Marshalls food & Baths for Stinkytins.

Question
QUESTION: My ferret Zeus is about 6 months old. His poop is normal and he eats regularly. I was told that Marshalls was a great food brand for my little baby, and he LOVES it.. but I just read that it was only "okay". I want my baby to have the BEST so he can be with me as long as possible! What's the best? And when I do buy the new food, how should I switch him to the other, gradually? I switched his food once because I ran out of Marshalls for a couple of days (and didn't have time to go to PetSmart).. and he had diarrea. So what is the RIGHT way to do it? My second question is.. how often is healthy to bathe them & what's the best shampoo/conditioner? I bathe Zeus about once a week, or every other week.. but I heard once a MONTH is best. He's stinky! What do I do? And my last question is.. for a male.. what's the best sex for a cagemate? I want to adopt a fuzzy friend for my little love. And how should I introduce them? Should I divide attention, or give more to one or the other for the first little while? Thank you for all of your help!!

ANSWER: Hi Lacey & Zeus!

I can tell that Zeus is well loved :-)  As long as both ferrets are neutered, it doesn't matter if you get a male or female...but what DOES matter is that Zeus go with you and you let him help you choose his cagemate.  When placed in with several ferrets, you will be able to see that Zeus probably will pick one or two ferrets that he likes right away - it doesn't take them long to show us their preferences.  I've heard too many stories about folks who don't give their existing pets a chance to help in choosing and they end up with two ferrets that hate each other, two separate cages to have to clean, two separate play times...not fun.  Two (or even three) ferrets are SO much fun to watch. You will be surprised how different two ferrets are than one!  Do make sure the ferrets you are going to introduce him to are healthy - which means it would be a better idea to get a ferret from a shelter than a pet store - OR be ready to have to deal with whatever problems come with the new ferret (ear mites, intestinal parasites, etc). The only visible way you can know is to see a poop that the ferret did and if it looks healthy, the ferret is *probably* healthy. Although, ferrets *can* be "silent carriers" of ECE and there is no way you can know that. So, getting a new ferret is *always* a gamble. As long as you know that beforehand and are willing to take the risk, go for it - Zeus will LOVE having a playmate!  Here is a list of shelters, listed by state and city - each list is a bit different, so check all lists if you want to be sure of what is near you (since I don't know where you live, I'll include all of them)  If you are outside the U.S., don't assume that pet store ferrets are neutered.:

 SHELTERS - CANADA, GERMANY, NEW ZEALAND
 * http://www.ferretfacts.com/ferret-shelter-directory-international-ferret-shelter

SHELTERS/RESCUES - UK (ENGLAND)
* http://www.everythingferret.com/ferret_shelters.htm
* http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ferreter/ferretrescues.htm
* http://www.ferretfacts.com/ferret-shelter-directory-international-ferret-shelter

SHELTERS/RESCUES - U.S.
* http://www.ferret.org/links/shelters.shtm
* http://www.everythingferret.com/ferret_shelters.htm
* http://groups.msn.com/Ferret/yourwebpage5.msnw
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-products.html
* http://www.ferretfacts.com/ferret-shelter-directory-us-ferret-shelters.html

There are actually THREE common causes of smell when you own ferrets: their food, the hammocks, the ferret himself (often his ears are a source of odor, specifically), and
bedding, and any fabric toys, tunnels or other items in or even outside of their cage.

REASON #1: THE FOOD
Marshall's food is rated "okay" mostly because it has fish in it and causes their poops to have a bad odor and the ferret itself to have a bit more of a 'ferrety' smell. It is nutritionally one of the better foods.  


If you do want to change his food over to a 'less stinky' one and still feed him "premium" ferret food, my personal favorite foods are Totally Ferret and the chicken Path Valley Ferret Food. (Path Valley's "Poultry & Rice" may be good, but my kids won't eat it and several other folks I've talked to - their ferrets won't eat it either, so don't waste your money on that one)- get the chicken flavor "crunchy" style and reserve the soft foods for when he is older and may have bad teeth. 8-in-1 "ULTIMATE" (the only 8 in 1 food I would recommend).  Almost ALL ferret foods (in case you can't get them locally) are available at:  

   http://www.theferretstore.com .

Here is a list of ferret foods and it shows how they stack up nutritionally.

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

I don't like "Natural Gold" because even tho it touts having 50% protein (the most important ingredient for ferrets) its protein source is vegetable and ferrets are "obligate carnivores" - their digestive systems are made to eat ONLY MEAT and meat byproducts. Also, I would NEVER purchase any product from Kaytee because their "Fiesta" is DANGEROUS to ferrets; it contains dehydrated fruits and vegetables that are a common cause of intestinal blockages in ferrets and if they are so UNinformed about ferrets that they continue to make this product available to ferret owners who don't know better, it makes me NOT trust them to make good food for my ferret.

It is also a good idea to mix two or three different (I use three) foods - if one manufacturer changes their formulation (as Iams did a few years ago), suddenly you find your ferret won't eat, because they *imprint* on their food early in their lives. If your ferret is given several different foods early in life, he won't be so picky later, which can become very very important in later years when they have illnesses and have to eat "soup" or other foods because of a health problem.  Since you only have one ferret, it would be a good idea to mix the foods - about two weeks worth at a time) as you go and keep the partial bags in air-tight containers in the refrigerator or freezer, wherever you have the most room....or any 'cool' place is fine. Just make sure the containers are air-tight.

Since Zeus is already on Marshalls, I would recommend that you get TWO new foods of your choice to the Marshalls a little at a time, then in equal parts, then start DECREASING the amount of Marshalls until you are feeding just the two or three new ones. HINT:  If you store about two weeks worth in a 'common' container, you can shake it so the smells and crumbs are all mixed up and it kind of 'sneaks' the new food into the old. Changing foods should help with the 'stinkiness'.

Reason #2 - THE BATH:
Usually when we bring ferrets home from a pet store, they reek!  I don't think the breeders nor the pet store bathe them, so he will be getting his first bath by you :-)  If you go slowly and make him feel secure, each time you bathe him should be easier. Some ferrets accept bathing better than others, but almost all of them are very very frightened the first few times.

Before you start, put the following next to your kitchen sink (remove everything for the kitchen sink area so you will have plenty of room and he won't shake soapy water on anything nearby):

 *Johnson's & Johnson's Baby (tearless) Shampoo
 *One small hand towel to put on the bottom of the sink
 *TWO nice dry, fluffy towels

I recommend bathing them in the kitchen sink with a small towel on the floor of the sink so he has something to put his feet down on that is not slippery. Use water that is pretty warm - remember his body temperature is about 103 degrees, so it's like you bathing with a very high temperature. Using too cool of water is the most common problem mistake people make when bathing a ferret. The water needs to feel very warm to the inside of your forearm - but certainly not enough to be uncomfortable. If at ANY TIME the ferret begins to pant, the water is TOO WARM and you need to immediately (but slowly) begin cooling the water temperature down until the ferret stops panting; then reset the water temperature cooler than you had it before. Then, while talking to him, gently put him in the sink and let him look at the water while you support him firmly under his arms with one hand. With the other hand, cup your hand and let him lick the water; gently begin putting it on him while continuing to talk to him. My kids love baths - I sing nursery rhymes to them and put THEIR names in them, which makes them listen and is a very good distraction - plus mommy is relaxed and silly, so they get the idea this should be a fun, silly time - but always always support him and he should *never* not have your hand on him. Switch hands if you need to, but for his safety and to feel secure, keep one hand on him completely until the other hand takes over and only then remove the first hand; this will help him feel much more secure - he needs to KNOW that you will never let go of him.

Bathing is a great bonding experience if done properly and with just a few 'tips'. Use ONLY Johnson's and Johnson's Baby Shampoo (no tears) so it won't burn his eyes if it does happen to get in them. Remember to keep talking/singing and using his name and remember always to keep him supported so he doesn't feel like he's going to fall.  When you get to the face area, be gentle with soaping him up and use your free hand to gently splash small amounts of water up to his face to rinse thoroughly as you keep wiping AWAY from his face at all times as you wash AND rinse.  

Even tho your ferret has been neutered, there is a scent gland on their cheeks that gives off an odor, so clean well in this area - also around the upper part of the back side of the back legs, so pay special attention to these places when bathing.

Once you have him thoroughly lathered up, thoroughly rinsed and rinsed again just to make sure you have all the shampoo out, grab one of your towels and wrap it around him firmly. Turn off the water, grab the other towel with your other hand and head to the livingroom (or the ferret room - wherever he is allowed to play) and sit down with the ferret.

Rub him briskly in towel #1 - you have to hold him firmly because he's really wanting down by now, but try to get him to let you dry the worst of the water from him before putting him down.  Once you've dried him the best he will allow, put dry towel #2 on the floor folded in half so he can crawl into it and finish drying himself (he'll be running all over the place, but he has a dry place to go if he wants it.  You might also want to be sure there is a CLEAN litterbox or newspapers spread in a corner (my preference, so they don't get litter stuck on their wet fur) - almost all ferrets have to potty immediately after a bath (if they haven't already pottied IN the bath LOL). This is completely normal, so prepare for it and know that he can't help it. The best you can do is be prepared for it :-)

After he is dry enough to stop being so silly (this is a GREAT playtime), this is an excellent time to grab some Q-tips and baby oil - dip the Q-tip "tips" in the baby oil until it is saturated, then scruff the ferret very high on the back of his neck with one hand, and gently clean the folds of the ferret's ear with the saturated Q-tip with the other hand.  It's important that he is still for this so you don't jab him with the Q-tip, so be sure you have a good grip high on his neck.  There is a little "pocket" and goes down just inside the ferret's ear. Change Q-tips often.  As long as your Q-tip is very saturated with baby oil, you can GENTLY rotate the Q-tip down into this pocket, then draw it back up. Repeat until the oily Q-tip comes up clean. You MUST clean ONLY the folds in the outer ear and go straight down ONLY in order to keep from injuring the ferret's ear. What comes out of the ferret's ears should look about like what comes out of your ears - brownish and waxy. If you get anything out of the ears that is dark, grainy and looks like small coffee grounds, you need to take your ferret to the vet for treatment for mites (also, if you have other ferrets or cats in the house, have them treated at the same time or the treatment will be useless).  Mites are tiny microscopic bugs that thrive in their ears, but make them scratch like crazy and be miserable, so they really need to be treated by a VET (do not use home remedies) to safely kill the mites without injuring the ferret. Every ferret I've ever gotten from a pet store has arrived with mites, so it is very very common.  If your ferret is 'itchy' or scratches a lot, suspect mites, do the Q-tip dipped in baby oil cleaning to confirm the presence of 'coffee grounds', which is actually "mite poop", then get him in to see the vet as soon as possible.

Ferret ears should be cleaned as often as you clip their nails - about every two weeks.  Cleaning the ears in itself will greatly affect the 'stinkiness' of your ferret. Most likely they have never been cleaned.

Now that your ferret's ears and body have been cleaned, this is a good time to cut nails :-)  Get a human-type toe nail clipper (the big ones), dribble a puddle of FERRETONE (or FUROTONE, depending on which brand you use - they are the same) on his belly while he is on your lap.  You may have to "show" him the Ferretone, but then he will be so busy licking it off that you should have plenty of time to clip toe nails while he is distracted and enjoying his treat. BE CAREFUL to watch the back side of the clippers so they don't cut the pads on the ferret's feet. Trim the 'curved' part of the toenail. NEVER cut into the little pink vein that runs inside the toenail. Be sure you have good, bright light on the ferret so you can see that vein and don't cut into it, but DO cut off the "hooked" part of the nails that would catch in blankets or cage wires and rip the nail off (and sometimes the toe with it!).  I find that my ferrets front nails grow much faster than the back and I do the back ones about every other time - but check them each time in case you have one that 'sprouted' more quickly than the others. It is IMPERATIVE that you clip nails regularly to keep your ferret safe. Those nails do get caught on things and I've heard horror stories from folks who were not diligent about keeping the nails trimmed short.

IF you should happen to accidentally cut into the pink vein, the toe will bleed a LOT. That's why it's soooo very important that you not cut close to it. But, IF you do, you can use a styptic pencil (like men use when they shave) OR put a couple teaspoons of CORN STARCH in the palm of your hand and hold the ferret with his foot in your hand, in the cornstarch. Worst case scenario and you have lots of blood that the styptic pencil won't stop - hold the ferret in one hand, dip his foot into cornstarch on a plate with one hand and hold the cornstarch onto the nail area FIRMLY while the ferret rests in your lap. Keep holding this pressure on the bleeding foot for at least two minutes - this gives it a chance to clot.  Repeat if necessary, and if it's still bleeding after that, have someone drive you to the vet while you continue to hold pressure on the bleeding toe. It wouldn't take long for a ferret to 'bleed out', so keep firm pressure and get to the vet ASAP.  You can see - it *can* be a big problem, something as simple as trimming toe nails - but it is VERY VERY IMPORTANT that you DO trim the nails no less than every two weeks. In time, as you get used to doing them, it won't take but a minute to do his nails. Those first few times are scary tho. Just stay calm and be very careful.

REASON #3 - THE BEDDING
Now that your ferret is all clean, be sure to put clean blankies in his cage, a clean hammock, etc. Wipe the inside of the cage down with Nature's Miracle or other safe cleaner for ferrets. (KEEP THE FERRETS OUT OF THE CAGE UNTIL IT IS DRY) This is also a good time to dump the litterbox, scrub it good with PineSol or another cleaner, rinse well and dry it, then refill with all clean litter.

By now - your ferret and his cage should smell wonderful! :-)   I do this complete "grooming & heavy cleaning day" at least every two weeks. In between I just scoop the litterbox to remove all poops daily.  When you scoop the litterbox, be SURE you are getting all the WET LITTER removed - wet litter doesn't show well from the surface of the litter, but if you dig around a bit with your scooper, you will see that the pee "pools" in the bottom of the litterbox....this in itself can cause horribly bad ferret smells. **HINT:  This wet "puddle" for female ferrets will be underneath the poop - for males, it will be about 3 inches in front of the poop.

I think ferrets have gotten a reputation of being 'stinky', but if they are taken care of daily, and their cage is cleaned thoroughly every two weeks - I truly believe you will be like it is at my house, where people walk in and say "omagosh, you have a ferret? I can't even smell it!"

Once your ferret has had that initial bath and everything changed out and cleaned - you will want to continue to do this whole procedure, except WITHOUT THE BATH, every two weeks. You will be surprised, but your ferret won't stink, especially if you change the hammocks and cloth items (don't forget tunnels, teddybears and any fabric items) in his cage TWICE A WEEK. Once or twice a year I toss ALL toys in the tub with PineSol and stir them around, then dry thoroughly before returning them to the toy box.  

You will be surprised to find that the ferret only needs a bath about every other month at most. If you wash the ferret more often than that, he will actually have more odor because the scent glands he does still have (near anus and on his cheeks) will go into overdrive releasing smelly oils to try to keep his skin from drying out from the bathing.  

So, just to recap: clean everything around him regularly - bedding twice a week, etc, feed him the food that will give him the least amount of smell (no fish ingredients) and bathe the ferret no more than every other month (unles, of course he has stepped in poop, etc - then you can 'spot clean' wherever he got dirty).

That's a tall order, I know.  It's one reason I tell people considering getting a ferret that ferrets are "high maintenance".  You can keep them without changing blankies and hammocks a couple times a week, but you will have some odor; and you don't have to feed a fish-free diet, but he will have some odor; and you don't have to bathe him regularly, but he will have some odor.....and if you haven't done all three of these, he will have a LOT of odor :-)

Best of luck giving Zeus that first bath - the first few are really not much fun, but after a while they DO get used to it. After much time, my ferret likes baths well enough that I actually put him in the bathtub with me (but again, ALWAYS having one hand on him so he doesn't get scared - he lets me hold his paw now LOL) and he loves to lay back on my legs and soak in the warm water (that's about the right temperature for them).  I think they are just like people, they get old and have aches and pains and that nice hot bath feels very soothing.

Best of luck with new brother/sister Zeus will be choosing for you :-)  If I can be of any help, don't hesitate to write again. (hopefully I won't have to write a book next time LOL - sorry)

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers





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

QUESTION: Thank you SO much for your answers, and for getting back to me so soon! It's really appreciated! I think my baby DOES have mites, and before now I'd never even HEARD of that happening.. even after all of the sites I've visited and reading I've done.. so thank you for saving my baby's health! Just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am.. and show you Zeus' website.. if you would like to visit it.. it's just short & sweet: www.zeuzeubean.citymax.com/ferretlove.html ..  

Answer
Awwww........what a CUTIE!!  :-)  Will be anxiously awaiting pix of his new brother or sister.....or both!

Be sure to get those mites taken care of; they can literally make a ferret crazy. Imagine little buggies crawling around in your ear...YIKES!  My vet let me see a mite under the microscope and they look like some horrendous armored medieval monster!  (ask your vet to let you see, since they will have to diagnose by an ear smear on a slide and microscope - it's really something to be seen! Made me itchy just looking at it.

If you have cats, be sure to get them checked also. Seems if one pet gets mites, everybody gets them...oh boy.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers