Bird and Exotic Pet Vets

Ferrets

The domestic ferrets, Mustela putorius furo, are descendants from the European polecats and were originally used for hunting rodents and rabbits since their slim bodies fit into burrows easily. They were also used for fur production. Most ferrets purchased within the United States are de-scented and neutered or spayed before they are sold.

Ferrets are extremely playful, active and curious animals and they like being around humans and other ferrets. Ferrets sleep a fair amount of time and are most active at dawn and dusk. But when they are awake they love to run around, play, and usually are caught ferreting arund in places that are not meant for them becasue of their very curios attitudes. Due to their active natures they require multiple hours of play time out of their cage each and every day. Their cages should also be large in size for high activeity. One of the most enjoyable behaviors that a ferret displays is during times of play, commonly called the "ferret war dance." This is a series of erratic sideways hops and jumps, usually accompanied by a hissing or soft clucking noise.

Since ferrets have curious natures it is a must to ferret proof any rooms or areas that the ferret will be playing in:

- Supervise any rubber or plastic toys that can be torn apart and ingested

- Other pets such as dogs or cats that may fight or attack ferrets

- Birds and small rodents that the ferret may hurt

- Any small shiny objects or strings that may get ingested

- Candles or heavily scented cleaners

- Unsupervised children

- Coaches, beds, chairs, recliners, cabinets, laundry machines and refrigerators or other appliances that they can crawl into

- Electrical Cords

- Plants

- Shelves that they often will push items off of

Items that are safe that ferrets like to play with are:

- Socks and sweaters or other items that they can dig and hide in

- Pillow cases and blankets

- Towels, hammocks and ferret tents

- Balls that are not easily torn apart, such as hard plactic cat ball (becareful not to get one's will bells that can be removed or plastic soft enough for them to chew)

- Boxes and tubes

- Brown paper bags (no plastic bags since this may cause suffocation or other harm)

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