drinking juice?

Question

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-----Question-----
My ferret Bartleby, whom I've had for almost 2 years, basically loves eating anyting I'm having. I drink a lot of cranberry/grape juice and he loves licking it off my finger. Since I give him ALL NATURAL Trail mix (no salt added) with fruits for a small treat, would it be okay to give him a little juice?
-----Answer-----
Hi Michelle:

Bartleby is a cute name for a ferret!  I must tell you tho, if you continue to feed him 'whatever you eat', he will have an extremely shortened life.  

Ferrets are 'obligate carnivores' - which means they are 'obligated to eat meats only to survive'.  Anything other than meat,organs and meat byproducts it has been learned after lots and lots of studying over the years, the ferret will have one or another (or many) negative effect on a ferret's health.

When you say "trail mix" I imagine dried fruits and nuts.  Dried fruits are very very dangerous to ferrets. In fact there was a  large campaign this past year to have them completely removed from the shelf (one company, Kaytee Foods, made a 'treat' for ferrets that contained dehydrated fruits in it).  Many hundreds of ferret parents who didn't know better (hey, the colors were pretty and fruit IS healthy for US!) whose beloved ferrets who had died of intestinal blockages caused by the dehydrated fruits threatened a 'class action lawsuit', which resulted in a promise by Kaytee to remove the treat from the market. (I have not yet personally checked to see if it has been removed). Nuts of any kind are another very very common cause of intestinal blockages in ferrets and ferrets cannot digest them, so they often cause blockages.

Intestinal blockages in ferrets quite often cause death because there is such a short time between time between the time the symptoms begin and the ferret dies. Therefore, unless the ferret parent is right there, recognizes the symptoms as a blockage, the ferret will die. Even when the owner does recognize it, gets the ferret to the vet immediately, gets emergency surgery performed and follows up with hand feeding every 4 hours around the clock for weeks - of special foods (meats much like baby food meat), keeps the ferret on antibiotics galore, pain medications galore, keeps him warm and more love and holding and rocking them than usual, the ferret will still often just give in to the sickness and pass away.  We see it constantly within the ferret community.  

I had a ferret this past spring who had an intestinal blockage caused from hair he had licked and pulled out when he was shedding and I hadn't noticed yet. I rushed him to surgery and did everything necessary for him to make it thru the surgery. At the end, I had spent nearly $4,000.00 for his veterinary care and medications and he was sickly for over two months before he was back t0 himself again.  Thank God, he made it, but I was exhausted and broke by the time that was over!

The fruit juices (natural and artificial sugars)tend to affect another part of the ferret - the pancreas, which controls the output of insulin, just as it does in people if we eat too many sweets. Since ferrets are not meant to eat anything sweet, overstimulation of the pancreas with sweets will eventually cause the pancreas to stop functioning and you end up with a ferret who has blood sugar problems and you usually have to give insulin injections several times a day to keep them steady.

So, as you can see, any time we vary from a 'carnivores' natural food (meat, which can come in the form of kibble such as Totally Ferret or other premium ferret kibbles available on the market), we are taking one chance or another with our ferret's health.  For that reason, I would strongly advise you against giving your ferret anything off your plate except fresh, soft meats (cooked or raw).

If you cook meat for your ferret, they will eat it and it is good (and safe) for them, BUT cooked bones are NOT safe for them. Only raw bones are safe for them. When feeding meats, you must take precautions about refrigeration and proper cooking temperatures to keep meats safe, therefore, most owners of carnivores tend to feed kibbled food made especially for their type pet, and treats that are healthy for their pet, such as bits of fresh or cooked meats.  If your ferret is not used to that, he will have to be introduced slowly, as he will not recognize it as food at first, since ferrets imprint on their food at a very young age. You must change them over very very slowly and it can take months to get a ferret from table food over to kibbled food and you may have to grind the kibbled food and mix it with other foods the ferret is used to to introduce it to him.  Of course, you should NOT give any dehydrated foods of any kind to a ferret, as their digestive tract is so short, the dried foods usually just get caught and can cause a blockage, either then or they may sit idly and wait for an opportunity later.

The only "treats" my ferrets get are hairball laxative (just like they use for cats) a couple times a week and daily when they are shedding (along with a couple baths to help pull loose fur out); and another ferret treat called "Ferretone". Ferrets LOVE this and it has vitamins in it for them. If you mix Ferretone 1/2 Ferretone and 1/2 light olive oil, you can give them several drops daily - if you don't cut it with olive oil, don't give the Ferretone more than about twice a week because it has a lot of Vitamin A in it that can make them sick if they get too much of it, so it's just safer to mix it with olive oil, then you don't have to worry about it.  Both these items you can get at Petco or any pet store.  Same with Totally Ferret ferret food. Bartleby should have a little dish of Totally Ferret available to him at all times, along with fresh water.  You may have to soften the Totally Ferret a few times and kind of force it gently into his mouth until he tastes it and once he gets a good taste of it, he will take to it and be much healthier for it - same with the cat laxative (give 1" ribbon each time) and the ferretone (up to a tsp a day IF you have added half olive oil and half Ferretone together for him. THOSE are healthy treats.  There are a few other healthy treats on the market, one by Totally Ferret callled Totally Ferret Treats (how ingenius, huh? LOL?) and also 8 in 1 (I think that's who makes it) makes a round, long gelatin "Ferret Sticks" they can safely chew on because they melt in their stomach and turn into chicken broth (without the salt).

There is an excellent book out for ferret owners called FERRETS FOR DUMMIES by KIM SCHILLING and I would strongly suggest that you get that book and read it cover to cover and you will be well informed about your ferret's needs and how to keep him healthy so he can live a long and happy life.  You can get that book on http://www.half.com for a minimal amount of money.Lots chreaper than a vet visit!

There is also a lot of information online about ferrets that you may wish to read up on. Ferrets are not dogs and cats and they must be treated very very differently.  The best way is to read everything you can get your hands on, possibly join an online ferret group (they share all kinds of tips and fun things to do, along with how to take care of your ferret if he's sick - how to KNOW if he's sick, etc).  The best all over information site is probably:  http://www.ferretcentral.org .  There is a ferret group called "My Norwegian Ferret Family" (no, they are in the U.S. :-) or "Ferrets" pr various other groups where people are helpful and you can post questions and get answers. It's also fun to get to know other ferret parents :-)

I hope for the well=being of your ferret, you will get well informed right away and stop feeding dehydrated foods, sweet snacks, nuts and all the bad stuff.  Yes, they can eat it...but it's like eating poison - you never know when that minute is going to come that all of a sudden you have an emergency or even a dead ferret and you certainly don't want that! And, if he does get sick from eating junk food, you will have two choices - a very very sick ferret who has to undergo a very serious and expensive surgery, or, if you're NOT lucky...a dead ferret.I soooo don't want that to happen, Michelle. I'm sure you don't either.

While you are at http://www.ferretcentral.org be sure to read up about ferretproofing and all the things in your house that can kill your ferret if he gets ahold of them. You will want to keep rubber bands, pencil erasers, foam rubber, styrofoam, shoe insoles, rawhide bones, anything rubber and lots of other stuff out of his reach - they are all also intestinal blockages waiting to happen.  I soo hope you will start to read up so you can protect your precious little guy.

My best wishes to you and to your ferret. I *KNOW* you thought you were doing what was right. My first ferret, I fed him off my plate for about two years until I knew better. He later ended up with a pancreas problem and also irritable bowel syndrome, which made him very very sick.  I felt SO incredibly sorry and guilty later when I finally had to have hin put to sleep at only five years old, which is pretty young for a ferret - IF ONLY he had been taken care of properly.  Please don't feel guilty - now that you know better, tho, you CAN begin to do better and hopefully he will be with you for a long time and will be healthy and happy too!

Best of luck - don't ever hesitate to write again!

sincerely,
jacquie rodgers


just to let you know this isnt my first ferret (although my first ferret didnt act like a ferret-more like a cat)and when i say "off my plate" i meant like a small lick off my finger, and I gave him nuts and raisins b-cuz i read on several different sites that they were a great treat for ferrets. I would never have fed him those things if I thought I was actually hurting him. a bunch of other sites were saying that its okay to feed your ferret fruits and nuts, as long as its not every day and only in small quantities. Thank you for setting me straight. ...also, I probably should've done this as another question, but do you have any suggestions for why Bartleby [named after ben affleck's character in the movie Dogma:-)] goes into his cage right after i've cleaned it and pulls all of the shavings out of his litter box. he does this like 5 times every time I clean his litter pan. Thankyou for your help!

Answer
Hi Michelle:

Wow, I can't imagine any website that would tell you it was okay to feed your ferret dried fruit or nuts - that's scary!  

I think Bartleby is being a ferret when he digs in his litterbox after it's cleaned! :-) My Gilbert will wait till the litterbox is clean, then get in it and dig it out all over the place! Our litter is clay (non-clumping) and you wouldn't believe how far he can throw it!   Ferrets love to dig; it's a natural instinct for then, being burrowing animals in the wild.  A lot of people provide their ferrets with a 'dig box' so they have a good safe place to get their digging energy out. Get a big metal or plastic tub (or small children's plastic pool) and toss in 40-lb bag of long grain rice (not the instant kind), or children's playsand (you can get it at Lowes or Home Depot), but keep the snd damp so the ferret doesn't sneeze and also make dust clouds in the house when they get going good LOL. I've even heard of people using shredded newspaper in the dig box - not necessarily so much for digging, but they love to tunnel thru it if there is a bunch of it.  I prefer a rice dig box because they come out smelling sooo good - but I have one ferret who eats the rice, so we don't have a rice box.

Another GREAT idea is to put a harness and leash on your ferret and let him dig outside - be sure it's not someplace where pesticides or herbicides have been sprayed to get rid of bugs or make the grass die, because chemicals in those would either make your ferret very sick or kill him, but if you have good weather (between 50 degrees and 75 degrees or even cooler if your ferret is used to it - but NEVER over 80 degrees), it's perfect for ferrets to dig outside in the dirt/sand.....natures best dig box! (And you don't have to clean up afterwards! LOL)

Also,(dig box, again) there are two kinds of packing p-nuts - regular styrofoam ones and some made of corn starch. The regular ones (styrofoam) are horribly dangerous to ferrets because they eat (and boy do they love to get ahold of them, so beware!) them and they get intestinal blockages (again) from them. The good news is that the corn starch ones are SAFE for them!  You can tell the differene real quick - put one in your mouth and if it dissolves, it's corn starch!  You can go to UPS Store or other shipping centers and request a huge bag of the corn starch packing p-nuts, put them in a box and toss in a ferret :-)   They love it!  

If it snows where you live, haul snow in by the bucketful and put it in the bathtub... let him dig and tunnel in it...it's  great fun for him, at least till he gets cold! Have warm blankies ready.

Back to the litterbox......once again (I hate to be a pest) I have to ask - you're using wood shavings in the litterbox?  Any kind of wood shavings are really dangerous to ferrets because of the oils (phenols) in the wood. Wood shavings are especially bad for ferret's eyes (tiny wood particles) and their lungs (phenol).

LITTERS:  Any kind of clumping cat litter is dangerous (they lick it off their feet and it clumps in their intestinal system ane causes a blockage).  Most people use Yesterday's News, which is compressed newspaper; or you can use non-clumping clay litter (which is what I have to use because one of my ferrets EATS newspaper pellets LOL). I have even heard if some folks who just put newspaper sections (not shredded) in the litterbox - nothing to dig out :-)

I use Johnny Cat in the blue bag because it seems to smell better than the other ones to me. When the ferrets are out in the house playing, I use newspaper sections scattered in the 'potty corners' - I used to have litterboxes scattered here and there, wherever they tended to like to go potty, but we recently got a cat and he thinks the litterboxes are his.  I have a very sensitive nose and HATE the smell of anything a cat does in a litterbox...LOL.  I don't mind ferret smells - but I clean their litterbox often too.  I love the cat, but can't stand his litterbox smells LOL.

I just thought of something else I should mention. IF
Bartlesby's cage has wire shelves, it is suggested you cover them preferably by cutting hard plastic to fit on top and if you can't do that, then cover all wire surfaces with baby blankies, flannel pajamas, sweats, some kinds of soft fabric, as their little feet are very delicate and can easily get deformed by walking on the wire surfaces, besides being quite painful for them.  Many new cages have hard plastic surfaces in them - making them easier to clean and easier on the ferrets feet too.  If you do use soft cloth on any wire surfaces, be sure they get laundered about twice a week to keep down on odors.

Well, hope I haven't hurt your feelings about the litterbox. These things are really important. Ferrets have so many things like that, which is what makes them such a 'different' pet to keep.  When well-kept, a ferret can live to 10-12 years old with very few physical problems. Most ferrets do end up with some kind of disease at  one time or another no matter how good of ferret parents we are - adrenal disease, insulinoma and (most commonly) intestinal blockages from swallowing anything from a foreign object to their own fur when shedding(don't forget to use that cat laxative daily during shedding season). So, there are many things we have to beware of as ferret parents.The more we learn and share with other ferret parents, the longer our babies live. That's why so many people like to join an online ferret group.

Again, hope you will consider getting the book "FERRETS FOR DUMMIES" by KIM SCHILLING. Very experienced ferret owners buy the book because there is something in there for everyone - its not a book for new owners, but for all owners.

Hope you'll write again, Michelle.  I appreiate the opportunity to help you and Bartlesby anyway I can.  I love to see ferrets live to ripe old ages and for that, we must all be well informed and share all the tips and hints we've learned over the years with one another.

sincerely,
jacquie rodgers