From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2002-06-23 11:02:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Blind ferret
On Sat, 22 Jun 2002, Stephen and Robin Price wrote:
>
> We love our now special-needs child very much but are just wondering
> if anyone else has experienced rather sudden onset blindness (with or
> without hearing problems) with any of their ferrets.
Almost always, people report that their blind ferrets get around
wonderfully and that it's hard to even tell that they are
blind. Occasionally, there are a few that have a bit more trouble
adapting. My Sonic was one and had a very rough time of it; her hearing
was always fine.
A few things helped her. First, scents applied low down, at ferret-level,
on the objects she's wreck into and on good "landmarks" like corners,
baseboards, etc. She definitely used the scents to navigate. I
originally used vanilla extract, but Sukie later improved on this by using
essential oils (just a drop or two, I'd guess). Different scents for
different rooms, even, to help with orientation. The scents need to be
refreshed occasionally (monthly, seems like) but really do help.
Another thing was to pick out a "landing zone" in each room, and if I
picked her up, to always set her back down in the landing zone, and always
facing a consistent direction. She seemed to do better with that than with
simply being plunked down anywhere and then needing to figure out where
she was.
Those simple things, plus the things you've already figured out like not
moving things around and speaking before touching, really helped her out.
I wonder... with the sudden blindness and possible loss of hearing, maybe
there is something unusual going on? Does the vet know what's causing the
loss of vision? Usually, it's cataracts or retinal degeneration. If
neither of those are present, I'd be concerned...
Good luck, chances are, your little special one will do fine,
-Pam S.