Eating her Bedding!

Question
Hello jacquie,
i recently got a female ferret, about 2 months old and i was wondering if there was anything i could do to stop her from eating her bedding.
when i first got her i would use the kind of bedding that was in small cotton pieces, its called care fresh. after a few days she started eating the bedding so i removed the bedding and replaced it with a blanket its the kind of blankets that go underneath comforters. after a few days with that bedding she began to tug at it,
i didnt think she could tear it but she began to tear off pieces of the blanket and eat them.
she always has fresh food out so i dont know what the problem is.

i dont know what else to do to stop her from eating her bedding.
i always play with her and take her outside to have fun and she has plenty of toys to play with, ive even boughten toys with hope that she would chew on her toys(that are meant for chewing on) instead of her beadding.

do you have any other ideas on how i can stop her from eating her bedding?

Answer
Hi Isaac:

I had a little female that used to do that! Gosh, it was so frustating!  If it's any consolation, she ending up being one of my most precious, smartest, most spoiled ferrets ever! So, keep loving on her, it WIL get better!

Usually what causes this, unfortunately, is being removed from the mothers too early. They just were not finished nursing yet and they needed just a bit more 'mouth' stimulation. It's not related to hunger, but more to necessity for closeness and security.

I can remember that I was even using Yesterday's News (pelleted newspaper litter) in her litterbox and she was getting in the litterbox and chewing on the litter!  I took her to the vet and a stool sample showed 80% celllulose (paper!)  LOL. Just in case yours is doing that(which she probably is and possibly you haven't discovered it yet, cuz it kinda goes with the territory), the solution to that is to switch to REGULAR clar cat litter - NOT CLUMPING litter, be sure of that. Clumping litter sticks to their feet, they lick it off and it hardens in their stomach/intestines and turns to concrete-type substances that usually kill the ferret..so be SURE to read the label and make sure it does not say "CLUMPING" anywhere on it.

Back to the bedding problem. Whatever you put in there, she is going to chew on and eat until she is old enough that she outgrows this. Probably the SAFEST thing you can do is get a large ceramic (no plastic bowls or toys in her cage - NOTHING chewable for now - and fill it about 1/3 of the way with her food. She can lay in this for a bed. She will like it if the sides are straight up and down and at least maybe 5 or 6 inches tall. Put just enough food in the bottom to cushion it for her, an couple inches.  Then, in a separate area of the cage, keep her regular 'eating' food bowl and water dish and/or water bottle (I prefer both water dish changed daily AND bottle changed 1-2 times a week).  This way, the only UNsafe thing in the cage is the litter. And know that she MAY eat it.  If she does, you are going to remove the litter and put newspaper in the litterbox (IF YOU WISH, You can just do newspaper instead of the non-clumping litter from the beginning - your choice)

Newspaper is by no means "safe", but we can deal with  the problems it causes. The best way is to give her frequent lax's. Some folks prefer ferret lax OR cat hairball lax in a tube found in any pet store and most grocery stores. I don't like them because they contain sugar (sometimes in the form of 'sucrose' or 'molasses' or other sneaky ways, but it's basically Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and stuff to sweeten it to make the ferret like it.  As a matter of fact - you can also offer your ferret Vaseline with a few drops of Ferretone (safe for your ferret if given just a few drops a day) OR you can give the 3-day Hairball Laxative with Vetasyl and Uncle Jim's Soup (below). I prefer the Vetasyl/Uncle Jim's because my ferret Gilbert & I came up with it LOL. :-)

IF you decide to do the Vetasyl, here's how:  I have a ferret who had to have surgery for a hairball last year. I have had this ferret since he was a tiny kit and my house is very ferretproofed, neat and tidy, and I watch the kids closely when they are out to play.  He started having skinny poops and I was ready to take him to the vet...but a friend of mine has cats recommended that I try a product called "Vetasyl".

VETASYL:   http://www1.shopping.com/xFS?KW=vetasyl&CLT=SCH
UNCLE JIM'S DUK SOUP MIX: http://www1.shopping.com/xFS?KW=Uncle+Jim%27s+Duk+Soup+Mix&CLT=SCH

Vetasyl is a safe bulk product made of psyllium and barley that absorbs liquids as it travels thru the digestive system and works like Metamucil works for people.  I gave him the CONTENTS OF ONE VETASYL CAPSULE (toss the cap itself away) blended into 6-OZ OF VERY WARM WATER and TWO LEVEL TEASPOONS of Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix (by Marshalls and available at pet stores or online pet supply stores).  I let him eat all he wanted...and he ate all 6 oz of it!

I repeated this and fed him 'lax soup' ONCE A DAY FOR THREE DAYS IN A ROW.  The first two days he passed a few small hairballs here and there, not enough to explain the tiny poops I had been seeing.  However, on the third day I gave the lax, he passed a hairball the size and shape of my little finger!!  It had some green pus on one end of it, so no doubt he was very very close to having a very very serious problem - but it was averted!  

Since then, I have been giving the 'soup lax' treatment about once every two weeks. I make up the soup at bedtime and he goes to bed with a tummy full of warm soup.  By morning when I check the litterbox, I often find little hairballs that he has passed in his poops.  The first time, for the initial 'clean-out', give it for three days in a row to be sure everything is out, but subsequent treatments can be just one feeding of the 'soup' every couple of weeks.  

My large male ferret eats the whole 6 oz of soup. Smaller ferrets may eat less, but they should eat at least 1/2 of the mixture in order to be effective. The secret is in giving it with enough fluids so that it can swell up in the intestines and move whatever it finds in its path out.  You can get your ferret familiar with Uncle Jim's Duk Soup - it's a treat to my kids - they LOVE it and if you use 2 level teaspoons in 6-oz of warm water and the contents of one Vetasyl capsule, the proportions are just about perfect!  Initially you may have to dip your finger in it, then into their mouth until they develop a taste for it and eat it readily.  I haven't seen a ferret yet who doesn't love Uncle Jim's, so it is perfect for this....and MUCH healthier for our ferrets than the sugary vaseline laxatives we have given for years (and they don't work as well as Vetasyl!).
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One last recommendation with your little fabric chewing ferret is LOTS and LOTS and LOTS more handling, even GENTLE gnawing on your finger - but let her know the limits by pulling away and saying "no bite". Don't flick on the nose; there are tender little bones in teh sinuses than can be seriously injured. Usually words are enough if you can just pull your finger out, that should be enough. Bring her right to your face and show her your 'sad' face when you say "NO NO! That HURTS!" and pull away. This may help with her 'mouth' needs. She needs to be with you just as close to 24 hours a day as she can be. She is feeling very very upset by being taken from mommy too soon and just doesn't know what to do with this upset. Hold her close; talk to her softly; rock her; sing to her; lay her on your belly when she gets sleepy and just tell her everything in the world that you can't tell anybody else - I promise she won't tell! She needs a 24/7 friend right now. The BEST part of all this is what you get when these days do pass - you will be the sweetest, most loving, most devoted, precious sweet little companion you can ever imagine. It's almost a year now since I lost my incredibly precious little princess (her name was Kylie MaWheee) last July and my heart is nowhere near even beginning to heal. Life just never ever will be the same without her. I guess I'm the one who needs a blankie to chew on this time.

Enjoy these sweet, wonderful days. She will pay you back thousands of times over if you just love her, love her, love her.

If my little girl were here, she would be kissing these tears away right now, so please forgive me if I just sign this one....

Kylies Mom