Ferrets eat little bits of food during the whole day (about 20 meals a day), so they need to have both water and food to their disposal permanently. Concerning the food, it is always the best to feed one of the brands of ferret food made especially for ferrets. Otherwise, a brand of cat food with at least 37% of protein can be a good alternative. Water has always to be fresh and should be given by means of a water bottle. Last but not least, a mineral block has to be available inside of the ferret cage permanently.

Additional to the normal ferret food, there are some special vitamins on the market which are very good for the health of ferrets. Further on, the following food can be given to your ferret : Bread, vegetables, fruit, pasta (boiled) , cookies, egg (raw/cooked), ice cream.

When the water is refreshed, it is good to add some vitamins to the water. This keeps your ferret healthy. Further on, it is good for the defecation and quality of the fur to add some ferretone to the food once a week. This may only be given once a week and than only about one tablespoon per ferret per week.

Fur care

For keeping the fur in good condition, it is the best to wash your ferret one time a week. You can buy special ferret shampoo to wash your ferret, but it is also possible to use cat or dog shampoo. After washing your ferret, it is the best to blow dry your ferret (otherwise the ferret might get a cold) and brush them afterwards to make them look really nice. To keep the fur in top condition, it is also good to add about one tablespoon of ferretone to the ferret food once a week.

Moulting season

A ferret is moulting two times a year, namely in spring and autumn. So when your ferret looses some hairs in these periods, there is nothing wrong. On the other hand, it is not good when your ferret really looses a lot of hair on a certain area of the skin. When you see some bare and/or dry spots on the skin, you have to go to the vet with your ferret to prevent serious eczema or infections. But there is one situation in which you do not have to be afraid too soon : When your ferret is pregnant. Pregnant ferrets always loose some or a lot of hair during their pregnancy, so do not be afraid that there is something wrong with your ferret when this happens during her pregnancy.

Teeth

The teeth of ferrets have to be kept clean. In case you give your ferret soft food, it can happen that parts of the food pile up between the teeth and around the gums. Therefore, the teeth should be cleaned once and a while. This can best be done by the vet when visiting him/her for other occasions.

Nails

The nails of your ferret have to be cut every month. In case your ferret walks outside its cage quite often, this nail cutting only has to be done every 2 months. To do this, the nail has to be cut straight and crosswise. Be careful not to cut too much by cutting thought the red lines in the nails. If this is done accidentally, the nail will bleed heavily, which can hurt quite a lot. To stop bleeding, it is necessary to put some pressure on the concerned nail/feet.

Ears

The ears of ferrets can be cleaned by means of cotton buds. Be careful with this, because the ears of ferrets are very sensitive. As soon as you see brown greasy elements in the ears, there is a chance that your ferret has ear mites. Your ferret can get these of dogs and cats.

Heat

A ferret can not stand long periods of warm weather, and he or she can even get a heart attack when staying in temperatures of 24 degrees or more too long. If something like this happens, you have to keep your ferret cool by wrapping a wet rag around him or her. Your ferret might throw up in such a situation, but you have to keep it calm and cool for at least half an hour so that the temperature decreases to an acceptable level. If your ferret is not totally recovered within 24 hours, it is necessary to visit the vet.

Sleeping habits

All ferrets like to sleep at their own place. But in case your ferret can move freely in your house, you have to be very careful about where your ferret is all the time. This because ferrets often happen to fall asleep everywhere in the house. When your ferret gets tired, it will just fall asleep at the place where it is at that moment. This means you can find your ferret sleeping in your washing machine, dryer, under the bank, ovens, refrigerators etc. So keep track of your ferret when doing the household, because your little guy or girlie can be everywhere..

Biting

Young ferrets bite for several reasons, but mainly because of pain, anger and hunger. Before playing with your young ferret, it is better to wash your hands and giving him/her a good meal. This because a young ferret does not now the difference between your hands and food in the beginning. When your ferret is 12 weeks or older, it may not bite ever again unless it is injured or very frightened. In this case, it will only bite for self protection. Should a grown up ferret, which normally does not bite ever, suddenly bite without any apparent reason, then there has to be something wrong. In this case, it is important to try to find the reason for the ferret's behaviour. The ferret can be ill or wounded or can have another problem, and it can be important to find this out.

Fighting

In most cases, it is possible to put a new ferret with the ones already owned quite easily. The new ferret will be accepted very quick as a new playmate. In the beginning, it can be the case that the new ferret is dragged through the whole cage or throughout your house, but this should be over very soon. After this, the new ferret should be accepted totally in the new environment.

But unfortunately, there are some exceptional cases in which the newly required ferret is not totally accepted almost immediately. In this cases, it might be the case that your ferrets really fight with each other. To stop this, you can try the following : Buy a cheap perfume at your pet shop or drugstore. Wash and blow dry your ferret. Do not put them together yet, but first spray your ferret with the bought perfume (from neck to tail). Be very sure that especially the backside smells "nice". After spraying the perfume on the ferrets fur, you have to rub in the perfume very well over the ferret's bodies (except the head). After this, you can put the ferrets together. If everything turns all right, they will only play with each other but not fight anymore. When repeating this after each bath, your ferret will go well with each other.

Walking with your ferret

It is always very nice to walk with ferrets, both for the owner and for the ferrets. The ferrets just love to walk around being almost totally free to go. This can be easily reached by means of a roller, so that the ferrets can go their own way. The needed equipment for walking with your ferrets is the following : Roller, lash, collar, some spare time. Collars for ferrets have to contain at least a small peace of elastic because ferrets tun into everything. In case your ferret gets stuck, it has to be able to wrench itself away.

It is quite easy to learn your ferret to walk on a line, because ferrets like to go your direction. It can take a while to get them used to a line, but it is worth the effort. For getting your ferret acquainted with the lash, it is the best to put your ferret in the collar with the line attached to it. Just let your ferret walk an hour while dragging the lash behind him or her. After this, hold the line and pull a bit to steer your ferret to a certain direction. As soon as the ferret is not afraid for the line anymore, it should like to walk with you.

There is only one thing nicer than taking a walk with one ferret : Taking a walk with two ferrets. For this, you need a lash for two ferrets or to make something to couple two separate lashes together.
    The advantage of taking two ferrets on a walk is that they enjoy the walk even more because they can play with each other during their walk outside. But in the beginning, your ferrets have to get used to the fact that they have to walk to the same direction. Ferrets can be quite stubborn, so the lightest ferret will probably be dragged behind the stronger one wanting to go its own direction in the beginning. If everything goes all right, this will change after they are used to walking together.

Castration and sterilization

Each ferret has to be castrated or sterilized sometime. This has to be done when the ferret is 8 months or older. When your female ferret gets into her first period, she will stay in it till she is studded. When she is not studded, she will just get very sick and eventually die. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to either stud or sterilize your female ferret before she gets into the first period. This also because of the following reason :

A female ferret can only be sterilized when she is not in season. This because the surgery is too burdensome if your ferret is in season. Further on, the season will not stop by itself. Therefore, your ferret will certainly not survive her season if she is not studded during this period or (in most cases better) sterilized before getting into the period.

The male ferret will be in season for the first time at an age of about 6 months. He will smell very strong at that time and very restless : He only wishes a female to stud. Therefore, is the best to castrate your male ferret around this age and around 8 months.

The vet

When visiting a vet with your ferret, you have to be sure that this vet has enough experience with treating ferrets. Ferrets just can not stand certain medicines or treatments, so your vet should know enough about this to treat your little friend. You should visit the vet at least once a year for a yearly check and vaccinations. Further on, your ferret can get sick. This can be the case if your ferret shows the following symptoms : weakness, no appetite, a dry warm nose, feverish, to much sleep, cramps. When observing one or more of these symptoms, it is good to visit your vet because your ferret will most likely be sick.
 
 

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