HI, I have a few quick questions and ferret problem we need help with. First question: do animals that have been descented still do an anal drag after defecating? Just curious. Second question: Are domestic ferrets the only members of the Mustelidae to have the aplastic anemia problem when in heat? I was wondering about black-footed ferrets. If a female comes into heat and there are no males in the vacinity available to breed her, does she run the risk that domestic ferret females do when not bred? Problem: we recently added an 8th ferret to our household. Her name is Tris and she is, of course, incredibly cute. She chuckles constantly, even when held, and thoroughly washes every inch of our exposed skin, and some not so exposed (she really gets "into" ear canals). She was found wandering around town and in heat so we do not know her age or history. She was spayed three weeks ago and her vulva is finally almost down to normal. Our problem is that when she is out of her cage, even if she JUST defecated, she leave tiny little piles of feces and urine all over the house. At first I thought this was an estrous behavior to advertise her condition, but her swelling is nearly gone now. We are trying to introduce her to two other ferrets and I was thinking it might be a territorial thing, but I have not seen this with any of our other ferret introductions. Short of putting a diaper on her I am at a loss of what to do. When in her cage she defecates and urinates with normal frequencies and amounts. Any insights would be welcome! [Posted in FML issue 1182]