ferrets

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

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