Smell

Question
I'm going to get a ferret soon, and i was wondering "do ferrets smell as bad as the books say??" i have this stuff called 0 odor, its for smells and stuff like that, would that help with the smell??? And if not how can you make them smell better???

Answer
Hello, and thanks for your question! Well I am glad to hear that you've been reading some books/doing some research, keep it up! As far as smell goes, this is a very common question of prospective ferret owners. And there are two things about this; First, ALL animals have a particular "smell" about them, be it cats, dogs, birds, horses, you name it. Some people naturally like the way a dog smells, other hate it. So the same with ferrets, they have their own unique smell, you personally may or may not like it. It is NOT nor should it be strong however. This is the second thing; in order to keep a ferret smelling his best, the trick truly is to bathe him LESS and change his litter and bedding MORE.

When you bathe a ferret it strips his skin of oils, so he works overtime to replace them. Hence if you wash a ferret a lot his natural smell will be stronger. I personally haven't bathed my ferrets with shampoo for over a year, and they smell better than ever! I give them little water rinse offs in the shower occasionally just to keep their fur soft and shiny, but that's it. Ferrets really are clean animals, and groom themselves and each other like cats do.

I have not heard of "O odor" so I can't tell you if that works or not. What does work is putting those little plug in fragrances in the wall outlets and having ceiling fans on to help circulate the air in your house. Believe me, if you just change his litter every couple of days and keep everything else clean and don't bathe him, he will NOT have a noticeable smell. But also make sure you even like a ferret's natural "body odor". If you can't stand the smell of a nice smelling ferret you will constantly be at war with his aroma. So first things first, I would say go down to a pet store and ask if you can hold a ferret from the display and see how the smell affects you. (A better sampling of a true ferret's smell is to be able to see an adult...if you have any friends that have a ferret, see them instead.) If there's a lot of babies in the cage the smell may be a little strong if their litter and bedding haven't been changed recently. See how you like it (or not). If the smell is neutral or even nice to you, proceed. If even the faintest sniff of the ferret has you gagging, I'd say try a cat instead :)

Best of luck, hope I've helped answer your questions!
~sheila