I wash my ferret every week. However, by the time I get ready to wash it, a large amount of dark brown waxy substance has accumulated in its ears. I have examined the material fairly closely and do not see anything that resembles a mite (Although I have never seen an ear mite and don't really know what I am looking for). I have also tried using [Something that moves] the drops that are supposed to kill mites, but that didn't help. I would like to know if this is normal ear wax or a symptom of some pathological condition. [In our relatively limited experience, ferrets do seem to generate a lot of ear wax] I am also concerned about the new ferret disease that I have read about on the net recently (related to cancer of the pancreas, I believe). I have three small children and we all play a lot with the ferret. Is there any evidence that the disease can be transferred to people? A veterinarian friend said that there have been studies about transmission of feline leukemia virus to people, but so far the studies have been inconclusive. Ed [You mean lymphosarcoma? Some vets think that it may be a similar thing to FeLV, but there's no real evidence that it's actually a virus (transmittable disease) in ferrets, let alone catchable by humans. There appear to have been three ferret deaths due to this amongst the subscribers to the mailing list, (our Toby for one). If I'm not mistaken, they were all under 1 year old.] [Posted in FML 0105]