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Post by huronna on Sept 10, 2016 10:05:55 GMT -5
 Glad to have you here. My name is Huronna and I have been owned by these wonderful fuzzies since 1984 We only have two right now, Powder an albino and Scout who is a blaze and deaf Both are rescues from a dog and cat shelter...they didn't know what to do with them HA HA We live in Florida, gulf coast Glad to have your join us and we'll try to be as helpful as possible. We are not a very busy forum, many of us have been members here for over 10-15 years Looking forward to meeting you |
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Post by fazer72110 on Sept 10, 2016 11:29:23 GMT -5
Hey everyone! Thanks for letting me aboard!
My girlfriend and I recently moved into a new apartment, which does not allow cats or dogs. So, for a while we had been thinking about a pet which could fill the void of a dog. I remembered when I was younger my friend had a beautiful albino ferret, Foxy. She was such a neat animal, and I quickly brought up the idea of a ferret to my girlfriend. Initially, she said what they all say "no they are dirty and stink". BUT then i took her to visit some ferrets at the pet store and begged me to get her one (; We have been researching for a while, and just yesterday we went and picked out our ferret, Taz. We are very happy to have him!
I'm glad I'm the kind of person that researches everything I can before purchasing anything because Petco gave us poor advice that even I knew was wrong based on my few weeks of reading up on ferrets, such as using cat litter and feeding table scraps. We also purchased the Kaytee ferret cage they recommended, which is proving to be very unstable for our big guy. We already had to return one the same day because some of the wires were welded poorly and broke. So, we ordered the ferret nation single level which will arrive next week.
Anyways, I will quit rambling. Thanks for having me, and I'm looking forward to getting to know and learn from you all.
-Kyle
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Post by huronna on Sept 10, 2016 12:07:02 GMT -5
The first thing you have to do is ferret proof your apartment.
Many of us, even though we have cages where our fuzzies will sometimes go to relax, many of ours spend most of their time as free roamers around the house or apartment.
As I said, I got my first ferret in 1984 and though I do have a big cage, the only time they are locked in is when my cleaning lady is here.
Over time, you will find out if litter or, newspapers of paper towels or even puppy pads are best for your ferret.
A lot depends on how much out of cage time your ferret will have.
Get down on you hands and knees and go around your apartment for any possible knook or crannie the coule get into.
I thought I was really ferret smart, and 16 years ago when I moved into my new house, the first thing my ferret did was find an opening in the kickboard under the cabinets in the kitchen. It was a corner and there was this very slight opening, enough for him to get into but he couldn't get out. Luckily the homes were still in construction and the cabinet maker was on site and he came and had to pull off the kick boards so I could get him out.
Check under sinks, especially where the pipes go into the wall, make sure there is no opening as at sometime your ferret will venture into cabinets.
Get him used to a squeakie toy. They will fall asleep in the oddest places. When I can't find Powder, I squeak her toy and she wakes up and comes running...thinks she is going to get a treat (a bandit) unfortunately Scout is deaf, but he usually is in a familiar place.
Love love and more love ...and it will be returned to you ten fold
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Post by dee517 on Sept 10, 2016 14:07:14 GMT -5
Welcome to Ferret! 
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Post by dee517 on Sept 10, 2016 14:34:30 GMT -5
Hi my name is Dee. My husband and I have been owned by ferrets since 1997. My first vet ran a ferret rescue and raised ferrets. She was a great source of information. When we moved across country in 1999 I found myself in a strange place without a great ferret vet. I found a ferret rescue listed in a ferret magazine that was not very far from my new home. They suggested a great vet. That vet went to the Phoenix zoo. I was without a good vet again. Back to the rescue for vet help. They suggested a new vet that they worked with. This was 2001 and he has been our vet since then. He is known as the best ferret vet in the valley. Unfortunately he moved about 1 1/2 hours away. For this reason Zeus will be our last ferret. My best suggestion for you is to find a vet now. Do not wait until you are in need of one. They will all look at ferrets, but not all of them know what to do with a ferret. We found this out the hard way when we were between vets.
This group has a lot of knowledge that they are willing to share. You sound like you are off to a great start. Please do not hesitate to ask questions. I wish I would have had these people to help me when I started with my first ferret. Welcome to the group!
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Post by fazer72110 on Sept 10, 2016 20:54:30 GMT -5
Hi my name is Dee. My husband and I have been owned by ferrets since 1997. My first vet ran a ferret rescue and raised ferrets. She was a great source of information. When we moved across country in 1999 I found myself in a strange place without a great ferret vet. I found a ferret rescue listed in a ferret magazine that was not very far from my new home. They suggested a great vet. That vet went to the Phoenix zoo. I was without a good vet again. Back to the rescue for vet help. They suggested a new vet that they worked with. This was 2001 and he has been our vet since then. He is known as the best ferret vet in the valley. Unfortunately he moved about 1 1/2 hours away. For this reason Zeus will be our last ferret. My best suggestion for you is to find a vet now. Do not wait until you are in need of one. They will all look at ferrets, but not all of them know what to do with a ferret. We found this out the hard way when we were between vets.
This group has a lot of knowledge that they are willing to share. You sound like you are off to a great start. Please do not hesitate to ask questions. I wish I would have had these people to help me when I started with my first ferret. Welcome to the group!
Hi Dee, That has to be pretty tough to imagine living without the critters you have loved for so long. Too many people get animals and don't even have needing to take them to a vet on their mind. I have been working for a vet for about a month now. A benefit of being an employee is free to very discounted care for my own animals. He sees mainly dogs and cats but also a lot of exotic animals (reptiles, birds, small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs) frequently come in. I haven't had a chance to ask him about ferrets specifically though. I am pretty confident he has at least some experience with them. I believe he has been a vet for over 40 years. I'm going to ask him about making an appointment to get Taz his shots so we will see what he says about if an emergency were to happen. |
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Post by fazer72110 on Sept 10, 2016 21:02:53 GMT -5
The first thing you have to do is ferret proof your apartment. Many of us, even though we have cages where our fuzzies will sometimes go to relax, many of ours spend most of their time as free roamers around the house or apartment. As I said, I got my first ferret in 1984 and though I do have a big cage, the only time they are locked in is when my cleaning lady is here. Over time, you will find out if litter or, newspapers of paper towels or even puppy pads are best for your ferret. A lot depends on how much out of cage time your ferret will have. Get down on you hands and knees and go around your apartment for any possible knook or crannie the coule get into. I thought I was really ferret smart, and 16 years ago when I moved into my new house, the first thing my ferret did was find an opening in the kickboard under the cabinets in the kitchen. It was a corner and there was this very slight opening, enough for him to get into but he couldn't get out. Luckily the homes were still in construction and the cabinet maker was on site and he came and had to pull off the kick boards so I could get him out. Check under sinks, especially where the pipes go into the wall, make sure there is no opening as at sometime your ferret will venture into cabinets. Get him used to a squeakie toy. They will fall asleep in the oddest places. When I can't find Powder, I squeak her toy and she wakes up and comes running...thinks she is going to get a treat (a bandit) unfortunately Scout is deaf, but he usually is in a familiar place. Love love and more love ...and it will be returned to you ten fold That would be scary to loose Taz in the cabinet or wall! We have a spare room in our apartment which will be the "animal room". Taz will pretty much have the whole room to himself all day besides giving up a bit of space for one of the turtle aquariums and my snake rack. These will be blocked off and all wires will be totally inaccessible. We will still ferret proof the rest of the apartment incase he were to escape that room, and I'm sure we will have him out in the living room often to play also. Thanks for the advice! |
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Post by huronna on Sept 11, 2016 0:19:46 GMT -5
I lived in Puerto Rico from 1983 to 2000, and I did not have a ferret vet.
We did the best we could, with information and my vet took as good care as possible with them. I was really lucky that none had any problems until the end when it was with adrenal. But I was able to get Lupron and we treated them that way rather than surgery.
Once I loved back to the USA, I did find a very knowledgeable vet nd then about 5 years ago he sold his practive to another vet who he had as a partner. During this time, I had a ferret with cancer of his kidney, which had to be removed. Success. A couple with adrenal tumors, but unfortunately then the other adrenal would become affected and we would treat with Lupron. I had one with liver cancer and we treated with meds and she had a happy 8 more months after diagnosis. Another at the age of 9 had a bladder full of stones. My vet didn't want to operated because he was afraid the Frick would not survive the anesthesia. I looked at him and said, so you want me to just put him down? No way. If he dies on the operating table at least I know we gave him a chance. And the vet did operated and Frick lives another 10 happy months. I also had a ferret that had a root canal done. His owners thought he was ugly with an abcess and gave him to a shelter. I adopted him, took him right away to my vet who referred me to a veterinarian dentist. Dexie never know that he only had a stub of a canine tooth. One had a blockage because she was chewing on a blanket, surgery fixed that, another had an anuerism, there was nothing we could do, even though our vet is only 10 minutes away.
So you can see we have had a lot of vet bills, but other than my ferrets I don't have any expensive hobbies LOL
There are many things that can go wrong and it is definitely a good idea to have you vet do a well ferret visit.
We go every year for their rabies shots, it's the law where we live. I had one ferret that had a reaction so after that my vet always gives benidryl
before the shot.
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Post by huronna on Sept 11, 2016 0:21:38 GMT -5
As you can see, LIttle Powder rules the roost and Scout just puts up with her
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Post by fazer72110 on Sept 11, 2016 10:43:27 GMT -5
I lived in Puerto Rico from 1983 to 2000, and I did not have a ferret vet. We did the best we could, with information and my vet took as good care as possible with them. I was really lucky that none had any problems until the end when it was with adrenal. But I was able to get Lupron and we treated them that way rather than surgery. Once I loved back to the USA, I did find a very knowledgeable vet nd then about 5 years ago he sold his practive to another vet who he had as a partner. During this time, I had a ferret with cancer of his kidney, which had to be removed. Success. A couple with adrenal tumors, but unfortunately then the other adrenal would become affected and we would treat with Lupron. I had one with liver cancer and we treated with meds and she had a happy 8 more months after diagnosis. Another at the age of 9 had a bladder full of stones. My vet didn't want to operated because he was afraid the Frick would not survive the anesthesia. I looked at him and said, so you want me to just put him down? No way. If he dies on the operating table at least I know we gave him a chance. And the vet did operated and Frick lives another 10 happy months. I also had a ferret that had a root canal done. His owners thought he was ugly with an abcess and gave him to a shelter. I adopted him, took him right away to my vet who referred me to a veterinarian dentist. Dexie never know that he only had a stub of a canine tooth. One had a blockage because she was chewing on a blanket, surgery fixed that, another had an anuerism, there was nothing we could do, even though our vet is only 10 minutes away. So you can see we have had a lot of vet bills, but other than my ferrets I don't have any expensive hobbies LOL There are many things that can go wrong and it is definitely a good idea to have you vet do a well ferret visit. We go every year for their rabies shots, it's the law where we live. I had one ferret that had a reaction so after that my vet always gives benidryl before the shot. Are ferrets prone to cancer or other certain health problems? Is there any preventative things we should do? I know they can get blocked easy so we should stick to high quality ferret foods and snacks. Also, I never knew that animals could have a reaction to rabbies/distemper vaccs. What were the symptoms of the reaction? |
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Post by huronna on Sept 11, 2016 11:44:54 GMT -5
There is a lot of information here on the site, if you click on the home pages you will see lots of topics. Regarding the illnesses that ferrets are pron to ferretfamily.proboards.com/board/6/medical-healthAnd more about ferret proofing your home and things to watch for ferretfamily.proboards.com/thread/7/ferret-proofingIn "the old days" it was basically only to distemper that ferrets would have a reaction. There were two schools of thought, those that gave their ferrets distemper shots and those that didn't. I actually never heard of anyone that didn't give distemper that had a ferret get it. Reactions to rabies shots was almost not heard of. I had had ferrets since 1984 and I always had to give them rabies shots because of local laws. it was not until 2005, almost 20 years later that I experienced a reaction. Dexie was a robust ferret, he was the one that had a root canal and had had his yearly rabies injections with no problems. Usually you should wait at least 20 minutes in the vet office before leaving in case there is a reaction. Well I had barely put him in his kennel when he started to make strange noises. He was sort of foaming at the mouth, his nose, paws and eyes were really red. Immediately the vet gave him benidryl and he seemed to come out of it. I only live 10 minutes from the vet, and when I got home and let him out of the kennel, he started to run in circles and pooped blood, immmediately I ran back to the vet with him. and he was given another shot and some IV fluids. The bleeding was from the the reatcion where the capillaries in the intestines has broken and blood was in his intestines. Within another hour, Dexie was as fit as a fiddle. It was then that my vet decided to give every ferret a shot of benidryl BEFORE any rabies or distemper shots and he passed this on to the vet that took over his practice and he to all his assitant vets. Good food and yearly visits. And at the first sign of somethin just not right.....go see your vet |
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Post by dee517 on Sept 11, 2016 14:02:55 GMT -5
I glad to see you have a vet. If your vet is willing to work with you and learn together with you have made the first best step to having a long happy life for your ferret. When I got my first ferret our vet told us that the average ferret life span was 5 years. My first ferret was 6 years and 8 months old when she left us for the rainbow bridge. Good care and only the best food are some of what it takes to have happy long lives for ferrets. Huronna is a great source of information as are many of the people in this group. Please keep us up to date on Taz. Ferrets are little thieves. They steal your heart and never let go.
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Post by smokeyoshi on Sept 14, 2016 10:41:59 GMT -5
Hello and welcome.
I'm Chris. My wife Dar and I have had ferrets for 10 years, 26 ferrets total. I've had a lot of rescues that I got from other people who no longer wanted them. We have 7 currently.
Ferrets almost inevitably develop at least one cancer if they live longer than 5-6 years. Diet is important, but adrenal disease is practically a guarantee. It's believed that removing sex organs at an early age (4-6 weeks!) leads to hormonal imbalance for the rest of their lives. You can get a yearly Suprelorin F implant after Taz is a year old, which is believed to help prevent adrenal disease in most ferrets. It acts to increase production of certain hormones. No cause for lymphoma or insulinoma has been pinpointed, but it is highly recommended to feed a high protein low carb diet.
Ferrets are pretty accident prone, as they are so curious, fearless and clumsy. They seem to enjoy knocking things over. Drinks are not safe anywhere a fert can get. Many of them become accomplished climbers, especially if you don't keep their claws trimmed. They will follow you silently thru doors, so be very careful if you go outside or come in while they are out of the cage. An adult ferret can get through holes and gaps less than 2 inches. Check under your sinks where pipes come though the floor. They can open cabinet doors, too.
Welcome to the wonderful world of ferrets.
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Post by dookcitygang on Sept 17, 2016 12:20:53 GMT -5
I get to ferret proof my house again, when they finally finish rebuilding it. Not fun, but got to be done.
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