Best nap spots are always in the business.

Hi! I’m considering getting a ferret and I want as much information about care as possible - I’m stumbling on a ton of food guides and such but I haven’t really gotten a sure answer on if it’s okay to feed a ferret primarily or only dry food? I was thinking ferret epigen 90 or Ziwi peak venison or one of the other air dried kibbles. I’m not sure I have the space or means to keep a bunch of raw meat and I wanna get 2 ferrets so they keep each other company. I’m just scared to fully commit before I know for sure I can take care of one 100% properly. Thanks!

​Hi everyone. I am from Japan and using a translation tool, so I apologize if my English is a bit unnatural.

​I am looking for anyone who might have experienced something similar with their ferret.

(Please note: My ferret is already under the care of an exotic animal specialist and we are actively treating this. I am just looking for shared experiences/information.)

​Detailed Description of Current Situation:

​Location: Right front leg (around the elbow area), with a swollen lymph node nearby.

​The Lumps & Fluid: My ferret developed multiple hard lumps around the area. Today, one of them ruptured (burst open), leaking a clear, colorless, and watery fluid (not thick yellow pus, and not bloody).

​Other Lumps: There are still about 3 un-ruptured lumps remaining around the same area.

​Medical Timeline:

​January: Started limping on the right front leg.

​April: X-rays showed bone abnormalities. The vet started antibiotics and steroids.

​July 1st: Since the X-rays didn't show worsening bone changes, the vet decided to stop the antibiotics while keeping the steroids.

​Mid-July (Now): The area swelled up rapidly, multiple lumps formed, and one of them ruptured. The vet suspects it might be a deep bone infection/osteomyelitis that formed fistulas (tunnels) to the skin.

​Overall Health:

Despite the wound and pain when touched, my ferret is eating well, drinking, and pooping normally.

​What I want to know:

Has anyone dealt with a similar chronic bone/tissue infection that caused multiple lumps and clear fluid leakage like this? If so, what was the specific diagnosis or bacteria, and what treatment (surgery, specific antibiotics) worked for your ferret?

​Any shared experiences or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Hi ferreteers,

We're new to having ferrets (and new to Reddit, hi!) and picked up our babies about 2 months ago (2 jills, now 4,5 months old), after extensive research. I've successfully weened them off of the unstuitable kibble they got at the ferretry and now they're on (I think) a well rounded BARF diet. Sometimes they get a couple of mostly-meat cat kibbles as a snack, but they're not really interested.

So my research told me they shouldn't smell on raw, but they DO. Like really bad.

Before we got them, we went to visit a ferret owner. Our ferrets will go there in 2 weeks to stay over while we're on vacation. She has 5 ferrets in a small apartment and it does NOT smell ferrety in there!

But... she washes her ferrets with a vet shampoo and rubs them with baby oil every week.

Now, I'm very much against washing them that often (if at all) and no way I'm getting synthetic baby oil all over them. But my wife wants to try the other owner's method, since her ferrets don't smell at all.

What can I do to (convince my wife we can) reduce the smell naturally?

This is what we currently do:

- change bedding every week or even twice a week if it's really bad
- feed them 99% raw diet
- walk them outside on a leash almost every day
- I've washed them once with a probiotic pet cleaner, didn't really help so didn't repeat
- Air purifier HVAC/carbon... doesn't really help although supposedly it's a great one
- they'll be getting a hormone implant in a month or so.
- they're not quite housebroken; I use a pet safe enzyme cleaner on our tile floor to clean up after them (tips welcome btw, we've tried everything from wood chips to puppy pads but they prefer the floor and pick a new spot every day)

Both the excrement smell as their pretty heavy body odour are problematic.

Two other things to know:
- I suspect they're not 100% kind to each other. One is way more calm and quiet, the other is terrorizing her 'sister' and us by playing too rough and is way more nervous, bitey etc. I'm trying to give her safety but maybe they smell worse because of rivalry?
- the calm one probably has early onset heat (says the vet), so we can't give her the hormone implant rightaway.

Please help! Should I rub them with a natural oil to get rid of the smell? Or do anything else? Please be kind, I'm really trying to do what's best for the ferrets... but also for my wife ;-) Thank you,

Ferret Moms of
Willow & Raven

some beautiful last photos with him enjoying the nice weather with me and having some cuddles after lots of yummy soupies.

i already miss you more than anything tonight, i wish i could fall asleep with you in my arms just one last time :(

you were so strong and brave, you gave me something to cherish, ill hold onto that feeling until im in my deathbed.

A collection of funny pictures of my baby’s

Hello ! Does anyone use a glucose reader for their ferret with insulinoma? If so what kind? My girl Bread is seven and got diagnosed yesterday I am a scared momma and welcome any advice. Thank you .

Hello my fellow ferret lovers!
I currently have 2 babies (1 Male & 1 Female) just about 7 months old and I’m IN LOVE!
I came across a rescue near me that just had 3 bonded ferrets returned to them (1 male and 2 female), all 3 are approximately 2 years old.
I went to meet them and they are the sweetest little noodles! The rescue initially received them very underweight from a young couple who had bought them and then split and neither could continue to take care of them. They were at the rescue for a while getting back to a healthy weight. They were then adopted out to a family who from what I was told, appeared to be extremely excited, able and willing to take on this trio. Which brings me to current day, the family brought them back to the rescue, again they were underweight and seemed very sad compared to the way they were when they left. The family told the rescue that their daughter is going away to school and they can no longer take care of them.
(Side Note: People Suck! But I guess I’m glad they were brought back instead of being neglected further). I say all of this to ask… what’s the best way to introduce this older trio to my current little ones? I already have a separate ferret nation to quarantine them for a week, I will be bringing all 5 to the vet just for a general check up, but wanted some suggestions from anyone who has had to introduce a little bit older ferrets to younger ones… what did you do? How long did it take? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you all in advance 💗

Hi everyone. I have a ferret who needs a deslorelin implant. I’ve called two vets in New Jersey so far and both quoted me around $1,600. I can’t afford that right now.

Does anyone know a vet in NJ (or nearby PA/NY) who does ferret implants for a more reasonable price? I’m willing to drive.

Thanks so much. Any leads would really help.

So recently my girl has escaped 3 times in the last 5 months. The most recent time being 4 weeks ago. She escaped and found an earplug on our table and ate it.

(Rewinding to the incident before the ear plug)
The last time this happened we’ve had her isolated in the bathroom with water, a potty pad, a bed, and weirdly enough a heating pad. The heating pad is placed under her bed and she lays on it tummy side down. And within a couple of hours she passed almost everything she ate (she ate a small piece of balloon the 2nd time she escaped)

Now, after eating almost an entire earplug, we tried this method again. It’s been almost 4 weeks since she ate the ear plug mind you. And with the heating pad under her belly she passed everything within hours. And these were MASSIVE chunks of foam!

We’ve taken her to the vet every single time she’s escaped and eaten something and every time it’s been over $700. We financially can’t right now but honestly her passing everything on her own and not throwing up is an amazing sign to me. She is back to normal and playing and eating normally. (No she was not lethargic before hand) once I get my paycheck I will be taking her to the vet to see how everything has passed, but in the meantime she’s doing great!

So in conclusion, I think the heating pad actually helps relax their muscles and intestines and actually helps move everything along! So if you aren’t able to get to a vet immediately try this! It might work!

I have a 6yo male ferret with lots of health issues. He may or may not have lymphoma (we aren’t sure bc the tests keep coming back inconclusive), he has an irregular heart beat, and adrenal. He recently has had no interest in playing, seems like he has very low energy, and honestly, I’m preparing for him to pass in the next month or two. He does have a younger sister, 4yo, and she’s very active and lively and has no health issues whatsoever. My question is, when he does pass, would it be cruel to have my female as a lone ferret? I really love her, but I just don’t know if I could commit to another. I thought about maybe trying to adopt one that is roughly her same age so it would be about the same time commitment.

Every time I try and find info on my future ferrets diet I'm told I need to feed 75% muscle meat 10% bone 10% heart and 5% liver and secreting organ but I'm never told what animals liver what muscle meat and what heart and what secreting organ to feed it's confusing my food list in images and my unfinished plan below

Bone in 10%

Anything with bone actually in the product such as

Turkey/chicken wings
Turkey/chicken Necks
Chicken Feet
Whole cuts with bones in (thigh and drumsticks)

Muscle meat 75%
Anything without bone such as no bone mince

Chicken/turkey Mince
Deboned cuts of meat (like thigh and drumsticks)
Any animal Tongue
Chicken or any animal Gizzards
Any animal Lungs
Any animal Trachea
Any animal Tripe

Heart 10%

Chicken/turkey/pig heart Heart

Liver 5%

Chicken/turkey/rabbit Liver

Secreting organ 5%

Rabbit Kidney
Any animal Pancreas
Any animal Brain
Any animal Spleen

1.As for what animals you should feed, you’ve got enough on your list to work out what you want to feed that day as long as in a week they have 3 different animals, for example if your bone in is all turkey and all your liver comes from chicken and your heart is from a pig that constitutes the 3 animal variety. If you wanted to you could make every type of meat a different animal.

2.as long as it sticks to the frakenprey menu and has a minimum of 3 different animal proteins you’re all good it varies heavily, on age of the the ferret, the gender and time of year. Typically ferrets eat 10% of their body weight. With kits eating 10-20% of their body weight You’ll have to weigh your ferret to get an idea on how much they weigh and then you can plan accordingly.

3.Feed the correct proportion and ratios
Feed adult ferrets 10 % of their current or target body weight. You’ll want to increase this to 13% in the winter. It’s worth noting that ferrets are self-regulating animals and will often eat just what they need anyways

4.If you’re feeding raw to a kit, feed up to 20% of their current body weight and free feed – meaning leave the quantity of food down for 12 hours so they can feed as they please

Kits Monday
Breakfast
turkey necks
Figure out 10% of the kits body weight and feed his that of bone

chicken mince no bone
Figure out 75 % of the kits body weight and feed him that of muscle meat

turkey heart
Find out 10% of the kits body weight and feed him that of heart

turkey and chicken liver
Find out 5% of the kits body weight and feed him that of of secreting organ add the rest later

Hey everyone,

I’ve noticed a few thing with my Bambi boy since he was a baby which I assumed were just silly traits but now I’m curious if anyone else’s ferts do these things too.

So every morning when I wake up he’s super happy to see me and wants to play and cuddle but when I go to pick him up, he always lowers himself to the ground. Sometimes I back up thinking that maybe he doesn’t want to be picked up but then he will try and jump up in order to be picked up. To me it almost feels like submission in a sense or maybe he’s too excited and just kind of lowers himself and sometimes rolls over for pets.

Another thing my fert ALWAYS does is he wants to smell my mouth. I go into kiss him and he always wants to sniff my mouth and usually wants to lick the inside of my nose. Not sure if this habit developed because my son would open his mouth when he would smell his mouth as a joke and Bambi would just sniff around or what it is but I’m curious if any other fert owners also experience this?

Other than those two things, he’s happy, playful, silly, chaotic, a little monster and the biggest cuddly bear. 🐻

I couldn’t get the best picture but Mouse’s eyes look like rubies. It’s so funny cause the red eyes make them look 50% more brain dead than before which I didn’t know was possible 😂

They grow up so fast