air freshener and ferret

Question
I here that the more you bath your ferret the more it will send off its scent glads. but my ? is that if i use air deoderentizers or air freshener in the house will he start to smell stronger.

Answer
Hi Bryan:

I will assume that you are living in the United States and you have gotten your ferret from a retail outlet, which would mean that your ferret has been descented when he was neutered as a baby. So, he doens't have any scent glands as such to give off an odor that would be unpleasant.

The most important factors in keeping odor down in your ferrets and their cage is to scoop the litter box frequently - and especially to be sure to remove ALL wet litter each and every time you scoop it (twice a day is good).  Ferret urine is quite pungent and that may be what you are smelling.

You can give your ferret a bath in Johnson's & Johnson's baby shampoo (the pH level is right so it doesn't burn their eyes) and pretty warm water, then dry him well in a big fluffy towel and watch how crazy he gets LOL.   After that, you can wipe his cage down with a mild disinfectant (watered down PineSol or Nature's Miracle (supposed to be the best). Put in all clean blankies.

Then about twice a week give him all clean blankies and keep the cage wiped down each and every time you scoop the litterbox and I think you will notice NO odor from your ferret whatsoever.  A lot of people never bathe their ferrets, but I think it's a good idea to give one about once a month, get all clean blankies and a clean cage to go back into.  

I have two ferrets in my livingroom (used to have three) and I scoop out the solids (poop) and all wet litter morning and evening, then replace with fresh, dry litter.  Twice a week they get clean blankies (sooner if they need it, such as someone throws up or steps in poops and walks thru the blankies, etc.    It's a good idea to toss their toys in the wash every now and then too, as they hold odor also.  People constantly come into my home and are very surprised that they don't smell *anything* and had no idea there were ferrets in the room, so I know firsthand this method works :-)

I think if you do the above, you will find that you ferret really doesn't have any odor. I would think that air fresheners would be as offensive to little ferret noses as it is to some people's noses - they have a very very keen sense of smell and actually may find the air freshener to be annoying.  A small air cleaner is another idea some people use near the ferret cage; it would give out just fresh smelling air without the perfume-y smell.

IF you have an  unneutered male ferret, disregard all the above and write to me again - cuz all that won't be enough :-)

Best of luck to you and your little guy!  A great book to get that tells ferret owners (both old and new) just about everything they could ever need to know is called "Ferrets For DUmmies" by Kim Schilling and I highly recommend it. There are also several ferret websites with really good information on them:  http://www.ferretcentral.org    http://ferretuniverse and Miami Ferret. Org   All have all kinds of information new ferret owners should learn to keep one step ahead of their little critters and tips galore on cleaning, keeping odors down, etc.

Thanks for your question - if you have an unneutered male (from a private breeder) write me back again because all I said above won't work on an unneutered/un-desdented ferret. They reeeeally stink and there's not a  whole lot you can do about it unfortunately, espeially when they go into what they call 'rut'.

Don't hesitate to write again, Bryan!