ferrets

doin' some info checking and on a canadian rescue/club/info site i read they're great for people with allergies- ugh. is that true? ive played with a friend's once before and dont remember having fits.

im on a little 'hunt' for a mammalish pet for apartment dwelling. i would take my own dog with me now or my cat here, but they're so adapted to being 'here' and playing with the other dogs i really feel like it would depress them. since auburn is 45 minutes, its not like i'd never be back to see them.
-so-
ive been researching and rehashing over animals that might not be canine or feline.
since i have horrible allergies (just gave up my hairless rat to a friend who was also wanting to get one-im mildly allergic to rats, but the hairlessness soon became very a sever problem, hard breathing and etc. so. no hairless for me i guess ;_; ) im hoping to find animals that dont cause me to react so terribly.

yes i know they can be 'musty' and i know that they are 'clever' and 'vivacious' little boogers and such. honestly, after having mice nothing scares me in the smell department :p.

but i was wondering why this might be so? would it be the oils in the skin keeping down dander/hair? i really dont know if i am or am not allergic, and should probably go play with a friends pair or roll all over some at a pet store or something. i was just wondering if there was a reason for this.

-also- any ferret pages for information would be great (searched this forum for info prev. posted on ferrets already)

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Originally Posted by shhhli

doin' some info checking and on a canadian rescue/club/info site i read they're great for people with allergies- ugh. is that true? ive played with a friend's once before and dont remember having fits.

im on a little 'hunt' for a mammalish pet for apartment dwelling. i would take my own dog with me now or my cat here, but they're so adapted to being 'here' and playing with the other dogs i really feel like it would depress them. since auburn is 45 minutes, its not like i'd never be back to see them.
-so-
ive been researching and rehashing over animals that might not be canine or feline.
since i have horrible allergies (just gave up my hairless rat to a friend who was also wanting to get one-im mildly allergic to rats, but the hairlessness soon became very a sever problem, hard breathing and etc. so. no hairless for me i guess ;_;) im hoping to find animals that dont cause me to react so terribly.

yes i know they can be 'musty' and i know that they are 'clever' and 'vivacious' little boogers and such. honestly, after having mice nothing scares me in the smell department :p.

but i was wondering why this might be so? would it be the oils in the skin keeping down dander/hair? i really dont know if i am or am not allergic, and should probably go play with a friends pair or roll all over some at a pet store or something. i was just wondering if there was a reason for this.

-also- any ferret pages for information would be great (searched this forum for info prev. posted on ferrets already)

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ever raised rats or mice? the smell is 10x worse

Ferrets are AWESOME! BUT they kind of stink. although one drawback to owning one for me was that you have to give it free roaming for 3 or 4 hours.

If you feed a ferret the right kind of diet and not just the crappy cheap ferret food in petstores, then they won't smell as bad as people say they do. Keep their litter box / cage clean that helps a ton of the smell too. They are great pets if you have the free time to give them!

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

ever raised rats or mice? the smell is 10x worse

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so is my boyfriend after we eat mexican, italian, chinese, .. well okay, anything..

exactly my point. mice, they look so cute and innocent. grlplz.

i keep warning a friend of mine in my psychology class that a rat is better. "But mice are so cute Ansli!" "Yes, well, so is tony but that doesn't mean he doesnt stink a lot sometimes."

My friend has a ferret. It's awesome, LOL. He's so fun to play with. My friend's also allergic to a lot of stuff, but not to the ferret. I think that's one of the reasons why he got a ferret.

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Originally Posted by bpkid

Ferrets are AWESOME! BUT they kind of stink. although one drawback to owning one for me was that you have to give it free roaming for 3 or 4 hours.

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UGH mindy's ferret farrah was SO CUTE when she'd run across the room and under the rug or around the couch. UGH so precious, ferrets and kittens are just unresistable when they bow up and run~
I love animals that are playful and 'curious' and a big cat-love factor is the predator mentality. feather on a string action, hohoho.

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

If you feed a ferret the right kind of diet and not just the crappy cheap ferret food in petstores, then they won't smell as bad as people say they do. Keep their litter box / cage clean that helps a ton of the smell too. They are great pets if you have the free time to give them!

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Oh really? I've read they like things like bananas and peanut butter and should eat ferret or kitten food. What did you use?

i have a ferret hes is such a funny character , they make brilliant pets , i feed mine on a complete ferret diet (james wellbeloved) as its easier to manage than meat especially during the summer months it dosent go off as quick :) during the winter month he has a whole rabbit as that is one of the best things to feed to ferrets, fergus my ferret is now coming up 9 years old and is still as playful as he was when he was 12 weeks old when we first got him :)
heres a pic of him
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...s/DSC_0279.jpg

heres a link for some info on ferrets
http://www.2ndchance.info/ferretcare.htm

There is some stuff that you can squirt into their water that almost entirely elminated the odor. Keep in mind that ferrets are not good pets if you have really young children. There are tons of cases of them chewing ears, cheeks, parts of noses off of infants and toddlers. They are even responsible for some deaths.

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Originally Posted by Dougie

There is some stuff that you can squirt into their water that almost entirely elminated the odor. Keep in mind that ferrets are not good pets if you have really young children. There are tons of cases of them chewing ears, cheeks, parts of noses off of infants and toddlers. They are even responsible for some deaths.

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Oh.
My.
God.

No, no children for me anytime soon, or within the next ten years.
wow. that's crazy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by steveo

i have a ferret hes is such a funny character , they make brilliant pets , i feed mine on a complete ferret diet (james wellbeloved) as its easier to manage than meat especially during the summer months it dosent go off as quick :) during the winter month he has a whole rabbit as that is one of the best things to feed to ferrets, fergus my ferret is now coming up 9 years old and is still as playful as he was when he was 12 weeks old when we first got him :)
heres a pic of him
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...s/DSC_0279.jpg

heres a link for some info on ferrets
http://www.2ndchance.info/ferretcare.htm

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thank you so much! that's such a cutie you got there! they have sweet little faces. thanks for the link also.

i was wondering if people did feed their ferrets meat or not. i thought maybe someone would give them mice? but i could see rabbits considering thats kinda their natural thang. yo. thanks!

yup rabbits is considered one of the best things to feed ferrets as it contains everything they need for a well balanced diet , also dry complete food is really good now aswell :)
the occasion egg is good for them too i give fergus one egg every month as a treat.
temperment wise fergus has such a gentle nature with him hes never bitten me in the 9 nines i have had him id trust him more than i would a guinea pig lol hes such a softy

If you give them baths every other day, keep the cage well clean, you can hardly notice the smells... after you mist the area with body spray. lol:D Nah they arent so bad after a bath every other day and keeping the cage cleaned everyday and everytime she uses the lou then they're not so smelly. To me, breeding rats is smelly. Having only 3rats close to eachother is smelly. Because they poo everywhere except their food and sleeping areas. So i have to clean cages every day. But you can always find a way to make the smell go away:D :P Also if you do have kids (like someone else has mentioned) watch your kids, these balls of ADHD are full of energy, they nibble on me, they nibble on the couch, they jump off the walls, they are just so hyper...outside their cage. lol. I love to let our run around before she got too old and had to be put down (at 10yrs old) But she was gente to my kids, maybe its because I was always watching her, lol. I never had a problem with her going straight to my boys room and attacking them. Thats why when you have an animal you must watch it. Any animal can go against someone you love for whateve reason. Just keep baby and ferret out of eachothers reach. Have your time with your kid then let the ferret out for 1-on-1 time. :)

I have 27 rats and can't smell anything except aspen bedding. Good diet and proper housing go a LONG way in preventing odors. A friend of mine has over 35 rats, and her house smells like clean bedding.

Also, bathing an animal every other day will just cause more odors and skin problems, as it doesn't allow necessary body oils to build up and keep the skin soft and free of infection. They will get dry and flaky, very itchy and that can lead to bad skin infections. Once per week is enough.

Ferrets have a smell. Regardless of what you do, they will always smell like a ferret. You can't make them smell like a Downy washed quilt...

Feeding a high quality KITTEN food, such as Royal Canin, Science Diet, Wellness, etc and providing a clean environment with litterboxes galore, you shouldn't smell anything other than normal ferret musky smell(which IMO smells nice).

I have two ferrets and they do smell. Ferrets have a musk, but it is hardly noticable unless you bury your face in thier coat. I do not reccomend bathing a ferret more than once a month, because it will dry out thier skin and make them smell worse. Ferrets are closely related to skunks and have musk glands all over thier body. When you bath a ferret you are washing the scent away, which triggers the glands to produce more oil and deplete it from other areas, such as the epidermis, and their coat. As far as the litter box goes, if you clean it every day then you wont have a problem with smell. If you decide to get a ferret I dont reccomend feeding it anything but ferret food, and even then you have to be picky Ferrets have very sensitive stomachs and even brands like Marshall arent really adequate nutrition. I always look at the ingredients. Anything with fish in the first three ingredients will make your ferrets poo smell AWFUL! You want chicken to be listed in the first three ingredients and mostly meat products after that.

As far as pets they are absolutly wonderful, adorable, time consuming creatures. You have to play with them everyday for at least 3-4 hours, and you have to supervise thier playtime. Ferrets will get into spaced you never imagined existed. Also they are difficult to potty train.

btw- for you folks with ferts;
i was reading where one woman takes uncooked rice and makes a dig box for her ferrets. she said this has really reduced the smell of the ferrets in her experience. anyone want to test this out? i would, but i dont have a ferret to roll around in rice.