Thinking about aquiring a ferret

Question
Hi, I want to get another pet later on this year.. in around 4 months(end of the year). I was thinking about a ferret because I know I can't have another dog(3 now) and I have a handfed lovebird so dont really want another bird and was never a big fan of cats. I have played with teh ferrets in pet shops before and just adore them I don't mind the smell but I have some very inportant questions i need answered and was hoping you could help;

Can I have only one? I know they need yearly vaccines/checkups so I'm not sure I could afford two as my dogs go to the vet several times a year...one always gets an ear infection or allergy outburst every year plus vaccines can be expensive.

Could it be caged most of the time? I have two terrier typed dogs and a retrival type dog two said to be good with other aniamls through breed profiles ect and the other is said to be horrible with other pets.

How big would the cage need to be?

Can the ferret be allowed out to play with the dogs around? would the ferret try play with them?

Would a single ferret be expensive to maintain yearly with vaccines/food/toys ect?

What can I expect from a ferret once its in the home... will it be cuddly? loving? "bad"? will it follow me around ora nything? what are they like?

And lastly will the ferret try eat my lovebird?

Thank you for your time.

Answer
You are very wise to be asking these questions BEFORE buying a ferret.  Too many people ask them afterwards, or are disappointed because a ferret is so different than any other animal.

As far as a ferret getting along with the animals you have, that is usually an unknown until they are actually together. The safest thing is to just keep them apart unless a dog is particularly gentle with smaller animals.  Ferrets are pretty ornery and can incite problems with a dog if the dog is not very tolerant.   Also, while you *can* have only one ferret, it is usually better to have two so they keep each other company.  Ferrets need out of the cage time every single day - they are social creatures and need one on one time with people or they get very depressed and often destructive. When you hear horror stories of ferrets destroying furniture or carpet, etc, you can bet that it's a ferret who doesn't have enough toys and no one to play with him/her one on one. Ferrets seek human companionship whether they have a ferret friend or not. Having a ferret is somewhat like having a two year old.  You neeed to have at *least 2-3 hours every single day to devote to that ferret; to playing with him/her, to cleaning cage and litterbox and to roll balls, play with a blanket with him/her; ferrets must have this time or they get depressed and/or destructive.

There is a great online site that has a lot of basic ferret ownership information at http://www.ferretcentral.org and there is also a book called "Ferrets For Dummies" that you can buy very reasonably on http://www.half.com .  I highly recommend reading this book - it will give you an idea of what a typical day of having a ferret in your life is like.  Ferrets require more one on one time than dogs or cats. The vet bills are usually higher than cats or dogs - they require the same vaccinations and they are prone to a lot of health problems.   My ferret just had surgery two weeks ago for ao hairball that was causing an intentinal blockage. Besides two weeks of staying up all night and rocking him, giving IV's and constantly holding him, hand feeding and giving medications every four hours around the clock, it cost almost $2,000 in vet bills.  My other ferret injured her back coming down a ramp in the cage just weeks before that and had to have xrays and pain treatments, along with hand feeding (she has irritable bowel syndrome and I have had to hand feed her every 4 hours for 4 years now), her vet bills were over $700.  So, ferrets are not only time intensive, but they are very expensive also. "Regular" vets don't usually know all they need to know if your ferret gets sick - you have to find an 'exotics' vet.  Of course, they are better trained, but you also have to pay for that extra training.

Ferrets and birds do not mix.  You will need to keep them in separate rooms at the very least. It sounds like you have quite a managerie already and you should definitely learn as much as possible before bringing a ferret into your home. I'm  afraid you have a lot of circumstances there that would really complicate it and unless you were really committed to spending the time, attention and energy to learn all about having a ferret, then giving the ferret what he needs to be healthy, it doesn't seem like a good idea right off the bat, considering what you already have going on in your house.  I've often heard it said that having a ferret in the house is like having a cross between a two year old (child) and a kitten - and I have to agree with that analogy.  They take a LOT of time, energy and devotion, but you do get back what you put into them. The more time you spend with a ferret, the nicer pet you will have. If you don't spend enough time with a ferret, they can become very very destructive and make everyone miserable.  If you don't watch them closely enough when they are out of the cage, or have your house 'ferretproofed' sufficiently, you can incur horribly expensive surgeries to remove items from the ferret's intestinal tract (they LOVE to eat anything styrofoam, rubber and many plastics, pencil erasers, etc and the surgeries to remove them usually run anywhere from $600-$2000 and even then you aren't guaranteed that the ferret will live), so it's very important to learn how to ferretproof your house so your ferret(s) don't have access to things (even insoles of shoes) that are deadly to them that they love so much.  The truth is that I've had dogs all my life and I've never spent as much on a dog as I've spent on any ferret I've ever had.  So, if you think dogs are expensive, you could be in for some serious surprises if you get a ferret.

I truly hope you will do some serious reading - maybe even join a ferret group online - to learn all you can before you make a decision to add a ferret to your household. They are a LOT of work and you really must be committed to them or everyone is miserable.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions.  I wish I could be more support and encourage you to get a ferret. They really are a fun pet, but, as I said before, they are a direct result of what you put into them is what you get out of them, and it seems your plate is already pretty full.

Best of luck to you - who knows, maybe someday your circumstances will be different and a ferret will be a perfect companion for you :-)

jacquie