Bullying behaviour?

[Skiff]

So I have had my ferrets now for 5 years, well, Jinx and Minx were bought together and Poro came a year later. I don't think the girls are sisters, but they came from the same breeder, anyway, they have never had any problems with each other. When I got Poro, Jinx took to him fine but Minx was really aggressive, she would just scruff him and shake him so I had to keep her separate from him until he was just to big for her to bother, since then they have all been 1 happy business.

Recently, over the last week or so, I have noticed that Minx is really vicious towards Jinx, at first I thought it was just general play but it has become relentless. Jinx will be minding her own business and Minx will sprint across the hutch and leap her and she really screams, it's gotten to the point now where when I go to see them there's no sign of Jinx, I usually find her curled up in fleece on her own. I'm a bit worried because when I checked her scruff to see if she was ok, there's a little scabbing, not a lot, it is literally just a tiny bit. 

I can't think of anything that could have caused this change in behaviour, other than that Jinx lost one of her fangs recently and she was a bit lethargic for a few days which I posted about here:


holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/25337/strange-looking-poop-lethargy

I mean, would Minx see that as her being weak or something?

[abbeytheferret6]

I do not know much about ferrets other than Marshall Farm ferrets who all are spayed and neutered before they are sold at pet stores. Don't know if yours are intact or if that would matter--- not familiar with ferrets in the UK

I have two groups though. My male is a loner because he will viciously attack my girls. If you have to separate---you can divide up time in such a way that Poro can be with each of the girls. No one will be alone all the time. I have to separate my house with a Marshall Farm playpen stretched out. The ends r lodged between pieces of furniture(not fun to step over).

I have read on forum that adrenal disease can make them more aggressive. Don't know if that could be your problem. My girl was more aggressive. She also had the stronger smell too.

Hope someone else can help you.

[Skiff]

I probably should have mentioned that my guys have all been spayed/neutered, but like you, I don't know how much this would affect their behaviour either.

I had considered that she may be sick but had not thought of adrenal, I will check her when I get home.

[Heather]

You mentioned that your ferrets are neutered. I would suggest possible adrenal. This is a problem that starts to occur about 2 to 5 yrs after neutering. I've had ferrets who were only sexually aggressive with little or no other signs. This does sound like this is the case. Treating with DES will help with this, it often takes about 2 or 3 weeks to work. Adrenal isn't as common in the UK as in North America but it's becoming more as ferrets are becoming more housepet than pest hunter and are spayed and neutered.
ciao

[unclejoe]

i've seen it many times, and between ferrets of the same age (less than 2) when introduced. When we got Scamp, he was 10 weeks and Yoshi was 4-5. Yoshi beat the crap out of Scamp until Scamp was his size, then the roles reversed. When Scamp was about 1 1/2, we brought home Zoe and Goober (nee Diego) Goob got on fine with Scamp, but Scamp and Zoe would beat the snout out of each other, for over a year. 2 weeks after they finally settled tings, Scamp died less than 3 yo. You just can't tell. In the early days I amassed 9 ferrets 1 or 2 at a time from stores and various owners and never had a problem. When Dar24 and I merged 2 businesses 4 &5 ferrets), there were fireworks and fur flying all over.

[Skiff]

Sept 11, 2019 16:53:53 GMT -5 unclejoe said:

i've seen it many times, and between ferrets of the same age (less than 2) when introduced. When we got Scamp, he was 10 weeks and Yoshi was 4-5. Yoshi beat the crap out of Scamp until Scamp was his size, then the roles reversed. When Scamp was about 1 1/2, we brought home Zoe and Goober (nee Diego) Goob got on fine with Scamp, but Scamp and Zoe would beat the snout out of each other, for over a year. 2 weeks after they finally settled tings, Scamp died less than 3 yo. You just can't tell. In the early days I amassed 9 ferrets 1 or 2 at a time from stores and various owners and never had a problem. When Dar24 and I merged 2 businesses 4 &5 ferrets), there were fireworks and fur flying all over.

I have had to separate them now, I went up to feed them one morning and Jinx was limping and hiding away, but the problem is I have 3 ferrets so Minx has to stay on her own. I have only seen Minx like this with Poro when he was too small to fight back, I still let them out to play together but I have to constantly follow Minx around to stop her attacking Jinx. I don't know what to do, I can't keep them separated forever because it seems unfair but Minx just for some reason seems to suddenly hate Jinx. The only thing I can think of is to maybe rehome Minx. I'm going to to look into getting the DES as Heather suggested but if that doesn't work I don't know what else I can do, if anyone has any advice I would be really grateful but Jinx won't fight back, it's a heartbreaking thing to see.

[unclejoe]

If you have one ferret that goes after one other ferret, you may have to have separate playtimes, rotating the two that get along with the victim so they maintain a relationship. Or you maybe can isolate play areas and swap them out. It's a pain but lots of us have dealt with it.

[Sherry]

I was going to mention possible adrenal in the aggressor. Especially as this is directed toward her friend.

[Skiff]

Just wanted to update you all on this. Finally got an appointment today at the Vet and they said that it does look like Adrenal disease and she has been booked in to get the implant.
I do have a few questions though, moving forward, how will this affect her life? Will she die earlier than if she hadn't got Adrenal? Is there anything I need to know/change regarding her care moving forward now that she has Adrenal?

I have tried to research Adrenal a bit but does anyone have any sites that they think cover it well?

Thanks again for all the responses.

[abbeytheferret6]

When my ferrets pass I am going to have necropsies done. I am also going to ask condition of adrenal glands. All of mine have implants as of this year.
Here is some info
holisticferretforum.com/health/adrenal-disease/

If you click the HFF Website above and look under Health, you will see adrenal disease.

[Sherry]

If you reimplant every 6 months, she should live a pretty normal life span

[Heather]

Agree, if you follow the 6 month protocol, your ferret should have as long a life as she would have had if she hadn't contracted adrenal or very close to it. Thus far, when I treat adrenal in this manner, I've found that the tumour does not appear to grow at a rapid rate. Death is often of an unrelated cause.
ciao