ferrets

I thought you might like to see a few of the photos I took recently with a ferret theme. Naturally, the ferrets weren’t all that cooperative, but we did manage to get a few decent photos.

This is my ferret, Meringue-atang being held by Santa. It was hard to make both the ferret and Santa’s hand look white. ‘Tang is a slightly older ferret with some yellowing. I used PhotoShop and under the “Hue and Saturation” tool, I lightened yellow. Worked very well, actually.

This is another shot of Meringue-atang, this time in reindeer antlers. It was unusual that he was walking around with the antlers on. Usually ferrets take the first opportunity to get any kind of hat off at their earliest opportunity.

Here is one last photo of ‘Tang, this time in a frizzy green hair scrunchie. Scrunchies work quite well, but remember to take the tag off first, otherwise it has an annoying tendency to show in the photo.

No, not as ingredients, but “helping” you.

They’re adorable little critters, but they sure do like to get underfoot. I’ve learned to shuffle my feet so to (mostly) avoid stepping on toes and tails, but a few of these guys seem to excel at diving for the space under your foot just as your foot is coming down.

I just wanted to remind everyone that while cooking for the holidays, it’s best to keep the fuzzies OUT of the kitchen. If you were tripped while carrying something very hot, not only could you be seriously injured, but you could seriously injure your ferret, and I don’t know about you, but that’s much, much worse than injuring myself.

Expansion panels for those ferret playpens (made by Marshalls, Midwest and Prevue) are great for blocking single doorways. You get three panels in an expansion pack and that should be plenty to block most doorways. Screw-in eyelets are easy to install, and the gate can be opened and closed relatively easily. Here’s a hint: don’t get the tiny gold ones, get the next size up. The tiny ones break and pull out rather easily.

“Too rough” is generally signaled by one or both ferrets doing what we call “flying poop.” That’s when they roll across the floor, screeching and pooping, making poop fly in all directions. Sometimes if you separate the combatants and let them calm down, the next interaction will be better. Sometimes it isn’t any better and you have to give up and assume those ferrets just aren’t going to get along.

The ferrets in the above photo are friends, and are merely playing with each other. Chirping and chittering does not necessarily mean they are fighting.

Also, if one ferret does nothing but frantically hide from the other ferret the entire time they are out together, that doesn’t usually get better. You can usually tell when it isn’t going to work.

One thing to note: When you are introducing ferrets to each other, DO NOT put them in cages next to each other where they can see but not fully interact with the other ferret. Valerie Staton of Dominican University in Ohio is doing research on ferret behavior. She discovered that allowing the ferrets to see each other, but not fully interact (like through a fence or cage bars), was a strong indication that the ferrets would NOT get along, ever. In fact, once the ferrets were placed together, the fights were generally much more violent than if the two ferrets were just dropped into a playpen together.

When new ferrets are introduced to each other, sometimes you’ll have a little squabbling. They might chirp at each other while jumping at the other ferret with their mouth wide open. That’s so they look more intimidating. Most ferrets accept that behavior as a signal to leave the other ferret alone.

Sometimes one will jump on the other’s back, biting the back of the neck (the scruff) where the skin is thickest. It’s thick there for that very reason. Ferrets play with each other by biting each other’s scruffs. Sometimes you’ll hear some chittering or chirps, and sometimes one ferret will drag the other across the room.

Usually, the “draggee” does nothing and allows itself to be dragged. The humans don’t particularly like when the “dragger” drags the “draggee” through piles of poop, though. The ferrets, on the other hand, consider this rather normal behavior.

The best sign of an acceptable level of squabbling is if the “jumpee” becomes the “jumper” … if the one being “beaten up” leaps up and “beats up” the other ferret. Normal play will involve the ferrets taking turns “beating each other up,” chasing each other and sometimes chittering, chirping and barking at each other.

Tomorrow: When they’re being too rough

When a large number of ferrets come in, it’s really impossible to keep many of them together. We try, but it just isn’t practical. We try to keep the bonded pairs together, but unbonded ferrets have to be separated from their friends or risk never being adopted.

My rule is that if a ferret is used to playing with other ferrets, it needs to go to a home either with another ferret (preferably one from his group, but not always), or to a home that already has ferrets.

When people want to adopt a friend for their existing ferrets, I have them bring their ferret(s) to the shelter and try them out with a potential new friend. Usually we know within a few minutes if it’s going to work.

If it is not going to work, one or both ferrets will usually jump each other, biting and screeching, rolling around on the floor, and defecating! It’s quite alarming, although most ferrets don’t do more damage than putting a few dents in each others’ necks. They end up covered in poo and seriously needing a bath, though! They might be frightened, but I’ve never had any serious damage occur.

We don’t consider that a good match.

Tomorrow: Acceptable squabbling

Sometimes an older ferret will take a younger one “under his or her wing.” That happens sometimes when you bring home a baby and a slightly older ferret, usually a female but not always, will decide that the newcomer is her “baby.”  Sometimes a male ferret will do this, too. Sometimes adult ferrets will bond the first time they meet.

The most touching case of bonding happened one time when a lady brought an 8 year old and a 4 year old to the shelter to find a playmate for the 4 year old. We found a nice friend for that ferret, and then she said, “I wonder if Bella will be lonely?” At the time, I had an elderly silver mitt male who was just a little over 6, but seemed to be in good health and we decided to try the old girl with with.

Normally, once a female gets past about 3 or so, they often don’t want any new friends and will chirp and screech at the prospective friend, sometimes getting rather violent. Not this time!

As soon as we put Merlin down, he went up to Bella and began grooming her face. She kissed him and they curled up together like they were old buddies! I think we both stood there with our mouths hanging open for a good 60 seconds before either of us could speak. It was adorable!

The lady took Merlin as well as the friend for her younger ferret, and reported a week or so later that those two were the best of friends. Neither one went anywhere without the other. They ate together, slept together, and did the circuit of the room together. Her Bella lived an amazing 2 more years until finally her health was so bad that she had to be put to sleep.

Now it gets even more touching. Poor Merlin missed his girlfriend so much, that he carried her blanket around with him everywhere he went! He would put it down long enough to eat and drink, but he refused to be parted from the blanket that Bella always slept in. The owner was afraid to wash it! I guess the smell comforted Merlin. He slept on that blanket and even when he was out playing, he did it with the blanket in his mouth.

After a few weeks, he carried it around less, but even after it was finally washed, it remained his favorite blanket until the day he died.

When you’re looking for pairs of ferret, it doesn’t always have to be a male/female pairing, either. Sometimes two males will be best friends. Sometimes you’ll find a older ferret paired up with a younger ferret. I’ve seen cases where a younger ferret acted like a seeing eye ferret for the older one. We would see them run across the room (at full speed, too) with the older one just touching the younger one’s side.

Without the younger ferret, the older, blind ferret, would bump into things. We didn’t even realize the older one was blind until I put the older one down by itself while I was fetching the others. The poor thing stood there, looking confused, and walked right into the leg of a chair! When I put the younger one down, she immediately hunted until she found her elderly friend, and they kissed each other’s faces and trotted off together!

Bonded pairs shouldn’t be separated if at all possible, but what does a shelter do when they get in 4, 6, or even 8 ferrets at once? Obviously it’s unlikely that a single home can be found to take all of them in.

What we do is observe the ferrets and attempt to figure out which ones are closely bonded. We house them all together if at all possible, and while they are out to play, we watch how they act, who they play with, who they argue with, and ultimately, who they choose to sleep with.

If you find a particular set of ferrets together all the time, in general, you can assume they’re bonded.

Tomorrow: Pairings

Older ferrets who are dropped off at the shelter have lost the only home they’ve ever known. But even worse than that is when people separate bonded sets of ferrets.

These ferrets rarely do well.

Sometimes people will give one of their ferrets to a friend and surrender the other one to the shelter. Often, the one they surrender has some kind of problem. Sometimes it’s a health problem, but more often it’s a problem with nipping.

If these ferrets have been together for a long time, the one given to the shelter usually goes into a deep depression and mourns the loss of not only everything the poor thing has ever known, but also their cage mate.

Some ferrets bond very closely with their cage mate, especially if it’s a male and a female. I’ve seen pairs that were surrendered to the shelter who did just fine because they were together. You can tell the ones that are bonded – when they are out playing, they never stray more than a few feet from each other. They sleep curled up together, and when they greet each other, they often lick each others’ faces and ears. It’s very touching.

Sometimes people who have had to make difficult financial decisions think it’s better to give away one to a friend and give the other to a shelter. If the ferrets are a bonded set, that’s not such a great idea. I’ve heard stories of both ferrets choosing to die (of no apparent reason beyond grief) than to live apart.

Once I even got the “other ferret” when the new owner was afraid the poor thing would die because it wasn’t eating. When the ferrets were reunited, it was apparent they were happy to see each other, and both recovered their health and were ultimately adopted out together.

Tomorrow: Surrender of large groups

Yesterday I talked about how more people are surrendering ferrets and fewer are adopting and how hard it is on people who have to move in with friends or relatives who won’t allow them to bring their ferrets.

But it’s hard on the ferrets, too. Ferrets are intelligent creatures – experts say they’re as smart as a 2-year-old child or a chimpanzee. Being uprooting and dumped into a shelter … no matter how nice a shelter it is … is very, very hard on them. Ferrets love their owners. They think of them as mom and dad. To have “mom” take you somewhere and drop you off, never to come back, is hard on them. The older the ferret, the worse it is.

There have been many cases of ferrets dying shortly after being surrendered. Many go into a depression and get sick or stop eating. Some can’t be saved.

It breaks my heart when I lose a ferret because it’s grieving over losing its previous owner. I can see the pain and loss in the ferret’s eyes. I don’t care what current religions say … I know ferrets are intelligent, have feelings, and do have souls. If you look, you can see it in their eyes.

We do our best to engage the ferret and try to give them a reason to live. Sometimes it’s pretty hard. The older the ferret, the harder it is to convince them that life is still worth living. They’ve lost their “mother” who brought them home from the store, loved them, played with them and fed them. They’ve lost the only home they’ve ever known and have been launched into a world of strange smells, sights and sounds. But worse of all is when people separate bonded sets of ferrets.

Tomorrow: More about bonded sets