Ferret Bahavioural problem

Question
Hello,

my sister has had two female ferrets for about 4 years Mika and Shay. Shay is roughly one year older then Mika and they have lived in the same cage over the 4 years.
In the past year or so when ever my sister gives them a bath mika starts 'attcking' shay ( Shay squeals) my sister has to separate them for about 30 minutes and Mika will then leave her alone, however in the last few weeks my sister has had to permanetly separate them as mika will just not leave shay alone ( biting and wrestling) and Shay sqeals whenever mika comes near her.
Do you have any suggestions or know what would cause this behviour?

Answer
Hi Yasmin:

The first thing we suspect when a ferret gets aggressive is that he may be in pain.   If you're sure he is not injured in any way, you will want to check him carefully to see if he has ANY fur loss - especially around the base of the tail, the tail itself, between the shoulders and can even show up on any part of the body, but those are the most popular areas.  Fur loss of this type is an outward indication of adrenal disease - a disease where the adrenal glands give off far too much adrenaline (which makes us/them feisty) hormones. We usually see adrenal disease in ferrets that are at least 2 to 3 years old, and possibly older. Since Mika seems to be the most aggressive, check Mika for adrenal disease (fur loss) or any other changes in activity.  

You can read more about adrenal disease here:

ADRENAL DISEASE:
* http://www.petcarevabeach.com/adr.html

LUPRON as treatment:  
* http://miamiferret.org/fhc/lupron.htm

MELATONIN:
* http://miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm

ADRENAL CRYOSURGERY:
* http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/cryosurgery.htm  (Dr Weiss)

Adrenal FAQ from Ferret Central:  
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/adrenal.html

There is a blood test called the Tennessee Blood Panel, but it is expensive and not reliable and most vets prefer to just open the ferret and see if the adrenal glands are enlarged and remove them. It's a fairly run of the mill surgery for an EXPERIENCED FERRET VET.  DO be sure you take them to an experienced ferret vet, though.

If it isn't obvious by looking that Mika is probably adrenal, PLEALSE take BOTH ferrets to a good ferret vet in your area. Not all vets know about ferrets. Here are some lists of ferret vets you can try to see if there is one near you - it's worth it to drive an hour or so if you need to just to get a good ferret vet with lots of experience..


VETS CANADA:   
* http://www.ferretrescue.ca/start.php
* http://tinylink.com/?TlVyYKa6e0
* http://www.ferrets.org/Veterinarian_Listings.htm   (British Columbia)
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/sask_ferrets/

VETS USA:
* http://www.quincyweb.net/quincy/vet.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/
* http://www.ferret-universe.com/vets/vetlist.asp
* http://www.ferretsanctuary.com/vets.shtml
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/

Any time there is a change in behavior, there is ALWAYS a reason - I hope your kids both end up healthy and maybe they just need a larger cage or more time out of the cage and more attention to get them calmed down.  Best of luck with those precious little ones.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers