Lance

      If you have been following this blog, you know a lot about Sir Lancelot. That he is a spoiled ferret, not that the others aren’t spoiled. Just that he is spoiled more so. He has a handicap of being deaf, not that has stopped him from being a clown. You know of his passion for socks and that he is the fat boy this winter.

      Lance is a blaze marked ferret. His second winter he shed his beautiful black markings and they haven't grown back. If you look closely, you can see the stripe on his head that is if he lets you look that long. The marking is 75% indicative that a ferret will be deaf because of Waardenburg’s

     Lance like his siblings came to live with me when he was just a kit of approximately 8 weeks of age. From the start, I could tell something was different about him but couldn’t put my finger on it. He was as inquisitive as the others and had the ignore the human down pat. He followed his siblings around like the tag along younger child.

     A couple of incidences made me suspect that he was deaf. One was when he bit me on the flesh between the forefinger and thumb almost piercing the area. With the others, my scream made them let go instantly, not with him. Judy had to pry his jaws apart while I scruffed him.

     Scruffing usually makes a ferret yawn and they will release their hold on things. The other was when he didn’t react to the vacuum cleaner.

     Those two things made me wonder if it was possible for a ferret to be hear of hearing or completely deaf. I started doing research online and found the most in depth site by a woman calling herself Wolfy.

     On her site were some tests to do that should receive a reaction from a hearing ferret. I did almost every single one and Lance didn’t react to any of them.

     He is considered a special needs fur child to the vet and many others. He acts no different from any other ferret I have met. He plays as long and as hard as the others do if not longer. He has his own quirks that make me laugh out loud. The only visible sign that there is something wrong is me signing to him.

     Lance is also the champion of Dead Ferret Sleep. No one is really sure why a ferret will fall into such a deep sleep that they look a dead ferret. I can only say that my youngest brother, Carl, is capable of this kind of sleep and he is also deaf. It makes your hear race when you can’t wake them up and their bodies are so relaxed that they flop around. About the only thing that will wake Lance up is putting a piece of his favorite treat on top of his nose.

     Even then it is a slow process and most times Lance stretches and looks at you to say “What? I was sleeping why’d you wake me up.” If you put him back in his hammock he will go right back to sleep otherwise he is up and ready to go play defend the box.

 

Jo