two more to add to the group!

Question
QUESTION: I have a group of 4 ferrets a 6 yr old female (bella), a 2yr old male (chad), and 10 mths ago I rescued a brother and sister (coco & cassie) they were a few mths old desperately underfed and underhandled. All the ferrets went together with no problems. Coco put on weight quickly and tamed down, Cassie was slower to put on weight and still a little bit of a biter when nervous. Everyone is neutered except for cassie (because of her weight) when she started to come on heat in May I got her a 'Jill Jab', that did the trick but she's still a bit aggressive towards the neutered males (mounting them and biting their necks harder than usual). They are housed in a 12ft x 2ft x 2ft cage in a controlled environment, and come out to play every evening, until they're tired and ready for supper. All are litter trained, know what 'NO' means,answer to their names, and are totally human friendly, (it took me a whole day to get coco back from neutering because the nurses and the vet were playing with him all afternoon!)

So i wasn't really surprised when I introduced 2 new 6 wk old males to the group, and there was no drama with everyone but cassie. She jumps on them grabs the back of the neck or throat and tries to hurt them. It is not playing, she instantly draws blood and only lets go to get a better grip or, if i put my fingers in her mouth to prize her teeth apart. I've tried every day for a fortnight, i've bathed everyone, I put her in their cage whilst the others are playing to get their scent (she still plays with the group aswell but not with Sonny or Benji around) I thought it would get better as the weeks wore on but it hasn't and I can't think what else to do. I have noticed that she's slightly more aggressive to coco and chad after they've had contact with sonny and benji (but not bella)Is it because she may still be on heat a little? Will getting her spayed improve her aggression, and stop her attacking the baby males? Or should I just wait until they're big enough to hold their own?

Any ideas please?

ANSWER: Thats a great question.  If it was a male I would answer YES!!  Since I am not sure of her age, it may be a possibility that she has Adrenal since a signs if often sexual aggression or she needs spayed.  She absolutely needs spayed anyway as female ferrets who are not mated will get sick and die.  I believe is a cancerous anemia but would have to look it up to verify.  So, step 1 - spay her ASAP.  When she is being spayed, have the vet check for adrenal.  If no adrenal and the spaying gets her to be less aggressive, then cool.  If that doesn't work, email me again and we can try a different solution.  But, she needs to be spayed!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Bella my old girl (6) has adrenal problems and she's not aggressive at all.
I forgot to say cassie's only 15 mths old and this is her first season, all though
the injection she had in May brought her out of heat, could she have come back
in heat again?

Answer
Adrenal doesn't always present with aggression but 15 months is a bit young.  Honestly, I have a v-hob at home so I am not that familiar with the "jill jab"!  I do know that after a pregnancy or even a false pregnancy a ferret can come back into heat so that is a possibility!  If she isn't in heat (check vulva size) then you can spay her - it usually costs more if the animal is in heat although I would think the jab should last longer than 2-3 months, again I am not sure.  If she isn't in heat and isn't adrenal she may be trying to mother them and as they get bigger and are able to defend themselves it might get better.  Once they are bigger - 8 weeks or so, I would let them fight it out.