Greetings everyone! First of all, Daisy, would you mind sending us a translation of all your abbreviations? Some of us slower people are a bit bewildered. Secondly, okay, I *know* descenting is a sensitive subject and so normally I keep my mouth shut, but I fear poor Phil may be a bit mislead by the statement `Descenting doesn't change the smell of the ferret!!!!!'. (No offense Chrissy) You did go on to say that it doesn't change the *daily* scent, and that's true. *Unless* like me, you have a ferret who expresses her scent glands daily. Sometimes it can be a real problem, since the smell sticks to wherever s/he expresses her anal sacs. Spaying/neutering does often help, but not always. Tribble was only 3 1/2 months old when she began spraying several times a week -- it seems like whenever she got the least little bit excited she'd do it. And it was really a pain. I was working for Dr. Kawasaki at the time, and he discourages descenting, but will do it, suggesting that only if the ferret expresses his/her scent glands more than a couple times of times a month is it advisable. He still hates to do it, but he does it because he'd rather do it than have someone else charge an arm and a leg (and probably do half as good a job). (Which is why I'm surprised Chrissy, living so near Dr. K, would say most vets either won't do it or it's expensive. Granted, Dr. K's not most vets.) Anyway, I hated to have it done, having seen the operation before and thinking it looked *really* uncomfortable. But I deemed it unfortunate but necessary and went ahead; I don't regret it, but I must admit recovery can range from no problem to fraught with complications and occassionally permanent damage (i.e. fecal incontinence), and Tribble's was definitely not a piece of cake. But it's over now, after about a three week battle -- she's been pretty much normal for a week or two now. Anyway, obviously I'm not disagreeing that descenting may not be necessary and should be avoided if at all possible; it definitely doesn't change what the ferret smells like when s/he's not spraying. But it can be a problem and can't be discounted as a possibility if necessary. Incidentally, here in the States ferrets are sold descented/spayed/neutered in the pet stores. I'm not sure whether that's true in Scotland or not. By the way, did the ruckus about Canadian ferrets coming down here to pet stores with botched descents make it to the list this summer? Dr. K had to correct one of their surgeries this summer. It was a real mess. To the person with the dilemna on the blind/deaf ferret: please tell us what happened (gulp) I think we're all really curious. Phil: Where in Scotland are you located? I spent a year in Newcastle (not quite Scotland, I know, but definitely up there). (why aye, man) :-) Have a pint of McEwan's Scotch for me please! (Don't panic fellow Americans -- that's an Ale, not a whiskey!) :-) Dave: Aren't you going to introduce yourself? Right, I've gone on forever as usual, so I'm outta here! Laura Laura L'Heureux, Trella, and Tribble, too U. of Illinois Vet Med Class of `96 [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0573]