QUESTION:
I have a girl ferret I got her when she was 8 weeks old. She is now 3 years old and I have some really big concerns. I clean her ears out everyday because she has some really dirty ears. It is almost a dark orange rusty look also she has this around her ears, nose and bottom mouth and when I take a wet cotton ball to wipe it off it comes off like an orange color. Like she rolled around in a bag of Doritos. She also looks like she has a pot belly with the orange rusty color. I have compared her to my other ferret JoJo and they are 1 year apart and JoJo has nothing like this at all that is why I am so concerned. She gets a bath once a month but the next day she has that rusty dirty stuff that comes off with a wet cotton ball. I have taken her to the vet and he says that this is sometimes normal and I told him that JoJo has none of these problems. What should I do. I have checked the web site and nothing is helping to understand what this can be. I don't want her to die because I don't do anything about it and my vet said she looks healthy. He even checked her for ear mites and said she has none? Is there something I can give her it looks like she has some kind of skin disease that is making her create some rusty orange color dirt???

ANSWER:
What kind of bedding do you have in your cage? If you have hammocks and sleeping bags etc.. how often do you wash them? Do not be alarmed but it sounds to me from your description that your ferret has mange, or ringworm, do you have cats? Ringworm can be detected by looking at the skin with a WOODS light. It would take a skin scrape for the vet to see the mange mites and even then sometimes they are not able to find them. Mange can be treated with IVERMECTIN by injection.

There are some very harsh dips and shampoos on the market for both problems but I would advise against them. A simple solution for ringworm (which will only get worse) is to go to your local HEALTHFOOD STORE and buy NATURAL CIDER VINEGAR. MIX 50% 0f vinegar to 50% of warm water(set aside a small bowl of the solution). Dip your ferret in the solution, keep her there a couple of minutes, MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT GET IT INTO HER EYES. Wrap her in a towel, do NOT rinse off vinegar. Take a facecloth and dip in the small bowl of solution and carefully wipe her face with it, also get into the ears, DO NOT GET INTO EYES. Do this every day for at least a week, it will not hurt her.

SOAK all her bedding in vinegar and then wash in very hot water, or bleach bedding. Thoroughly wash her cage in vinegar, if it is plastic coated then you can wash in a bleach solution 10 parts water to 1 part bleach, rinse cage afterwards. Do this once a week, until you are sure it has cleared. This treatment will help rid the skin of either problem and restore the skin making fur shinier and healthier.

Your younger ferret is okay so far because his immune system is fighting, but he will eventually get it too, both mange and ringworm are very contagious and can pass to humans also. Do the same thing for him, but repeat the vinegar solution each week for 4 weeks and clean cage and bedding also. After a week of treating the female each day, let me know how she is doing, you most likely will be able to space out the dips more by then. Please make sure you do as suggested, it will not clear up itself, but will steadily get worse, until it kills your ferret(s).

QUESTION:
Hi. I've noticed that my male ferret is scratching his right ear a lot lately. There appears to be a lot of brownish wax visible. Is there a safe way to remove it or should I consult a vet? Thank you.

ANSWER:
Whilst the ferret may just have a build-up wax, it could also be 'ear mites' or even an ear infection. If you do not have experience in cleaning the ears then it would be better for you to take your ferret to the vet for a check-up and also at the same time they will be able to instruct you, on how to clean the ears!

Cleaning can be done with an 'ear cleaner' made specially for ferrets and used with a Q-tip, which is gently swabbed into the OUTER EAR, however unless you have a firm hold on the ferret he could move and the danger of perforating the ear drum is easily done.

My suggestion is to go to the vet, since there maybe an infection or 'yeast' in the ear, if so he will need an antibiotic and if left untreated it will spread, he will become deaf and could have a massive brain infection. If he has 'ear mites' he will also need medication to eradicate them and at the moment REVOLUTION seems to work, in one treatment, to rid the ferret of mites.

If you have other ferrets, both yeast and ear mites are contagious, so you will need to take them along to the vet also.