I get many requests from people looking for the youngest ferret they can find. Many have children, many are not experienced in living with ferrets, and many seem to think you need to get them young to get a good ferret.
The truth is, older ferrets are often the sweetest, most cuddly, and fun animals you could ask for. They might not play for 4 hours straight, but they definitely do play. Continue reading
Who doesn’t love ferrets? I know I do. Cute, cuddly, and full of personality. When I found Hide-E-Hole Ferret Rescue late one night while searching through Google I was touched by the commitment and effort the site owner (Barb Carlson) was giving to these lovable critters. Barb’s site definitely needed some TLC as well, so I offered to help out. By a twist of fate (or ferret manipulation) I ended up becoming the “webmaster” and now I am currently working on getting this site organized. Continue reading
There are two main issues when you bring another ferret into the house, whether it’s from the shelter, a pet store or from your friend down the street. First, compatibility and second, health.
Ferrets meeting
Some ferrets will, in time, come to accept a new ferret. There are various tricks and things you can try. One of the most successful seems to be giving all parties involved a bath and putting the same scent on all the ferrets. Some people swear by vanilla (especially if ferrets already like Ferretone, which uses vanilla as a flavoring). Some say they dab on their own perfume and that does the trick. Others say the bath alone is enough (misery loves company, maybe?).
Another good technique is to introduce the ferrets on neutral territory — that is, some place that none of the ferrets involved call “home.” If you normally let your ferrets play in the livingroom, you might try introducing new ferrets in a bedroom. However, it’s much easier to separate warring parties if you introduce them somewhere you have easy access to all corners of the room. It’s not much fun to be crawling under the bed or behind the couch, trying to grab two very angry, screaming weasels! Best to pick a place with no large pieces of furniture, but perhaps some small boxes or tubes for ferrets to hide in if they need a break.
Also, when ferrets don’t get along, you’ll often see what we call “flying poop.” That’s when two ferrets are attached to each other, screaming and biting, all fur fluffed, rolling around, and one or both poops. The result is that poop goes flying all over the place, hence “flying poop.” This is a sign one or both ferrets are REALLY upset. You really don’t want to be climbing around on the floor, through this poop, trying to reach very upset ferrets that will just as soon bite you as anything else. This is a very good reason to leave the introducing to be done at the shelter. We’ve seen this before, we know how to stop it, and most importantly, we know what portion of the ferret to grab to decrease the chance of a bite. If you have to do it yourself, grabbing the tail of each ferret and having a helper pour cold water on their heads is almost always successful. Usually you don’t have to get that extreme. Usually grabbing tails is enough to get them to let go, and it’s usually pretty obvious which ferret is the aggressor and which really, truly just wants to go hide.
The second issue, health, can be serious if you’re not careful. If all ferrets involved are young and basically healthy and have tested negative to ADV, most likely nothing serious will happen. But if you have an older ferret at home and bring in a ferret with new germs, your older ferret could get sick enough for it to be life-threatening. Quite common is for the current ferrets to get the runs from some new germ brought into the house. Frankly, this can happen if all you do is pet the baby ferrets at the pet store! Diarrhea can be dangerous to an older or sickly ferret. Often you don’t even know your ferret has an underlying problem. The new ferret could get sick, or both could get sick (introducing a new ferret is stressful, and stress often brings on illness in ferrets).
If the ferrets involved are healthy, usually nothing happens, or one or both might have the runs for a couple days and then everything is fine. If the runs last for more than 2 or 3 days, or the ferrets become dehydrated (the skin should fall back immediately after it’s been pinched on the scruff, if it doesn’t, they’re dehydrated), they need to see the vet.
Sometimes just having another ferret around will stress one or both to the point where they’ll get ulcers. If you see a ferret with black, tarry poop, it’s time to take them to the vet asap. That’s *blood* in the stool, probably coming from the stomach, and they will die if it isn’t treated. If you see red blood in the stool (it?s not blood if it stays red for over 30 minutes) that’s also a reason for an immediate trip to the vet.
It’s really a good idea to talk to a shelter operator before introducing a new ferret. Shelters have done it many times, they’ve seen all the possible reactions, and most shelter operators know the symptoms of a serious health problem. Many introductions go just fine; others are a bit bumpier. Sometimes you grab the ferrets, brush off the poop, comfort them for a while, and they forget it. Other times you separate the ferrets, brush off the poop, and forget about trying to introduce them. It’s not worth bloodshed.
If you want to bring more ferrets into your house, you need to be prepared in case they don’t all get along. You may need to set up separate cages and arrange separate play times. Can you deal with that?
If you adopt a ferret from the Hide-E-Hole and if, within the first two weeks, it becomes obvious that it is not working out, we are happy to take the ferret back and refund your money.
When considering treats, you need to remember that treats should be a very small part of your ferret’s diet.
It’s helpful to look at the size of the treat in relation to the ferret’s head, then imagine how big a cookie for a human would have to be to equal that size! Most of the ferret’s nutrition should come from food, not treats.
Chicken or turkey baby food (just the meat — not the kind with noodles or vegetables in it) warmed in the microwave and served off the tip of your finger makes a wonderful treat. All protein, a little fat, no sugar, and served by their favorite human — perfect!
Serving a treat
Another great treat is a piece of cooked chicken (leave the fat and skin on). Cooked beef or pork, a piece of salami, even a piece of hotdog — are you getting the idea? A great treat is MEAT, something ferrets need anyway.
Ferret eating Cheweasel made by Hyperfur
Treats such as Yogies (yogurt-based) aren’t bad, but they do have sugar and should be strictly limited. Anything that is cereal- or sugar-based should be limited. Raisins are a popular treat, but they fall into this category, too. What is “limited”? Well, many people believe once a week is plenty for these sugary treats, certainly no more than one raisin or one Yogie (or equivalent) per day.
Ferretone is a popular treat. The manufacturer says to put it on the food, but you don’t need to do that if you feed good food. Also, it would be easy to overdose them that way. Ferretone contains oil-based vitamins (like A and E) that can build up in the liver. Water-based vitamins (like vitamin C) will just flush out of the system in the urine. So we recommend giving Ferretone as a treat, one drop at a time. I generally save it for nail clipping. A few drops on the tummy will make the chore easier for you and much more pleasant for your ferret. I also use it to reward good behavior (tricks, using the litterbox, etc.), to distract at the vet’s office or to comfort them if I accidentally step on their tail.
EVO Foods
Innova EVO, made by Natura Pet Products, is an excellent food choice for ferrets.
Even the dog version is such high quality it can be fed to ferrets. This is the only dog food I would ever recommend. When EVO first came out, the dog version was all that was available, but with 42% protein, 22% fat and an ingredient list starting with turkey, chicken, turkey meal, chicken meal and potato, it was an exciting new food.
The main selling point for this food is that it contains no grain. It’s low-carb and high-protein, exactly what a carnivore needs.
Later, they developed cat and ferret versions. The ferret EVO has 50% protein and 21% fat, and the ingredient list starts with turkey, chicken meal, chicken, herring meal, chicken fat, and peas. The cat version has 50% protein, 22% fat and those ingredients start the same as the ferret version.
In the shelter, I have been using Innova EVO Dog small bites. It comes in large bags which brings the cost down to a typical good ferret food, and the ferrets at the shelter thrive on it. In fact, when I switched to all EVO (after that last tainted wheat from China episode), the shelter ferrets suddenly became softer and more fluffy. At the time I was angry that the US purchased ingredients from China, not to mention tired of all the recalls (moldy corn is a common problem). Ferrets evolved to eat animals, not graze! I discovered that EVO had no grains (plus a great ingredient list) and switched to it. I’ve been using EVO in the shelter for at least four years with great success.
The only issue I’ve heard of is that the super-high protein might give some ferrets “pudding poop” — a little runny and somewhat stinky poo. People who switched from ferret to dog EVO said the poops were better. It’s possible that some ferrets couldn’t use all that protein.
Another issue is that it might not be a good idea to switch an elderly ferret to a food with super-high protein. If they have silent kidney issues, the extra protein might push them all the way into kidney failure. I have not had that problem in the shelter, but I have heard of other people who did. I would not hesitate to feed EVO to any ferret up to age 4. If you are considering switching a ferret older than that, I’d have the kidney functions checked first. What they used to eat can have an impact on the condition of their kidneys. If they were previously fed inferior, low-protein, low-fat food, the kidneys may already be damaged. If that’s the case and they are doing well on another food, I’d leave them on that food.
The Three Rivers Ferret Council has a franchise to sell Innova products. We typically stock all three EVO varieties: dog, cat and ferret, and we can special order any other Innova food you might like. This food (as well as other merchandise) can be purchased in person at TRFC meetings (typically the third Sunday of the month at a local church), or at the shelter (call first before stopping by).
The only possible issue using the dog version of EVO might be taurine, but there are no established levels of taurine for ferrets. EVO does add some taurine to the dog food, but since we don’t know how much ferrets should have, we don’t know if it’s adequate. Low taurine can cause heart problems and cataracts, but I have not had ferrets (either personal or shelter) develop those problems, so I’m thinking the levels must be okay. If you are worried about it, you can give your ferret a little Ferretvite once a day, since that does have taurine in it.
Since Innova EVO came out, other companies have developed similar products. We will post about those in another article.