When will people learn?
A ferret is an obligate carnivore, it can eat and digest nothing but meat and bone, and food like grapes, chocolate, raisins etc can kill them, and tinned cat and dog food with only 4% meat content will just give them the runs.

Good on the ferret! Mankind is ruining this planet, particularly mankind's noses, and it's about time more ferrets took a stand against them.

Just to put one or two things right.

Yes ferrets are obligate carnivores but they would normally eat the herbage inside the intestines of their prey, so they can digest things other than meat, albeit in small amounts.

Here is my new to ferrets information
Feeding your Kits

(To learn more about kits see our website)

Ferrets are carnivorous; they eat meat, not vegetables. They are obligate carnivores, which mean that they require a special diet that is mostly meat-based and contains between 32-38 per cent protein and between 15-20 per cent fat.



Kits Birth Weight: 8-10 gms they virtually double in size every week

Eyes Open: From four weeks



Morning Feed

Fresh Bowl of Water daily

(Must be available at all times day and night)

Meat chunks (fresh) if eaten within 10 minutes give some more



Dinnertime feed

Meat chunks (fresh) again if possible



Teatime Feed

Meat chunks (fresh)



Last Feed

Meat on the bone (raw bone)

Bowl of Goats Milk or Low Lactose Milk like Lambs Milk obtainable from Agricultural Merchants or Vets



Fresh Meat etc.

More red meat than white

Add vitamin supplement (SA37 is suitable is below) Oil supplement daily ¼ teaspoon every other day cod liver oil or alternative fish oil Egg once a week whisked up

Keep on 4 feeds if possible for another 2 weeks Then on 3 feeds till 10 weeks At 12 weeks cut milk down to twice a week and feed twice a day



You can feed dried puppy milk from the pet shop or vets, lambs or goats milk instead all are low in lactose. Baby ferrets from birth double in size every week from birth until they start to slow down from about 6 week onwards they should not leave their mothers until they are about 8 weeks old. Baby ferrets are voracious eaters and this is very normal.



Try to continue the milk it is for the calcium content, which will help keep his bones and teeth strong. Very important for a kit that is growing like a demon.



LACTOL MIL FORMULA - 250G

This formula is designed for orphaned animals; Kittens & Puppies born into large litters

Also useful as a nutritional supplement for pregnant animals



SA-37 INTERVET POWDER 200g

Complementary feeding stuff packed full of vitamins and minerals, recognised by vets to help keep pets in good condition. Dogs and cats should benefit from regular daily use of SA-37 either as a tablet or powder mixed with their food. It helps to ensure that they get a correctly balanced supply of the essential nutrients needed to keep them in good condition, with handsome coats and healthy skins. SA-37 is especially recommended to be fed to growing puppies, pregnant or lactating ****, and is used during periods of stress or convalescence. NOTE: SA-37 will also benefit other animals, reptiles or birds kept as domestic pets



General information for young, adult, and older ferrets:



Get them neutered there are several reasons for this:



Kits are neutered as follows from their birth date it is the first December for Hobs (boys) and January for Jills (girls) So a Hobs born in May would be neutered in the December of the same year, a Jill kit born in June would be neutered in the following January.



Adults neutering any time for hobs but jills must not be spayed when they are in season due to the hormones and the large amount of blood in the uterus during their season. A Jill in this condition would have to have a hormone injection to take her out of season and then once her hormones have settled down and the blood supply to the uterus has returned to normal then she can be spayed.



It reduces the ferrety smell drastically (that helps Mum come on board if she is a consideration) Jills are induced ovulators which means that they have to be taken out of season by either; an intact hob (which means a litter of kits this really should be left to the experienced ferret owners) by a vasectomised hob (STDs' are common in these hobs and viruses like ECE also known as green slime disease can be transmitted) the jill might have problems with mood swings and phantom pregnancies and you would have to find a vasectomised hob or own one) a Jill jab at the Vets (problems with mood swings and phantom pregnancies) by spaying a permanent solution.



Another problem for jills is that their season is governed by the hours of daylight; this means that indoor jills come into season a lot more than outdoor jills.



It calms down ferrets that are a bit nervous, similar to the calming effect that this would have on dogs.



Mating a Jill and Hob is a violent affair and not for the faint hearted intact or not.



Be aware when taking your ferrets to the vet for neutering, aftercare at some vets has lead to extensive burns to the skin of ferrets and scarring this is due to the type of warming pads used after an operation that they use to help recovery. It might be worth mentioning this to the vets and drawing their attention to our website so that they can monitor the situation and prevent it from happening to your ferret/s.



http://www.britishfe
rretclub.co.uk/healt
hcare.htm



There has been more than one case of this happening that we are aware of in this country.



Feeding



The best possible diet is a raw food diet of things like chicken wings, stripped carcasses and necks, turkey necks, rabbit, any of the game birds, pigeons, cheap minced beef, cheap lamb, all the offal's, lambs heart is a good one and cheap, each ferret has its own preferences. Raw bones (dental floss for ferrets) are good for their teeth and the calcium is good for them. They are lactose intolerant so cows' milk is out but goats milk is in and goats' yoghurt, occasionally an egg for a treat beaten up with some milk. Ferrets also like a little fruit melon is good in the summer to help them keep cool again each ferret has its own fruit preferences. (Beware of food poisoning and hoarding, ferrets love to hide things.)



Alternatively, a ferret biscuit like Vitalin, Alpha, TTP, Merlin, Chudleys, James Wellbeloved, and Companions Choice are some of the possibilities. I feel that it is OK to feed a mixed diet of raw food and biscuit but raw food is best, it drastically reduces the occurrence of adrenal disease.



No Salt, pork, chocolate, crisps or nuts. The salt and chocolate are death to a ferret. The pork is generally not good for them and nuts get stuck in their teeth leading to mouth problems.



Water



Ferrets must have a supply of good clean water at all times especially in summer because they can become dehydrated very quickly. A very heavy weight bowl is important because the little monsters tip it over or a water feed bottle with a large feed end.



Heat



Ferrets must never be put where they are subjected to direct sun or heat the cooler they are the better for them. They become very distressed if over hot and it can and will kill them. Even outside in the summer during a show we have to spritz them with a water spray to help them keep cool.



Housing



See this website for ideas on housing http://www.companion
schoice.co.uk/



Housing ferrets outside is the best but in a shady cool place I can give you some ideas on the ideal housing complete with pipe work, which connects the hutches to runs. We house our 19 ferrets in purpose built sheds but I have seen some very nice shed conversions. Our set up allows us to be inside most of the time in the dry all of the housing is under roof, in the coldest part of the garden and well sheltered. One particular ferret owner friend of mine has constructed a ferret loft with separate sleeping accommodation, this has made it so that she can still use the lower half of the shed for storage and the ferrets can look out of the window.



Your house/flat must be looked at from the point of view of ferret proofing, room doors are perceived as weak areas to be dug at, pot plants are ferret heaven to be dug up. Chimneys are to be climbed, Drinks dived into, food hidden (just feed in the cage and make sure any leftovers are removed because ferrets hide things for later and then die from food poisoning), curtains can be climbed and small holes made bigger in walls and floors. (Related to badgers and with a front digging end that is unsurpassed the ferret is a mean digging machine).



Poo



Our ferrets use Alan Titchmarch potting boxes with wood shavings, the potting boxes are screwed into the corner of the runs/sheds and they are used pretty much of the time unless they get dirty. Ferrets are very clean animals and do not like dirty poo boxes.



Do not use clay based cat litter or compressed wood pellets the clay stuff is bad for their coats and skins and the wood pellets when used become powdery this gets on their lungs.



Walking



Ferrets can catch Aleutian Disease (a form of parvo virus a serious viral disease of mink) it is fatal and there is no vaccine that I know of yet all ways worth asking your vet though. My advice is to keep away from rivers and canals when walking because this is where mink usually live. It is very rare in ferrets though



Canine Distemper (Ferrets are highly susceptible to canine distemper virus which is present in the UK only dog vaccine currently available in the UK and it is not always suitable for ferrets and can make them very ill.



Bedding



They love hammocks see www.pet-plus.co.uk also search for Panna's Ferret Fun beds. Vet Bed Fleece is good as well. Ours currently have, outside in the run; hanging baskets lined with vet bed fleece, they love them.



Claw Clipping



An essential part of ferret care they need clipping about once a month or so. A spot of Ferretone on your ferret's tummy makes claw clipping easy. You clip 3mm in front of the red line (blood supply) that runs into the claw if you cut too much off you will cut the quick and you know how painful that is



Ear Cleaning



Check their ears periodically and clean with a baby wipe if necessary. Sometime if you have two ferrets they will do mutual grooming and that sometimes includes ears. I can give you the technique when you get your fuzzies.



Ferret sleep for about 20 hours a day, have a very fast metabolism (nose to tail in 2 hours), are dawn and dusk animals. They do not bark but instead dook, which sounds like an otter to which they are also related. They scream when distressed and chuckle at each other in play, they never loose the ability to play even into old age they just slow up. They love plastic supermarket bags because they crackle, ping pong balls, tennis balls, dog and cat toys and if you manage to get the right ferret, they will tidy up after themselves.



Regular handling from an early age is the secret of having a well behaved ferret. Hold under the arm pits and stroke down the body if you can manage a slight pendulum swing at the same time your ferret will stop struggling so much. If you also very gently draw your hand down the ferrets' body to the toes keep hold of the feet/toes and do a gentle, ring the bell type motion then releasing the toes/feet your ferret should hang and be quite still for a moment or two.



I do hope that this has been of some help to you, please feel free the get in touch with me again if you need any more help at anytime.



Regards



Carolyn Claypole

British Ferret Club