Health and care

Question
QUESTION: HI, I have 2 ferrets. We recently discovered they had dug under our new couch!!! i have purchased a playpen for then. I feel guilty since they can not run free. Will this get them enough exercises. I do try to take then out and play with them also but they seem to want to go right to the couch!!   ALSO my older ferret (a little over a year) has weird poop. Sometimes it is solid and then goes to liquid. Sometimes it seems to have mucus in it?? My younger ferret seems to not be gaining any weight?? He is very small. I got him in February and he was gaining weight when I took him for his 3 shots we charted the growth, but now he looks thin. I clean the cage daily, fresh water and Marshall food. I change the litter box daily and wash the cloth things weekly and the cage every other week. They are both very active and do not seem to be ill!!

The older ferret sometimes acts like his back end is slow?? The younger one sometimes will bit at himself but I have not noticed ANY fleas. Should I be worried??? Or am I being a crazy mommie ferret?"

ANSWER: Hi Rebecca,

I think the reason one ferret isn't gaining weight and the other has inconsistent poops is because Marshall's isn't the best food out there. It isn't even really a good food. Here is a very good link that I like to give to ferret owners. It is a chart that lists all the foods people usually feed to ferrets and the best foods are at the top. As you go down the list, the foods get lower and lower in ranking and I'll tell you why in a minute. You will probably want to stay with a nine or a ten. I wouldn't suggest going below a nine.

http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html

When looking at food, you want to make sure that corn, soy and wheat (or any similar products) aren't listed in the first three to five ingredients. Ferrets can't digest these products so having them as part of the normal diet is not a good idea. Also, you need to stick with a food that has at least 36% protein, 20% fat and no more than 3% fiber. As you can see, Marshall's food has corn listed as their third ingredient. It is also good practice to mix a few high quality foods together and give that to ferrets because if one ever goes off the market, you won't have to worry about having to get them switched to a new food.

If you are going to switch their food, the switch should be GRADUAL!! When ferrets get fed a certain food young in life, it is extremely difficult to switch their food. Start off with about 85% old food, 15% new food and feed that for at least a week. Next time, try upping the new food percentage a little and going down on the old food percentage, and so on. This should be a few week process at least. Probably over the course of a month or two.  

If you switch to something like Totally Ferret, which is what we feed our kids around here, you'll see a change, definitely. They should bulk up in no time! Something you probably will notice, though, if you switch their food (which I highly recommend you do) is runny poops or maybe even diarrhea. This could go on for as long as a week but shouldn't last more than ten days. It is just their little bodies adjusting to the change in diet. If you notice something like that then just make sure they are both hydrated either by gently scruffing them to test how fast their skin goes back down (if the skin stays tented, you are looking at dehydration) or by checking their gums. If their gums are pale and tacky feeling, then you are probably looking at dehydration in that situation too.

Ferrets are extremely scratchy creatures. Our kids will jump out a dead sleep as fast as a cat will jump out of a pool just to scratch an itch. There shouldn't be any need to worry as long as there are no bug infestations.

When you say slow about your older one, what do you mean? Do you mean weakness in the back end? Hind end weakness is not a good sign at all and characterizes a few different diseases. If you want to write back with more information, I can try to help you further in deciphering that behavior!

Overall, it seems you are doing an amazing job parenting these lucky little kids! Keep up the good work. With ferrets, as with anything, really, it is better to be safe than sorry!

I hope this information helped and if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have already put the 8-1 Ferret on my list!! I had no idea Marshall's was so poor!!! I had made a vet appointment just to check his weight!!! Should I still take him? When I say weak more like lazy...he jumps and plays, but when he first gets up he is very slow! He was not out much when we got him so he has really gotten active.   may just be over protective!!  I just hate that my younger ferret has been so crazy about the couch I love them running everywhere.  I now have a spare room in my house maybe I will ferret proof it and they can take it over.  HEY another question, the older ferret never was litter trained...he goes in corner by the box but never in it...any ideas?  Thanks for all your help!!!

Answer
Hello again Rebecca!

With the 8-in-1, you want to make sure you get the Ultimate kind. The other kind, the 8-in-1 Ultra, ranks right about where Marshall's does on that list. Don't worry about not knowing Marshall's is bad. Many people think that since Marshall's is where so many ferrets come from in the U.S. that they would at least have some decent food! Unfortunately, that is not the case and so many people don't know that.

You can still take him to the vet if you'd like. I don't mean to say that my opinion replaces a vet's at all. I'm not a certified veterinarian, so i can't tell you if the Marshall's food is the reason your little one is skinny. Flags just went up in my mind when you said Marshall's because I have personally seen ferrets brought into the shelter that were on Marshall's and when they switched over to Totally Ferret, they bulked right up and they were jumping around and happy in no time! If you feel there is an underlying problem for his weight loss (or lack of weight gain, rather), which there very well could be, then by all means take him to the vet. That is what I do too. One of our kids will sneeze the wrong way and I will jump up and say "Okay, time to go see the doctor". My fiancee has to remind me that certain things are not really a big deal. The point is, I'm overprotective, too. I'm sure many ferret mommy's are!

Ferret proofing that spare room is an excellent idea. The play pen isn't really a bad thing, as long as it is a big area. As with a cage though, the ferrets might start to get bored and you could see cage stress set in. So, even if you don't want to give them the whole spare room, you could always let them out in there with plenty of toys to play with and lots of fun things to do!

Ah, litter training. It is difficult with a young one sometimes, let alone an older one! Well, as you probably already know, ferrets aren't like cats. They aren't programmed from birth to go in a litter box 100% of the time. The key to litter training is patience. Never rub the ferret's nose in the accident or smack the ferret for having an accident. That will just make him scared of you and that could lead to biting problems. I'm not saying you would ever do that. I'm sure you wouldn't! Something to remember when litter training is that a ferret who wakes up from a nap has to go to the bathroom. The only exception is if it was a really short nap and they went to the bathroom before they fell sleep and sometimes that doesn't even apply! So, when he wakes up, back him up into the litter box and then place him in. Don't let him come out until he has done his business. This will let him know that the box is where he needs to go. When you see him backing up to go next to the litter box, pick him up really quickly and place him in the litter box. This will be another way for him to know that the box is his bathroom. You can also try giving him a healthy treat every time he goes to the bathroom in the box. Be careful with this, though, because sometimes the ferret will do a "fake poop" and not actually go to the bathroom just because they know they will get the treat! Such crafty little creatures. Something else to remember: you will never eliminate accidents completely! Ferrets have to go when they have to go and if they can make it to a litter box, they will, but if they can't, then "this corner right here looks like a great place...". You know what I mean? And other times, the ferret will aim high when he is going to the bathroom or he'll aim off the side. This is something our youngest boy does all the time. He goes off the side or puts his butt right up over the top of his litter box. Sometimes, you can do everything right, and still the poop hits the fan.

I can't think of anything that could be wrong with your little guy if he's just sluggish. Maybe he's just tired when he first starts playing? A healthy ferret can sleep anywhere from 16-20 hours a day. He might just be a lazy boy or he might just be adjusting to the fact that he gets to play now! Sometimes our little girl will curl up between the mattresses in the bed and fall asleep instead of playing with her siblings. We always make sure she isn't there before sitting down, or anything, obviously, but I just always thought that was funny. If he is pooping normally, plays normally, drinks normally, and isn't lethargic or dragging his back legs and there isn't any obvious sign of illness then he should be just fine. If something isn't right, though, he should be seen by a vet. As you probably already know, ferrets are the type of animals that don't show something is hurting them until it is too late to fix it, so if you think something is off, have him checked out!

I hope I was helpful and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask! I'm here to help!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews