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Basic Ferret Information

The ferret is a domestic mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur, have an average length of approximately 20 inches (51 cm) including a 5 inch (13 cm) tail, weigh about 1.5–4 pounds (0.7–2 kg), and have a natural lifespan of 8 to 12 years.

The ferret is a very close relative of the polecat, but it is as yet unclear whether it is a domesticated form of the European Polecat, the Steppe Polecat, or some hybrid of the two.

The history of the ferret's domestication is uncertain, like that of most other domestic animals. It is very likely that ferrets have been domesticated for at least 2,500 years. They are still used for hunting rabbits in some parts of the world today, but increasingly they are being kept simply as pets.  

Terminology

Male intact ferrets are called hobs; female intact ferrets are jills. Ferrets under one year old are known as kits. A group of ferrets is known as a business, or historically as a fesnyng.

Pet Passports

The UK accepts ferrets under the EU's PETS travel scheme. Ferrets must be microchipped, vaccinated against rabies, and documented. They must be treated for ticks and tapeworms 24 to 48 hours before entry. They must also arrive via an authorized route. Ferrets arriving from outside the EU may be subject to a six-month quarantine. It takes more than 6 months to obtain a pet passport, so plan ahead!

History

Like most domestic animals, the original reason for ferrets' domestication by human beings is uncertain but it may have involved hunting. It was most likely domesticated from the European polecat (Mustela putorius), though it is also possible that ferrets are descendants of the Steppe polecat (Mustela eversmannii), or some hybridisation thereof. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggests that ferrets were domesticated around 2,500 years ago, although what appear to be ferret remains have been dated to 1500 BC. The name "ferret" is derived from the Latin furittus, meaning "little thief", a likely reference to the common ferret penchant for secreting away small items. Ferrets were probably used by the Romans for hunting.

Ferreting

For millennia, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or ferreting. With their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, ferrets are very well equipped for getting down holes and chasing rodents and rabbits out of their burrows. Caesar Augustus sent ferrets or mongooses (named "viverrae" by Plinius) to the Balearic Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6 BC.[14] They are still used for hunting in the UK.

Ferrets as pets

Ferrets spend 18 to 20 hours a day sleeping and are naturally crepuscular. They usually sleep in two to six hour periods. Though ferrets sleep more than most other domesticated animals, they are very active when awake and will seek to be released from their cage to get exercise and satisfy their abundant curiosity daily.

Ferrets are energetic, curious, interested in their surroundings, and often actively solicit play with humans, having a repertoire of behaviours both endearing and difficult for some human owners. Play for a ferret will often involve hide-and-seek games, or some form of predator and prey game in which either the human attempts to catch the ferret or the ferret to catch the human. They also have a strong nesting instinct and will repeatedly carry small objects or food to secluded locations. Ferrets will seemingly form attachments to certain objects and will repeatedly seek out and "steal" the same object and bring it to their hiding place.

When ferrets are excited, they may perform a routine commonly referred to as the weasel war dance, a frenzied series of sideways hops. This is often accompanied by a soft clucking noise, commonly referred to as dooking. It is often an invitation to play or an expression of happy excitement and is not threatening. The ferret's posture may become rigid with wide open jaws, momentary eye contact followed by thrashing or turning of the head from side to side, arching the back, piloerection (goose bumps) which give the ferret a ‘bottle-brush’ tail, and hopping to the side or backwards while facing the intended playmate. This is often accompanied by an excited panting sound that may sound like a hiss. Often, this behaviour will break into a game of chase, pounce and wrestle. Ferrets in war dances are very accident prone, often hopping into obstacles or tripping over their own feet.

Ferrets tend to nip as kits (juveniles). Nipping is the act of biting in a playful manner representative of mock fighting and sparring; young ferrets are also more prone to chewing and teething, and have a tendency to bite harder. Their teeth are very sharp, but ferrets naturally have very tough skin, so they get used to play biting each other without doing injury. When on the receiving end of a play bite, a ferret will sometimes let out a high-pitched squeal or hiss to signify its annoyance or submission. Kits usually need to be taught to be more gentle with humans than they are with each other. Older ferrets tend to chew far less frequently and, when trained correctly, almost never nip a human hand or, only do so very gently. However, ferrets that have been abused or are in extreme pain may bite a human, and are capable of strong bites which break through the skin.

As with cats, ferrets can use a litter box with training, but they are not always completely litter box trainable. Their instinct is to spread their waste in order to scent mark a wider foraging territory for themselves, but they will return to a used spot and "re-freshen" it; thus, multiple litter boxes may be necessary, and all litter areas should be cleaned frequently.

Diet

Ferrets are obligate carnivores which means they need to have a lot of meat in their diet. The natural diet of their wild ancestors consisted of whole small prey, i.e., meat, organs, bones, skin, feathers, and fur. Some ferret owners feed a meat-based diet consisting of whole prey such as mice and day old chicks along with raw meat like turkey mince.

Alternatively, there are many commercial ferret food products. Most adult cat foods and kitten foods are unsuitable for ferrets however, because of their low protein content and high fibre. Ideally, a ferret food should contain a minimum of 32% meat based protein and 18% fat and a maximum 3% fibre. Low-quality pet foods often contain grain-based proteins, which ferrets cannot properly digest and result in lower nutrition leading to increased food intake and more waste.

Ferrets may have a fondness for sweets like raisins, bananas, peanut butter, and breakfast cereal. The high sugar content of such treats has been linked to ferret insulinoma and other diseases. Like many other carnivores, ferrets gradually lose the ability to digest lactose after they are weaned, and as a result, lactose-free milk is recommended to avoid diarrhoea. Ice cream is a favourite in summer, but for the same reasons, just a small amount as a treat.

Dangers to pet ferrets

Ferret curiosity surpasses common sense in domestic environments, and ferrets are good at getting into drains, through holes in walls, under doors, inside drawers, in or under cupboards or cabinets, and inside, under, or behind household appliances such as clothes dryers, refrigerators, stoves, ovens, and dishwashers. This penchant exposes them to the danger of being injured or killed by moving parts such as fans or belts, getting into poisons or chemicals, or by drowning or some other misadventure.

Ferrets may take naps in hazardous places. They can go to sleep in a pile of laundry and get put in a washing machine, or crawl under chair cushions or pillows and get sat on and squashed. They can slide under throw rugs and get stepped on.

Many ferrets chew items that present the risk of intestinal blockage and death if ingested. Objects made of soft rubber, foam, or sponge are the leading cause of obstructions, but many ferrets, especially kits, have eaten dangerous or fatal quantities of cloth such as cotton terry towels, cotton socks, and other articles of clothing. At least one kit has died after swallowing tufts of carpet that was in his cage. Latex and hard rubber dog toys, foam rubber cat balls, rubber bands, foam ear plugs, pencil erasers, chunks of "flip flop" thongs, soles from shoes, foam weather-stripping or insulation, rubber feet from small appliances or telephones, etc., remote control buttons, foam insulation around sports bottles, foam rubber cushions or mattresses, and Styrofoam cups or packing "peanuts", have all been eaten by ferrets. If ingestion occurs, sometimes dosing the ferret with a cat hairball laxative paste may help the foreign matter to be passed, but if this is unsuccessful, surgical removal is probably necessary. If a ferret is vomiting due to an obstruction, it is a medical emergency.

Providing edible ferret chew toys to young ferrets usually reduces the risk of them chewing on inappropriate objects.

Recliners and fold-out sofas are a leading cause of accidental death in pet ferrets.[24] The curious animals will climb inside the mechanism and are then injured or killed when the position of the chair or sofa is changed.

Clothes dryer vents often become escape routes to the outdoors. Open windows provide another way to the outside. Also, ferrets move very quickly, and can slip unnoticed between a person's feet who is exiting through a door.

Unlike dogs and cats, many ferrets display little homing instinct and cannot survive as strays. Wandering ferrets run the risk of being injured or killed by passing vehicles, neighbourhood animals, or local wildlife: their curious nature also may lead them to confront and try to play with dangerous larger animals. Most domestic ferrets display poor survival instincts in a feral situation, have rudimentary hunting ability, and, being habituated to a commercial pet diet, are not likely to recognize prey species as food.

A ferret's long spine can be injured by rough handling: in addition, the small size and speedy nature makes it easy for a ferret to be stepped on, or crushed in a closing door.

Due to their legs being too short to act as shock absorbers, ferrets can easily be injured from falls, but this does not prevent them from trying to climb on everything in their environment. A ferret is driven to explore, hence the term "to ferret out". They may climb any furniture they can get a toe-hold in, as well as draperies and curtains, and if there is something they cannot climb, they have been known to climb up a nearby object and attempt to jump across to the desired location.

During the tick season, ferrets are susceptible to the diseases carried by these parasites. Ticks can attach themselves and begin to draw blood. When the tick gets full, it regurgitates some blood and tick saliva back into the ferret, which is how Lyme and other diseases can be transmitted. Ordinarily, the regurgitation happens between five to 24 hours after the tick attaches. Fleas can cause extreme skin irritation and can be intermediate hosts for tapeworms, one of which may kill a ferret because of their small size. Similarly, the venom of a bee, wasp or spider is much more serious for a ferret than for a larger mammal. Ferrets are prey for hawks & owls.

Ferrets and children

Although ferrets have been claimed to make good pets for older children, they are often not advised as pets for very young children. Important considerations include assessing potential danger to a human child by a pet ferret, and potential danger to a pet ferret by a human child, either deliberately or by neglect. Ferrets are capable of delivering a bite almost as strong as a domestic cat. Like all other domesticated animals, they should never be left unsupervised near infants or very young children. There have been rare cases where ferrets have severely injured babies but nearly all such incidents involved neglect, abuse, or roughhousing that the ferret likely perceived as an attack, and some of the animals involved were ferret-polecat hybrid crosses. Given that young children and ferrets can be both excitable and prone to rough play, interaction between ferrets and children must always be closely supervised for the protection of both.

Other uses of ferrets

Ferrets have been used to run wires and cables through large conduits. Event organizers in London used ferrets to run TV and sound cables for both the wedding of  Prince Charles,  to Lady Diana , and for the "Party in the Park" concert held in Greenwich Park on Millennium Eve.

Ferret biology and health concerns

Ferrets do not require frequent bathing, which may remove natural oils in the coat that prevent dry skin. About four times a year is adequate. However, most ferrets are not averse to water. Ferrets also need their nails clipped about twice a month.  In the autumn they will put on a lot of weight as they store fat for the winter months, also casting their summer coat and a thick soft winter fur grows in. The weight is shed again in the spring along with their winter fur.

Like many other carnivores, ferrets have scent glands near their anuses, the secretions from which are used in scent marking. As with skunks, ferrets can release their anal gland secretions when startled or scared, but the smell dissipates rapidly.

Un-neutered male

Males, if not neutered, are extremely musky. It is considered preferable to delay neutering until sexual maturity has been reached, at approximately eight to twelve months old, after the full descent of the testicles. Neutering the male will reduce the smell to almost nothing. The same applies for females, but spaying them is also important for their own health. Unless they are going to be used for breeding purposes, female ferrets will go into extended heat and a female that does not mate, without medical intervention, can die of aplastic anaemia. It is possible to use a vasectomised male to take a female out of heat - without incurring a pregnancy. Trish has a vasectomised hob which can be used for this purpose.

Many domestic ferrets are known to suffer from several distinct health problems. Among the most common are cancers affecting the adrenal glands, pancreas, and lymphatic system. Certain health problems have been linked to ferrets being neutered before sexual maturity was reached, and because of this some owners now choose to use implants instead of having the ferret neutered too early. Some owners even choose not to have their ferret neutered at all but use longer working implants instead.

Foot Rot

A common ailment which is fatal in ferrets is foot rot (cage rot). Foot rot is a form of fungal infection which attacks the feet and is sometimes found to affect the tail. It initially appears as a small, yellow, scab-like infection. If untreated, it can cover the feet. In worse cases, almost the entire body. Foot rot is normally caused by poor cage hygiene, i.e. faeces accumulation.

Adrenal disease

Adrenal disease, a growth of the adrenal glands that can be either hyperplasia or cancer, is most often diagnosed by signs like unusual hair loss, increased aggression, constant grooming of owner or other ferrets as well as themselves, difficulty urinating (caused by an enlarged prostate) or defecating, or agitation when urinating, and (in the case of females) an enlarged vulva. Signs of an enlarged prostate should be considered an emergency; even if the growth is benign, it can still cause a hormonal imbalance which can have devastating effects on the ferret's health.

Treatment options include surgery to excise the affected glands, melatonin implants, which treat the symptoms but not the disease itself, and/or hormone therapy. The causes of adrenal disease are as yet uncertain, but speculated triggers include unnatural light cycles, diets based around processed ferret foods, and prepubescent neutering. It has also been suggested that there may be a hereditary component to adrenal disease.

Adrenal disease is usually detected during the spring or autumn, as it affects the hormones that make the fur grow. When affected ferrets shed their winter coat, the fur does not grow back. The hair loss pattern is usually very specific for adrenal disease. It begins at the base of the tail and then continues up the back. Ferrets treated for adrenal disease may suffer temporary but severe hair loss as their bodies recover.

Insulinoma

Ferrets may suffer from insulinoma, a cancer of the pancreas. The growth of cancerous nodules on the lobes of the pancreas sometimes, but not always, leads to an increase in the production of insulin, which regulates the rate at which the ferret's body metabolises blood glucose. Too much insulin will cause blood sugar to drop, resulting in lethargy, seizures, and ultimately death. Symptoms of an insulinoma attack include episodes of lethargy, drooling, pawing or foaming at the mouth, high pitched screams, staring "blankly" into space, and seizures.

Like adrenal cancer, the exact cause of insulinoma is unknown. It is speculated that the diets of domestic ferrets are too far removed from the natural diets of their polecat ancestors, and include too much sugar or simple carbohydrates.

Treatment for insulinoma may include surgical excision of the cancerous lobes, pharmaceutical treatment with steroids that suppress the production of insulin, supplemental changes in diet (most often poultry-based baby food), or a combination thereof. Unfortunately, the growth of the tumours cannot always be completely stopped, and the ferret will sometimes suffer a recurrence of symptoms. In an insulinoma attack, a temporary remedy to stabilize the ferret is any kind of a sugary syrup, such as corn syrup or honey.

Lymphoma

Lymphoma/lymphosarcoma is the most common malignancy in ferrets. Ferret lymphosarcoma occurs in two forms -- juvenile lymphosarcoma, a fast-growing type that affects ferrets younger than two years, and adult lymphosarcoma, a slower growing form that affects ferrets four to seven years old.

In juvenile ferret lymphosarcoma, large, immature lymphocytes (lymphoblasts) rapidly invade the thymus or the organs of the abdominal cavity, particularly the liver and spleen. In adult ferret lymphosarcoma, the lymph nodes in the limbs and abdominal cavity become swollen early on due to invasion by small, mature lymphocytes. Invasion of organs, such as the liver, kidney, lungs, and spleen, occurs later on, and the disease may be far advanced before symptoms are noticeable.

As in humans, ferret lymphosarcoma can be treated surgically, with radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination thereof. The long-term prognosis is rarely bright, however, and this treatment is intended to improve quality of life with the disease.

Viral diseases

Epizootic catarrhal enteritis (ECE)

ECE, a viral disease, is an inflammation of the mucous membranes in the intestine. The condition manifests itself as severe diarrhoea (often of a bright green colour), loss of appetite, and severe weight loss. The virus can be passed via fluids and indirectly between humans. Although it was often fatal when first discovered, ECE is less of a threat today.

Canine distemper

Canine distemper (CD) is an extremely contagious virus that is considered always fatal. Being strict indoor pets does not necessarily protect ferrets, as owners may bring the virus home on their clothes or their shoes. The distemper virus is very short-lived in hot, dry weather, but may persist on hands or surfaces for much longer in cool, damp weather. The only protection against the virus is vaccination, but that is not without controversy.

A ferret with partial immunity to distemper can be exposed to canine distemper and go through an incubation period of up to six weeks before showing signs of infection, as compared to a few days in an unvaccinated animal. Signs can include runny nose, discharge from the eyes, fever (up to 107 degrees F.), and severe malaise, followed by development of changes in the skin including discolouration and thickening of the nose (a pink nose will develop an orange coloration), measles-like sores on the chin and belly, and thick crusting of the pads of the feet (hyperkeratosis). The discharge is highly contagious to other unvaccinated ferrets and canines. If the ferret survives the initial acute phase of the disease, they will die within a few weeks from a progressive and incurable neurological infection, progressing to severe epileptic seizures and death.

Hairballs

Hairballs can occur in ferrets, but are not readily expelled by vomiting like the way cats deal with them. One or more hairballs in a ferret may lead to loss of appetite and subsequent weight loss. A hairball may enter the intestine and cause a life-threatening obstruction. Ferrets typically replace their coats twice a year, and at that time require brushing to remove loose hairs before they can be ingested, and possibly administration of a hairball remedy as a preventative. Artificial lighting or administration of certain medications may alter the normal spring and fall seasonal coat changes in the ferret.

Dentition

Ferrets have four types of teeth (the number includes maxillary (upper) and mandibular (lower) teeth)

· Twelve small teeth (only a couple of millimetres) located between the canines in the front of the mouth. These are known as the incisors and are used for grooming.

· Four Canines used for killing prey.

· Twelve Premolar teeth that the ferret uses to chew food, and are located at the sides of the mouth, directly behind the canines. The ferret being a carnivore uses these teeth to cut flesh, using them as scissors, cutting the meat into digestible chunks.

· Six Molars (Two on top and four on the bottom) at the far back of the mouth are used to crush food.

Tartar

Dental calculus (tartar) is a hard substance formed on the teeth from the mineralisation of plaque.

Dental tartar primarily comes from wet food which get stuck to the teeth for extended periods of time. The best way to avoid tartar is to feed the ferret raw meat, bones and preferably whole prey. The bio-mechanics of consuming meat and bones will keep the teeth clean.

Tartar, left to itself may lead to gingivitis which in turn can lead to a dental abscess, bone loss, infections which may spread bacteria through the bloodstream to internal organs and lead to death if not treated.

Prevention is better than treatment, and tartar can be prevented by feeding raw food such as chicken wings or giving denti-sticks to chew.

Abrasion

Dental abrasion or tooth wear is common in ferrets, and is caused by mechanical wear of the teeth. Eating manufactured dry food (kibble) will erode (due to the hard and extremely dry kibble) the carnassial teeth of the ferret, the wear from the eating kibble can become significant with old age (after three to five years). If teeth are overly ground down, a ferret cannot use them as scissors to eat raw meat. Tooth erosion eventually affects a ferret's ability to eat solid food.

Dental abrasion can also be caused by excessive chewing on fabrics or toys, and cage biting. If the ferret engages in these activities a lot, it might be a sign of boredom, and more stimulating activities (such as play) should rectify the situation.

 

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