|
Sock Weasel posted:Are Marshall ferts still the ticking time bombs I've read about or have things improved? Also the fact that it'd be way too hot to keep them outdoors here and idk how bad the musty smell would get inside. Yes they are. They WILL get cancer if they live long enough. But you can easily and relatively cheaply alleviate the symptoms and make them comfortable and even have a decent shot at slowing or stopping tumor growth. Your house will smell like a ferret. If you don't clean like a LOT, it will smell like ferret poo poo which is way less tolerable. They poop about every 4 hours, so if you have 2 ferrets that's 12 poops every day! I really think that this is why people have trouble with keeping smells down. They just poo poo way more often than a dog or cat, in addition to getting diarrhea for seemingly no reason/any reason. To keep their space free of poops you have to be cleaning basically all of the time, at least twice a day, although I found that I had to clean more often than that (I was keeping 4-6 at a time though). worst pet ever imo but you can't help but love em. They so dumb. 
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2014 15:41
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:36 |
|
|
Alex WS posted:I really want to get a ferret or two, but I'm worried I might be allergic. I have cat allergies and mild dog allergies. As I understand it, there's no easy way to know if you're okay with ferrets or not outside of actually having one. If I do end up being allergic, is it reasonable to believe it will be fine if I get a girl (I heard they are better than boys because of their urine or something), keep the cage clean and give it regular baths? In my experience it's mostly direct skin contact with the ferret that causes a reaction like hives, not so much the sinus congestion and eye itch you get with cat allergies. Washing your hands and arms after holding them helps quite a lot, and keeping their nails trimmed so you don't get scratched. Females vs males aren't going to be noticeably different in terms of your allergic reaction to them. No matter what, you DO want to clean the cage every day and you DONT want to bathe the ferret unless absolutely necessary (ie he has rolled in poop or some other substance and it needs to come off).
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2014 14:44
|
|
|
DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:Thread's been going well and in a positive direction for a few posts now, so it's time for a bringdown! Sorry about your little dude. It is hard when they go but you're doing him the ultimate kindness. Also, he didn't survive insulinoma, it is terminal. Sorry I'm just the semantics police  Re: ferret proofing Imo kitchens should all be no ferrets allowed because they are full of dangers and, as you have found, are hard to make safe. The most elegant solution I have seen is a sheet of plexi fitted to the door frame, with a pvc pipe running along the top (so you can grip it). It was held in place with a thin little strip of wood like moulding or something, and a finishing nail. So you could just slide it down into the track and form a clear barrier, short enough to step over. We put stickers on it to help keep ferrets from running into it BUT that is also hilarious. I hope I am explaining this well!
|
|
#
¿
Nov 26, 2014 20:23
|
|
|
Ok I have some potty tips. 1) choose corners for your box placements, try to use the same kind of box or pad or whatever in each location. 2) when they first wake up, they will want to go. Put them in the box. They will probably want to run off, but just keep putting them back. When they do go (it won't take too long) treat them with ferretone the whole time they go and after. Make this a "first thing when you wake up" routine. 3) walking forward into a box and then turning around to poo poo is very unnatural for the majestic ferret, he prefers to walk backwards to his poop spot (because predators might be in the cage, must be ever vigilant). So a flat thing like a pee pad tends to meet with less resistance than a box. If you do prefer the box, one with a low front entrance will be best. 4) litter: your ferret will not have interest in burying its presents. I never had trouble with paper pellet litter, but I have no experience with clay clumping litter. I personally wouldn't suggest it due to the dust and the possibility that they ingest some. Go forth and potty train you crazy fert goons. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 5, 2014 04:41
|
|
|
Are you sure you weren't just irritated by the litter dust? A true allergy is a response to a specific protein, usually found in the saliva, and will have nothing to do with the animal's diet. Ferret allergies are usually pretty mild in my experience, and can get worse or better over time. Sorry this isn't very helpful, allergies are just weird.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 25, 2015 19:53
|
|
|
Cover everything with fabric and wash it A LOT. The ramp covers are honestly the best thing, if you have a typical cage with a shelf. They wake up and go potty and wipe their bellies on the cage ramp going back to bed. I used cheap tube socks and changed them every day. It keeps the smells off their hammocks and stuff which stays fresher longer. Of course, changing the litter/potty area at least twice a day. ENZYME CLEANER. It has to say that on the bottle. Natures miracle is a popular brand. I like simple solution (I just like the smell). Never bathe the ferret unless you have to (IE they got poop on themselves). When you do, use a gentle pet shampoo and don't use too much of it.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2015 01:01
|
|
|
A lot of places here have restrictions on them (in my state you can't have one over 7 months of age that is intact unless you have a permit). Marshall's basically has a ferret monopoly. They provide pets as well as animals for research labs and stuff like that. They churn out ferrets from the same lines year after year, ship them out at a very young age and mostly never hear about them again, so they don't have good data on which lines suffer from what.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2015 22:09
|
|
|
GlyphGryph posted:Are ferrets from certified AFA breeders generally healthier in the US? Or does it all come from such bad base stock they are still prone to dying rather quickly? It's a combination of things, but mostly, pet ferrets in the U.S. are Marshall's ferrets. I don't personally know of any private breeders with a good reputation, but I have heard of bad ones - angora breeders!  I'm not saying a good breeder doesn't exist, they probably do and have paid to import healthy European ferrets to start it. But Marshall's outnumber them, thousands to one. And those ferrets all come from the same lovely stock. In addition to being of terrible genetic health, Marshall's alters most of the kits as soon as they weigh enough to survive the surgery. Which probably plays a hand in adrenal disease, as it is primarily a hormonal disorder.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2015 22:50
|
|
|
Depending on where you live, you may have to get a license to breed them or even to own breeding age intact adults (probably why a zillion ferret bybs don't exist here). If I was going to keep them again I would adopt an oldie with cancer whose lovely people aren't willing to deal with it. Because there are LOTS of those. 
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2015 21:20
|
|
|
Importing them is probably possible, but I would expect it to be difficult and costly. There are only breeds of dogs because of thousands of years of dog people selectively breeding them for different types of work. Ferrets have only had to do one job, so multiple types weren't needed.
|
|
#
¿
May 20, 2015 23:10
|
|
|
Cat "breeds" aren't like dog breeds. It's basically just coat patterns and friendly dispositions. They don't have the extreme variety of size and temperament that dogs do. Look up the breed standard for any cat breed and you will most likely find it described as having a "doglike personality" because it just means they focused on getting the pretty ones to be friendly.
|
|
#
¿
May 21, 2015 16:23
|
|
|
There would be signs of distemper aside from sudden death like that, distemper will make them very very sick with fever, vomiting and diarrhea. I'm sorry for your losses.  If you have the disposable income and really want to know what happened, the vet could do a necropsy, but even that might not give you a conclusive answer.Ferrets are the best and worst pets at the same time.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2015 12:47
|
|
|
Even without the surgery, regular melatonin implants can slow the growth of the tumor dramatically- to the point that it grows as slowly as a benign one. They are relatively inexpensive, I used to get them from the ferret shelter and put them in myself (that way I avoided an office visit fee on top of the cost of the implant which was about 25$). It's not hard as long as you don't mind a big ol honkin needle. I did them every 6-8mo or so on all my adrenal dooks, and even started giving them to the 5+ year olds even if they had no symptoms yet.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2015 11:34
|
|
|
That's what killed me about ferret rescue. We got lots of returns, sometimes years later. Oh thanks, these now 6 year old dudes are definitely gonna get adopted! Oh wait they'll go to hospice at my house and I'll have to nurse their geriatric asses til they finally keel over and make me cry. FUN I learned to stay away from CL because I'm pretty hot headed and confrontational, and would send nasty emails to people. it soothed my nerves but ultimately can't do anything for the ferts so I stopped looking for cage deals on there. Not worth raising my blood pressure over it.I'm pretty sure the same poo poo goes on in any animal rescue, but ferrets are such a unique handful to own that it seems they get abandoned or pawned off more than their share. Poor lil dookies. 
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2015 15:12
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:36 |
|
|
This morning the Internet dude came to fix my weird internet, and he saw a picture of Nickel (a fert that I had years ago, she died in maybe 2010) on my side table and asked, "is that a SQUIRREL??"  I also had someone ask me if my ferret was a dog, once. She saw it in person, outside on his harness. I guess she figured it was some kind of teacup weaseldog. Ferret Megathread: What Kind Of Animal Even Is This
|
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2015 15:12
|
|