Hotdish wrote of her recently neutered male who poofs prodigiously. I have a male ferret that I got as a whole 6-month-old some years ago. He poofed maybe every six weeks or less frequently most of his life with us (except when initially introduced to our home or during the pecking order shift that happened when other ferrets were added), including after he was neutered at about 7 months. The stink from the anal glands was no more or less after the neutering. What was lessened was the hormonally influenced smell from the sebaceous glands and his tendency to wear that favorite cologne of whole males... urine. In time, he smelled no different than any of the others except right after he poofed. Now along about the time he was 4.5 years old, he took to poofing frequently. He had developed an infection in his anal glands and one of them became badly impacted. Antibiotics, warm compresses, and manual expression helped a bit on one side, but the impaction would NOT clear on the other. So we had both glands surgically removed. It was not something I would have done "just because", but I don't feel badly in the least about doing it when he was frequently and without provocation (sometimes while taking a leisurely stroll across the room) letting loose and then smearing the stench on the carpet, our furniture, his bedding, and other ferrets. We tried other methods, and when they weren't the answer, surgery was. I think maybe your vets didn't understand what you were reporting? I can't see an educated vet saying that a post-neuter poof won't stink, but I suppose there's always the chance they were misinformed? I've never known a poofing ferret, altered or not to not produce a fine stench! The recovery was quick and Thor seemed to have little discomfort. In fact, a couple of days after the surgery we were having trouble keeping him quiet enough, and he went sailing off the bed... only to yet out a little yelp when he hit the floor and whip around war dancing and looking for whatever had bitten his hiney! Try the conversation with the vets again, including an exam-- an impacted gland will feel firm to hard when palpated. Debra in Fort Worth [Posted in FML issue 2883]