ferrets

This is Cooper. He was found cowering in a maintenance shed on the California University campus in Washington, PA. We’re pretty sure someone let him loose on purpose, since when he first came, he bit like a little chocolate barracuda.

He was brought to us on 5/23/08. We guessed his birthday as 10/26/06. When he came here, he was about 1-1/2 years old.

Cooper played for hours, and did well in his lessons on how to play nicely with other ferrets. If his previous owners had spent more time with him and taught him not to bite hard when he was a baby, Cooper wouldn’t have needed these lessons. He seems to really like other ferrets, but sometimes comes on too strong.

Cooper also did well in his lessons on how to play nicely with humans. After a month or so, he no longer automatically bit when he was picked up. A large part of his rehabilitation was discovering that Ferretone is yummy. Finally, he progressed to where he would poke your ankle with his nose (and not his teeth) to get your attention.

After another month of two of shelter life, Cooper developed into a lively, handsome young ferret who was showing signs he could learn to be a good boy.

Finally, after another couple months, Cooper mellowed into a very nice young ferret. He hadn’t bitten anyone in a long time, and rather than beating up other ferrets, now it seemed he was the one being beaten up.  

In late May of 2008, he was adopted by a young man living in apartment in
Oakland. The young guy had a job, was going for an advanced degree, and was living in apartments where pets were allowed. He’d lived there for a while, and things seemed stable. 

Cooper’s new dad asked the shelter if we could babysit over the Christmas break. He didn’t want to leave his ferret, but his family couldn’t find reasonable passage on a flight to Texas. Cooper was happy enough to come to visit. We were happy to see how fat and fluffy he was. He’d become much more relaxed, and his new daddy spent lots of time playing with him. I spoke to the mother of the young man, and she told me how he was always telling her stories of funny things that Cooper did. She said Cooper was very much loved. 

Only a few days before the young man was due to come back from his break, the mother received an email from the landlord saying that pets were no longer allowed in the apartment complex. Apparently a few students with dogs had been irresponsible and now they’d ruined it for everyone. 

Cooper’s dad is heartbroken. The mom called me today and even she was in tears at the unfairness of it. She told me her son was sobbing. So now Cooper is homeless again. A young man’s heart is broken and rather than being the center of attention and getting out to play for hours every day, Cooper will once again have to share the attention with 35 other ferrets and only get out to play as the schedule permits.  

We try hard to get them out every day, but between my having a full time job and there being so many ferrets here, it’s not always possible. We play with the ferrets, they have lots of toys, but it’s just not the same as having your very own mommy or daddy.  

I hope Cooper knows he was not given up for doing anything wrong or that he wasn’t loved.

Leo

Tiny

Tiny is a little albino female with big ears. She is currently 6 years 4 months old. She was originally surrendered to the shelter 9/18/04 when she was about 2 years old. She was surrendered for biting really hard, and that she did.  

She was always rather happy, but you could never drop your guard around her. She’d nail you on the wrist at every opportunity, and seemed to enjoy “leg of volunteer” on a regular basis, too. After she was at the shelter for a while, she did get better, but her biting never completely stopped. 

Leo is a DEW (dark-eyed white) male who is deaf as a stone. He, too, was surrendered for biting too hard. Leo is currently 5 years and 9 months old. He came into the shelter on 10/24/04, about a month after Tiny. Leo would bite anyone, anywhere, frequently, but not nearly as hard as Tiny. Leo, however, hated other ferrets. He used to beat the living daylights out of other ferrets, and he came with a warning about cats…don’t let him near a cat.  

One day, after Tiny had sunken her pearly whites into shelter mom’s arm yet again, she decided to try a little “attitude adjustment” with her. Sometimes ferrets bite too hard because they haven’t been told by other ferrets that it’s an obnoxious behavior. We’re had some success in reducing biting by putting a nippy ferret with another that will beat it up to give it “a taste of its own medicine.” Believe it or not, it does work. We don’t let them kill each other, and we always rescue them after a few seconds, but often enough, after a good pounding, ferrets sometimes have that little ferret-lightbulb go off inside their head … “Oh, they don’t LIKE that!” and the biting will decrease or stop. 

So the theory was that we would put Tiny and Leo together so Leo could give her a lesson and perhaps help teach her to stop puncturing people. 

Didn’t work that way. Leo jumped Tiny, Tiny beat the stuffing out of Leo, Leo fought back, and then they wandered off and took a nap together! What?!? That wasn’t supposed to happen! LOL!  

Since then, we have housed Tiny and Leo together and they have been best buddies. Go figure. 

We tried to find them a suitable home, but despite having a “white” sale and offering “$5 off per puncture” there were no takers. Finally, just about the time we decided we’d have Tiny and Leo for the rest of their lives, someone came and adopted them. They said they knew what they were doing and that Tiny and Leo would never have to live in a shelter again. That was 11/24/07.  

What actually happened was the guy and girl broke up just a month later and the guy gave Tiny and Leo away to someone else (breaking the contract they’d signed that said the ferrets would be returned to the shelter if they couldn’t keep them). The new owners kept them for a while, but apparently hadn’t read the file that came with Leo. They ended up surrendering Tiny and Leo back to the shelter when Leo dragged their new kitten under the couch and tried to kill it.  

Sigh. 

The new owners hadn’t gotten the message about feeding good food and were feeding really awful stuff. When the ferrets came back to the shelter, they were skinny and had dry, brittle fur, a common side effect of poor diet. On the other hand, these people spent a lot of time carrying the ferrets around and Tiny and Leo came home largely reformed. That just goes to show you that (a) lots of handling works and (b) ferrets are not stupid. When they came back and started getting good food again, I think they decided that they knew on which side their bread was buttered and chose to behave. At least that’s my theory. J 

Tiny is an old girl now, and is showing signs of adrenal disease. Leo is still looking good. Both act like ferrets much younger and are otherwise healthy. I suppose they’ll spend what’s left of their lives here at the shelter where Leo will NOT have the opportunity to kill kittens, they’ll get good food and vet care, and the previously-punctured volunteers can delight in being able to hold the once unholdable little dears. 

Tiny has taken a liking to being a shoulder ferret, which is quite a drastic change in her opinion of humans. Leo has developed a talent for grabbing other ferrets through the bars of the gate and trying to pull them through to the other side! Eeep! Leo is nice to people but really hates all other ferrets except Tiny. Poor guy is going to be lonely when Tiny passes. Tiny hates all other ferrets, too.  

They’ve weathered the bouncing around rather well, and seem to have come out just fine. The only thing better would be a real home for whatever time they have left. Anyone for an “antique white sale”?

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