Little thief (Ferrets)

Member Name: LittleEwok

Product:	Ferrets
Date:	11/01/05 (3518 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great fun, have good points of cats and dogs, in a smaller package, very cute

Disadvantages: Quite high maintenence, If not raised properly or caged may bite

Did you know that the word ferret means “little thief” in Latin? Any ferret owners on here will instantly know what I mean. Pet ferrets love to steal your wallet, purse, keys, anything they can get their teeth on.

Did you also know that pet ferrets are rapidly becoming one of the most popular small pets in the US?

Ferrets have a bit of a bad rap here and in the US. In the US they are banned in many states as being dangerous wild animals, and often they are accused of having rabies. In many states over there, if a pet ferret bites someone, the authorities can seize it and check it out for rabies (just so you know that involves killing it and then studying its brain tissue), and over here they are generally denounced as smelly and vicious. Ferrets are no more likely to have rabies than any other animal.

None of the above need be true of pet ferrets. Ferrets are not “wild animals”. They are a domesticated form of weasel (specifically, polecat), and they’ve been domesticated for thousands of years. Just as with dogs, they have evolved into a whole new species. A domesticated ferret isn’t semi-wild like people believe, if you let a pet ferret go wild it would probably die pretty quickly of starvation or being preyed on.

As for ferrets biting, that myth comes from the ferrets people keep for rabbiting, and animals like weasels being mistake for ferrets. These are a whole different ball game to a pet ferret, as I found out when I rescued a family of five of them. Pet ferrets and rabbiting ferrets are quite different animals. A properly trained ferret of either type wont bite, but house ferrets tend to be more docile and friendly, and also come in a dazzling array of colours and patterns (the cutest being ferrets with “mitts” or little white socks). Obviously a ferret used to slaughter rabbits is going to be a nippy little bugger. Baby ferrets will nip, but they are very intelligent and quick learners, and if you tell them off for nipping they will soon stop.

Ferrets, like skunks, have “stink glands” they can let off when you are annoying them. This is where the smelly ferret myth comes from, along with the fact that unneutered ferrets, especially hobs (boys) stink. House ferrets are usually neutered and are tame enough to not musk you with their scent (and if they do the scent doesnt last long). Some vets will remove their stink glands, a process called "descenting" but it is frowned upon in the UK.

A bit about ferrets

Ferrets are members of the mustelid family. Other members include weasels, mink stoats, otters, skunks, badgers and the largest member of the family is the ferocious wolverine. Ferrets are essentially tame weasels-they are believed to be descendents of the European polecat. Its no surprise that they have such a bad reputation…mink, stoats and otters are reputed to have an ill temperament and a bite that can cut through sheet metal, and if you ever run into a wolverine…I’ll pray for you. Taxonomically, mustelids are somewhere between cats and dogs, being a little closer to dogs. Pet ferrets have both cat and dog-like qualities. They will come when you call them, fetch and follow you around like a dog, but they are very inquisitive and intelligent like a cat, and they have “kittenish” playing behaviour…they love pouncing and batting things.

Basic ferret Care

A note about vets, vaccinations and neutering

If you have a pet ferret you MUST get a vet that has experience dealing with them, you cant just go to a vet who is used to to dealing with dogs and cats. Pet ferrets arent so common in the UK, so you might have to do some looking around. You may find country vets more likely to have ferret experience, as people might keep them outside of towns for rabbiting. Ferrets get some very ferret-specific diseases, its also important your vet knows how to neuter them and which vaccinations to give them, otherwise your pet could get very ill.

Ferrets must be vaccinated against canine distemper. This is totally fatal to ferrets as well as dogs, so this is vital. Shots against feline distemper and parvo are not necessary.

If you don’t plan to breed your ferret, get it neutered. In females, this is a life or death requirement. Female ferrets come into season at about seven months old, and they STAY in season until they are bred. If they arent bred, then they can often die of aplasmic anaemia…the risks of having a permanent period are obvious. Neutering ferrets also makes them much tamer and less likely to bite, and stops them smelling bad.

Ferret housing

Ferrets can be kept outdoor in hutches, but if your ferret is to be a pet, there is really little point. If you want a tame ferret it needs to be around people as often as possible, so an indoor cage in a busy part of the house is better for them, they are not shy animals! A minimum floor space for two ferrets would be six foot…three foot long by two foot wide or similar. Better would be nine foot of floor space…three foot by three foot. I currently have a six ferret family in a six-by-two foot cage with five storeys. However, ferrets love to climb and utilising space is a great idea…a multi-storey cage with a smaller “foot print” (base size) is completely acceptable also. Cages are best constructed of wire with a plastic base, or wood back and sides and a wire front. Mostly plastic cages or glass ones aren’t good for ferrets as they need a lot of ventilation.

Food bowls should be the heavy stoneware type, although this usually doesn’t stop the ferrets tipping them up, and water should be provided in a vertical drop-feeder similar to the kind used for rabbits.

Ferrets will learn to go in a litter box, placing it on one side of the cage is usually enough encouragement for them to go. It can be filled with regular cat litter. This is important as you cant really use wood shaving as bedding for ferrets, it contains toxins that are very bad for them. Most people use old carpet, towels or bits of rug to floor their ferret cage, so the litter pan is of obvious importance! Straw or hay could be used, but it gets dusty, also it stinks when wet. Another item used is corn-cob granules. They have the benefit of being good for the environment, dust-free and biological. However, if swallowed they swell in the gut, so this has to be kept in mind.

Ferrets are playful creatures and toys in the cage are a must. Cloth tunnels are a favourite with ferrets. You can make them by cutting the arm of an old sweater, or buying swanky ones from the shops. They also love hammocks suspended from the roof of the cage, and will often use this as their bed. A great toy to have in the cage is a box filled with sand or chinchilla dust. Ferrets love to dig and will have great fun with this…it will make a terrible mess of the cage though. Small tug ropes of the kind used for dogs will be enjoyed, as will bells.

Ferret feeding

Most of the commercial ferret food on the market has actually been designed with fur animals in mind…i.e mink. However, because its quite hard to get hold of ferret food, they will overprice the stuff even though it isn’t designed with ferrets in mind. As a result, some people prefer to feed their ferrets on high quality cat food. Dog food is NOT suitable for ferrets, it isn’t high enough in animal protein. Ferrets need a minimum of 34% protein and 22% fat, they also need taurine, which isn‘t found in dog food…cat food is better in this respect.. So a lot of pet owners will feed their weasels on Iams or something similar (if you like animals, I suggest you steer clear of Iams though, because they aren’t above torturing cats and dogs to develop new products). I personally feed mine Burns cat food, which is quite easy to get hold of and seems to fit their nutritional requirements fine, and has the bonus of being a lot healthier than most mass-produced pet food.

The bulk of a ferrets food should be dry…its better for their teeth and wet food decomposes quickly, making it not a very good choice for caged pet ferrets (they should always have food available).

For treats, ferrets will eat pretty much anything! Steer clear of chocolate, and don’t feed nuts (they impact in the gut) and you should be fine. A little sugar is OK for ferrets, just don’t go overboard. Some fave ferret treats include small pieces of cooked meat, banana, raisins (only one or two), peanut butter, bits of pear, some cat or dog treats, rice cakes and wheat crackers. Try your ferret with a bit of everything, they are total gut buckets. Ferrets love dairy, but it gives them diarrhoea so only give them a tiny lick of milk or ice cream (yes, they love ice cream!). They also cant take too much fibre, so avoid feeding them lots of grains or fruit n veg. Obviously keep sugar to a minimum. Ferrets love the fake fruity red liquorice you get in sweet shops, and a little taste wont do them any harm. A great ferret treat is a liquid vitamin supplement formulated specially for ferrets, Ferretone and Ferretvite are examples. Ferrets LOVE the taste of this stuff, and it makes a great training tool.

Ferret training

Ferret kits naturally play fight each other. Ferrets don’t realise that your skin is thicker than theirs, and that a bite can cut to the bone. If a baby ferret bites you, its only in play, and as ferrets are so easy to train, they quickly grow out of it. “Scruffing” a ferret (picking it up by the scruff of the neck, but not so its feet come off the ground), and making hissing noises and saying no loudly, works well, as its similar to what the ferrets mother would do. Other techniques involve flicking the ferrets nose, not too hard, but this will just encourage some to bite more, or squirting them with water or bitter apple from a spray bottle (ferrets arent so fond of water, so this one works well). Another favourite is putting the ferret back in the cage when he misbehaves. Ferrets love to explore, so this is the ultimate punishment. Of course, mistreated ferrets will bite out of fear, and this is much harder to fix. As always, positive reinforcement (rewards) work much better than punishment. A food treat, a lick of Ferretvite or a cuddle or play when the ferret behaves well is good practise.

Ferret-proofing

As I’ve mentioned, ferrets shouldn’t be kept in cages all the time. Ferrets need at least three to four hours of out-of-cage time a day, and some of this should be left to exploring. Ferrets are agile, fast and very clever, and they are also the most accident prone animal you are EVER likely to meet.

Firstly, they will eat ANYTHING. Carpets, shoes, washing up liquid and detergent included. Ferrets love to eat rubber and foam, and anything else with a springy texture, it is one of their favourite pastimes. It blocks their intestines and can result in death, or at least very expensive vets fees. You have to remove anything that contains rubber and foam when allowing your ferrets free-roaming time, or keep a very close eye on them. They will eat the rubbery backing on some carpets and rugs, the plasticity/rubbery coating on electrical wires, the buttons of the remote control, the soles of shoes, pencil erasers, condoms, anything they can get their little teeth on. They also, for some insane reason, love the taste of soap. A little lick of soap will do a ferret no more harm than diarrhoea, but a few bites could be fatal to them.

Secondly, they can get inside everything. That means up the back of washing machines, tumble dryer pipes, into the back of sofas and recliners, into ovens and dishwashers, into cabinets and fridges, baths and toilets, you name it. Its best to keep ferrets out of living rooms and kitchens if there is lots of stuff for them to get into. If a ferret gets into the spring-lining of a sofa or a bed, its very dangerous, especially if you come and sit on the bed. Recliners are worse. You cannot have a recliner if you have a ferret, simple as that…they WILL climb into the mechanism and get crushed. I have had one ferret die this way, known two others personally to die from it, and heard countless stories about it.

Thirdly, they like to dig. This may include house plants and your carpet and doors. Be warned.

Toys for ferrets have to be designed in mind with their incredibly sharp teeth in mind. They will tear most rubber to bits and eat it.

You can ferret-proof and make certain parts of your home ferret-safe, it involves getting a book on ferrets and making a LOT of changes in the area your ferrets will occupy when they are free-roaming.

One or more ferrets?

A ferret can live happily on its own given plenty of love and attention. However two or more will keep each other company and be more fun. They’re also double the cost of vaccinations, neutering and a bigger cage, and double the trouble. Two or more ferrets can prove costly in time, patience and money.

Boys or girls?

If they are neutered it doesn’t matter, both have similar temperament and you can keep both sexes in the same cage. Boys are bigger (they can weigh twice as much) and they have a wider, more cat-like face. But there is little difference temperament-wise.

My ferrets

My first ferrets came from a horrible local boy who kept ferrets for rabbiting. He didn’t realise he had two of the opposite sex in the same hutch, and they had five babies. I learned about this, and also learned that his dad had insisted that he drown the ferrets, rather than finding them a good home, and naturally this disgusted me. I offered to buy them instead. (the buggers charged me £40 for them, even though they were going to kill them otherwise anyway) . Because they are from working stock they have proved a bit harder to tame than ferrets from a strain of pets. There was two jills (female ferrets), who were both albinos, and three hobs (boys) who were all polecat coloured. I called them Dweezil, Moon Unit (after Frank Zappa’s kids), Frank, Pogo and Bandit. That was four years ago. Bandit died a year ago unfortunately (the incident with the recliner), and Frank had to be put to sleep, the rest are still happy and healthy, and barring complications (or eating things that are bad for them) will live another four or six years, I’ve also taken on two more babies, Gogo, a silver mitt, and Nala, a chamagne (ferrets come in a variety of colours just like other pets).

Why ferrets rock as pets

I’d got as far as saying that ferrets are probably one of the best pets you can have. They are easily as intelligent as dogs and cats, but don’t require as much space or care are dogs. They have the benefits of being able to be kept in a cage, like small pets (although they need plenty of play-time outside the cage). But ferrets are way smarter than small pets like rabbits.

A ferrets intelligence is one of the best things about it. They are amazing agile, smart and amusing little companion animals. I have seen ferrets pull off amazing feats for animals of their size and supposed intelligence level. I once watched Dweezil trying to get into our full-size bin in the kitchen. When he realised he was too short, he proceeded to push the bin over to the dining table, jump on one of the chairs, jump on the table and then jump into the bin! Ferrets can also learn to open bottle tops and zippers (a friend of mine had his camera pinched by one of my ferrets) and pull open cabinets. They excel at finding routes to high places (shelves and cabinets) in your house that will absolutely amaze you. They are literally like little monkeys. Watching them ferret around makes them one of the most interesting house-pets you could possibly have!

Secondly, they are absolutely hilarious little creatures. They have a curious little habit affectionately known as “the Ferret War-Dance”. They bounce about, often just with their front teeth, with their back arched, head swinging about and mouth wide open, sometimes hissing and chirping. it’s the funniest thing ever and its there way of saying “I want to play”. There is also the “flat ferret” in which the ferret flattens himself on the floor like a miniature speedbump…its his way of saying “cuddle me”. A third funny behaviour is their sleeping habits. Ferrets are incredibly deep sleepers, to the point where you can pick them up without waking them up…many a ferret owner has rushed his or her pet to the vet to find out whats wrong, only to find the little monster awake on arrival. The mishaps and adventures a pet ferret gets into make them an absolute riot as a pet, as do their funny little behaviours, if you are fit enough to chase after them and get them out of trouble, and you have a good sense of humour.

Thirdly, if you want a pet you can play with, look no further. Ferrets are like kittens with their play behaviour, unlike kittens, however, they never get tired of it. Ferrets are more play pets than cuddling pets, they would much rather be off sniffing around than sitting on your lap like a cat, and if that’s what you want in a pet, look no further. There is an amazing multitude of games you can play with a ferret, which I don’t have room to go into here, but everything from tug-of-war to playing with remote controlled cars is ferret-related fun. You need a lot of energy to be able to keep up with them, but they really are incredibly fun.

Ferrets are also amazingly easy to train. They learn quicker than either cats and dogs, and they can learn to do tricks, although I feel its rather degrading to train an animal as if it were a circus pet. Either way, this means they will soon learn to come when called and learn litter training habits quite quickly.

They just seem to be much more appealing to me than more commonly kept small pets like rabbits. Rabbits seem to learn to tolerate people, but they just don’t form the bond that a ferret will with you. Ferrets are really happy in captivity given plenty of care and time. Once its well trained, a ferret will happily sit on your shoulder for hours, or sit in a pocket while you go for a walk. I cant imagine any house rabbit doing that, nor most other small pets like hamsters or guinea pigs. The possible exception would be pet rats, and I find that ferrets have a lot of similarities with them, they are both amazingly intelligent and agile little animals that bond with their owners in a similar way to a cat or dog. Ferrets, along with rats, really are the best pet I think you could have if you want a pet to love you like a dog does, but simply don’t have the room for one.

They are also nocturnal, so good for people who work all day. They will also tailor themselves to your habits…if you are most active when you get in from work, they will be the same. If you are more active later in the night, they will be too. They may sleep up to 18 hours in a day, like cats, so as long as you give them a few hours of play time, they will probably sleep the rest of the time.

Lastly, they have the benefits of many unusual pets. People are often interested in learning about them and their habits, and they can make an interesting talking point. I like having pets that are a little on the less ordinary side, so long as they can adequately be cared for in captivity.

Now the bad bits…

In my opinion, if you are responsible, have the time, and want an interesting pet that you can both watch and cuddle, then you cannot do better than a ferret. There are some major drawbacks to owning them however.

Firstly, they need more time and care than cats. A lot of people choose small pets because they are convenient and don’t need much care, but that sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me. What is the point in getting a pet if you don’t want to interact with it, or at least watch its natural behaviours. However the fact remains that ferrets are quite high-maintenance pets. If you have more than one ferret, the price can mount up very, very quickly. They don’t eat much, but they combine the costs of companion pets like dogs and cage pets, as they require vaccinations and neutering as well as cages.

In the same vein, if you don’t give a ferret plenty of time and attention, then you will end up with a vicious little monster. Ferrets are not cage-pets and need at least three hours out of their cage. Left in their cage they will develop serious mental problems. While this is true of all caged pets, leaving a rabbit caged all the time will result in stereotyped behaviour (a sign of mental disturbance), in a ferret these problems could cost you a finger or an eye. An unhappy ferret will bite you.

Moreover, ferrets and children do not mix. A lot of American ferret authors give information on how to make sure ferret snd children coexist peacefully, but my advise is, if you have a kid under 13, do NOT get a ferret. Ferrets will not tolerate rough handling as a more patient dog might, they are delicate and if hurt or scared they WILL bite. And ferret bites really are as painful as they say. Ferrets also arent too great with other pets. Cats and dogs might be OK, with supervision, and they may even become great friends. However, any other house pets, including rabbits, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, lizards, small snakes, even fish, are what a ferret will consider dinner. You can keep ferrets with these pets, so long as the ferrets are never allowed access to their rooms, as just the smell of the ferrets will terrorise them.

This is more the owner than the ferrets fault, but ferrets accident-prone nature means things can end in tears. If you don’t take suitable precautions your ferret could end up crushed in bed-springs or recliners, swallowing something that is fatal to it, escaping and getting lost, drowning in your toilet, or meet many other nasty fates.

The only other real disadvantage to keeping ferrets are peoples prejudice about them. They are reputed as smelly and vicious, and no matter how cute your critter is, you keep ferrets away from people who think this. There are many people who will claim a ferret bit them and try to have them put down…this has happened to me in the past with a ferret who has never bitten anyone.

In conclusion, ferrets get a bit of an unfair deal from word-of-mouth. Ferrets are no more vicious than dogs are cats, they take up less space and are just as loving and smart. If you want an unusual pet that will still learn to love you, and you’re willing to donate the time and money proper ferret care needs, you can’t really get any better than these cute little weasels.

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