubble just tried a crunchy so hopefully we will be lucky with his mouth injury. I have never seen any ferret do that before. His jaws were open wide with that drain cover just wedge on there. All it took him was the short while when I was warming the water to take a shower. Ferrets! Oh, well, at least he got me looking stuff up which brought the question about rates to my mind, and that may in turn get across that often (but likely not always) the problem of gingivitis is avoidable. Also, I read on some periodontal sites that there can be genetic components in some humans who get it, so perhaps that is also true for some ferrets: http://www.perio.org/consumer/gingivitis.htm http://www.perio.org/consumer/2a.html Advanced age is also among the things which can be involved in humans which may be a consideration for causing gingivitis in ferrets as well, ditto other infections, some heart meds, and more. Anyway, it is late and I am tired, but maybe something in here is worth people thinking about or keeping in mind when frequent mentions make a given problem appear more common than it actually seems to be. -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5208]