From:
renee
Date: 2002-01-18 04:05:00 UTC
Subject: [Ferret-Health-list] Deaf Ferret?
Carrie,
We have a deaf ferret. We didn't know he was deaf when we got
him. Jasper was our first ferret and we thought his
inattention to sound stimulation was normal behavior for
ferrets. It wasn't until we got a second ferret to keep him
company that we started noticing the differences between the
two.
In order to verify our suspicions, we waited until he had
fallen asleep one night in my lap and then tried an
experiment. We made sure there were no other stimulations
(the other ferret, vibrations, air flow, etc.), then we blew a
police whistle. Of course both dogs and the other ferret (who
previously had been sleeping soundly elsewhere) came on the
run to see what all the commotion was about. Jasper never
stirred. Nor did he when we blew the dog whistle. This,
however, did cause the dogs and the other ferret (Casey is her
name) to come on the run again. He does not respond if you
shake the treat can unless he SEES it. And if you've ever
watched a hunting dog zeroing in on a scent, you'll understand
what happens every time we try to sneak in the house with a
pizza.
Jasper does not startle if you sneak up on him (some deaf
ferrets do), in fact, I think he rather enjoys it. He
understands some hand signals and he uses the other 3 ferrets
(yes, we now have four) for visual clues. In spite of his
deafness, he does really well and is an absolute joy to us.
If you suspect your ferret is deaf, take a look at this site
http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/deaf.html and see if it is
of any help to you.
Renee
http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/deaf.html
-----Original Message-----
From: kaysi5555 [mailto:kaysi@juno.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 7:03 AM
To: Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com
How do I figure out if my ferret is truly deaf... I'm really
not sure
about my little buddy, Tasslehoff... He doesn't come when I
call, and
he doesn't even seem to hear me shake the treat canisters...
This
morning I snuck up on his bed and yelled and whistled and he
didn't
respond very quickly... It could have been that I let light
into his
bedbox, he could have felt the vibration of me holding the
box open...
Is there any good way to check?
--Carrie
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