Litter Box Help

Question
I recently purchased Fletch and thought I had him potty trained quickly. The second day in his cage he started using his litter box and continued to faithfully use it every time for 3 weeks. He hadn't had a single accident. 5 days ago I brought him in for his  2nd Distemper booster. He took it pretty well actually, sat fairly still and everything. But after bringing him home he simply won't use his litter box. It has been 5 days now and he just goes wherever he pleases. By his food, his bed, his water. Whyyyyy? I have been trying to train him again, but he refuses to cooperate. He will go in the litter box if I basically force him to, by placing him in there continuously until he can't hold it anymore, haha. That worked the first time, followed by tons of praise. But unfortunately I can't be there every time he goes to the bathroom...I even purchased some special cleaner that is supposed to remove the smells that their potty produces from an area, thinking if it didn't smell to him anymore, maybe he won't use those spots when I am gone. That didn't work, haha.

Is this behavior common in ferrets after getting a shot? Your help is certainly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Answer
Hi Jayme:

I suspect this has nothing at all to do with the distemper shot.

You never mentioned your ferret ever getting out of the cage at any other time except to go to get his distemper shot though. Ferrets MUST get out of the cage to play DAILY.  If he's not getting out, maybe the day he got the distemper shot, he realized how much fun it was to get out of his cage and he just decided he wanted more time out of the cage.

The PROPER way to litterbox train a ferret is to make SURE the ferret is getting a LOT of out of the cage play time. THEN.....and only then...you can start litterbox training.  Because then your ferret will be tired when he goes into his cage. If the cage you put him into is clean, then spread clean baby blankies, pajamas, soft fabrics like t-shirts, etc every place on the floor except where the food and water bowls are and where the litterbox is.  Then the ferret will know he is in his cage to EAT, DRINK, SLEEP and GO POTTY.  

The best secret to getting them litterbox trained is just making sure they are out and playing enough that they are tired by the time they are in the cage.  Keeping a really close eye on them when they are out of the cage helps a lot too. When you see him start to back up, quickly pick him up and gently put him down in his litterbox and when he potties - say "GOOD BOY!!" over and over.  

If he misses and goes on the carpet, let him watch while you get toilet paper and put it in the litterbox and say "PUT POOPIES IN THE BOX GOOD BOY" and leave the poopies in the litterbox.

Another reason ferrets stop using litterboxes is that a ferret refuses to use a litterbox that isn't clean, so be SURE to scoop it every day...and be sure to take out ALL the poops AND ALL THE WET LITTER.  It's the wet litter that really smells bad, so be sure to get all of it and then replace what you took out with clean, dry litter.

I think you'll be surprised how easy it really is to litterbox train a ferret if you follow the above rules. It's more a matter of praising them for doing good than telling them 'no no' for doing bad. They don't seem to understand that as well, so do try to get it back to the "GOOD BOY" method and it will work better.

One hint is that your ferret will potty within 2 minutes of waking up and playing, so keep an eye on him during that time and *help* him make it to the litterbox if he needs a 'quick' ride (scoop him up and quickly put him in the box, then say "GOOD BOY!!")

Best of luck!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers