More fuzzbutt pics! My ferret boy is gaining weight!

[luckies4me]

Ok, I have had this little lovey for only a week today! Already, he has gained so much weight. His spirits are going back up and he's starting to act more like a ferret, chasing and playing with the kittens and just having a good time. I have switched him to Eukanuba kitten food, mixed with the Zupreem, as the Eukanuba has more protein and fat, which he needs right now. As soon as he's at a more healthy weight he'll be on Zupreem only (anyone know better ferret foods?) and get some kitten chow as a treat, meaning only two or three kibbles. Right now my main concern is getting some meat on his bones. I'm also giving him the vitamin supplement. :)

So I thought I would post some updated photos of my little one so you can see how much better he looks! :D I bought him a collar yesterday and he looks so adorable in it.

Enjoying some vitamins.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/ff150bec.jpg

Baby (one of my foster kittens) and Napster bond.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/a8e702a6.jpg

Ack, he has the cutest tongue! :D
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/83ad7a23.jpg

More coming...

[luckies4me]

Attempting to photograph him but he always wants to be really close to the camera. Yes, we need to mop. :o
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/bfe76313.jpg

See how much weight he's gained? He isn't sunken in anymore.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/6fb547b2.jpg

Laying next to my roomates shoes. He loves digging in them LOL. He's actually starting to act like a ferret now.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/fe310651.jpg

He was rolling around just acting happy when I took this photo. He looked so content! :D

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a139/BengalsBuddies/87f59893.jpg

I'll try to get some better photos during the day tomorrow. These were taken last night and my camera takes horrible photos inside at night time.

[luckies4me]

Bump. :)

[CagneyDog]

What a cutie :D His new collar looks great!

[Fur&Feathers]

Aw!! Looking good! :D The picture of Napster and Baby is just too precious. :D

[luckies4me]

Thanks! :D I'm really excited about the progress he is making. Just about one more week and he will look normal. :)

[buttercup132]

aww hes cute!

[lv4dogs]

He sure is a cutie! That ferret vite is great stuff but keep it limited because of all the sugars in it.

Is he neutered? He's got some pretty bad hob rings around his eyes if he is.
Looks like a marshalls ferret cause of the tatoos on his ear but I could be seeing it wrong.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
He sure is a cutie! That ferret vite is great stuff but keep it limited because of all the sugars in it.

Is he neutered? He's got some pretty bad hob rings around his eyes if he is.
Looks like a marshalls ferret cause of the tatoos on his ear but I could be seeing it wrong.

Yes, he's a Marshalls ferret. The tatoo is there, so he's definitely neutered. Plus if he wasn't he would be the world's cleanest smelling ferret, as he has almost zero musk to him. That's one of the first things I noticed about him. He smells good! Not stinky one bit. My old ferrets were so stinky. As far as the rings, it's most likely my camera as I had to adjust the contast a lot just to make it look right, as it flashed out all of his color.

As far as the ferret vite thanks. I haven't given it to him for a bit as the food seems to be doing the trick. I just needed him to gain a bit of weight. Did you see his first thread? When I first got him you could feel every bone in his body. :(

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by luckies4me
Yes, he's a Marshalls ferret. The tatoo is there, so he's definitely neutered. Plus if he wasn't he would be the world's cleanest smelling ferret, as he has almost zero musk to him. That's one of the first things I noticed about him. He smells good! Not stinky one bit. My old ferrets were so stinky. As far as the rings, it's most likely my camera as I had to adjust the contast a lot just to make it look right, as it flashed out all of his color.

As far as the ferret vite thanks. I haven't given it to him for a bit as the food seems to be doing the trick. I just needed him to gain a bit of weight. Did you see his first thread? When I first got him you could feel every bone in his body. :(

Actually its the descenting that works the best for the clean smell. lol Being neutered doesn't really help a whole lot with the smell. But if he wasn't neutered when he goes into rut he will be slimy. And you'd be able to see his male parts right there dangling under his tail. lol And I've seen a LOT of marshalls ferrets come out that were not descented/neutered/spayed. The Marshall farm is only 10 minutes from my house, a terrible place. They mass produce & spay/neuter/descent in mass numbers so they mess up or miss more than you think. lol Actually even non-descented ferrets don't really smell, its all in how clean you keep them & their surroundings & what you feed them.

I see what you mean about your camera flashing out the color but I still see the rings, around the outer edges of the eyes. But I also see a bit of odd coloring on a lot of his body too, like he was kept in bad conditions (urine & feces, very dirty). It produces the orangish color. It can also be a slight/early symptom of adrenal disease. I'd just keep a close eye on him.

yeah I saw your first thread, I've been following him. lol He looks a heck of a lot better already. KUDOS to you!!!!
The ferretvite is great! Just use it sparingly thats all. A dab a day is fine, once he gets to a normal weight I'd probably give him a dab every 2-3 days just as a treat.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
Actually its the descenting that works the best for the clean smell. lol Being neutered doesn't really help a whole lot with the smell. But if he wasn't neutered when he goes into rut he will be slimy. And you'd be able to see his male parts right there dangling under his tail. lol And I've seen a LOT of marshalls ferrets come out that were not descented/neutered/spayed. The Marshall farm is only 10 minutes from my house, a terrible place. They mass produce & spay/neuter/descent in mass numbers so they mess up or miss more than you think. lol Actually even non-descented ferrets don't really smell, its all in how clean you keep them & their surroundings & what you feed them.

I see what you mean about your camera flashing out the color but I still see the rings, around the outer edges of the eyes. But I also see a bit of odd coloring on a lot of his body too, like he was kept in bad conditions (urine & feces, very dirty). It produces the orangish color. It can also be a slight/early symptom of adrenal disease. I'd just keep a close eye on him.

yeah I saw your first thread, I've been following him. lol He looks a heck of a lot better already. KUDOS to you!!!!
The ferretvite is great! Just use it sparingly thats all. A dab a day is fine, once he gets to a normal weight I'd probably give him a dab every 2-3 days just as a treat.

Well what I meant is that if he's a Marshall Farms ferret he'd be neutered and descented...LOL. In actuality descenting a ferret has absolutely nothing to do with scent. They just remove the anal glands, not the glands that produce the musky scent. And you are right in regards to their surroundings having more to due with the smell than them being descented. I don't know, he just has such a pleasent smell to him.

What exactly do the rings mean? Can you explain more about that to me? Enlighten me. :D And yes, his coat is not the color is should be. Once I get new pictures you will see a difference already, as it's already starting to look more like it should. :)

Ya, I'm definitely worried about adrenal disease since he came from Marshall Farms and they neuter their ferrets way too early.
:( I'm just keeping my fingers crossed! I really gotta trim his nails again though. I didn't want to cut them too far the first time as his quick was grown out so far. I bet they never cut his finger nails. :(

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by luckies4me
Well what I meant is that if he's a Marshall Farms ferret he'd be neutered and descented...LOL. In actuality descenting a ferret has absolutely nothing to do with scent. They just remove the anal glands, not the glands that produce the musky scent. And you are right in regards to their surroundings having more to due with the smell than them being descented. I don't know, he just has such a pleasent smell to him.

What exactly do the rings mean? Can you explain more about that to me? Enlighten me. :D And yes, his coat is not the color is should be. Once I get new pictures you will see a difference already, as it's already starting to look more like it should. :)

Ya, I'm definitely worried about adrenal disease since he came from Marshall Farms and they neuter their ferrets way too early.
:( I'm just keeping my fingers crossed! I really gotta trim his nails again though. I didn't want to cut them too far the first time as his quick was grown out so far. I bet they never cut his finger nails. :(

Yeah I know thats what you ment but I just wanted to let you know that just because they are tatooed &/or from marshalls they are not always spayed/neutered or descented. I personally know about 15 people that have marshalls ferrets and out of their ferrets they have about 25 marshalls ferrets that were NOT neutered/spayed/descented.

Most of their smell comes from the oils in the coat. The more you bathe them the more oils they produce, therefore the more they smell. Foods that are high in fish protiens (like marshalls foods) not only make their feces smell worse they also make their bodies produce more oils therefore making them more stinky. They then pass this stink onto their bedding & surfaces.
The oils (and/or dirty living conditions) will also make their coats look more orangeish (kinda like your ferret).

There rings around their eyes are usually called hob rings because they are usually found around the eyes of hobs only (unaltered male ferrets). When they go into rut they produce more oils & certain oils in certain spots, eyes being one of the spots. They are rarely seen in altered ferrets & females and if they are it is usually the sign of some other problem possibly malnutrition.
They may be caused by the dirty conditions he was kept in and because of the food he was fed. They could also be cause by an incomplete neuter or early stages of adrenal disease. I would personally just watch him closely for any other symptoms. Give him a good bath if you haven't done so already and just wait.
The colors in his coat will stay the same until he sheds (which by the sounds of it beacuse he is starting to change colors he's probably starting to shed). We've rescued some nasty ferrets so bad that were BRIGHT ORANGE you could give them a thousand baths with the best shampoo & it won't work. It's something about their fur that holds scents & stains so easily.


Nails grow fast on most ferrets. Its a never ending job here. lol
Do you have ferretone? Thats the best stuff for nail clipping. Squirt a bit on their tummies & it keeps em' occupied. Its ferret crack. lol http://www.petblvd.com/cgi-bin/pb/EIO00407.html

[Almita]

aww wat a cutie especially with his tongue sticking out.:p

[crsvstang]

He is so cute!!

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by lv4dogs


Most of their smell comes from the oils in the coat. The more you bathe them the more oils they produce, therefore the more they smell. Foods that are high in fish protiens (like marshalls foods) not only make their feces smell worse they also make their bodies produce more oils therefore making them more stinky. They then pass this stink onto their bedding & surfaces.
The oils (and/or dirty living conditions) will also make their coats look more orangeish (kinda like your ferret).



Yes, I know this. But that goes for pretty much any animal. I try to tell clients that come into work that bathing their dog once a week will only make things worse. I found this out a lot time ago with my older ferrets, and I wondered why on earth they would use fish protein. With my older ferrets I bathed them about every three months unless they really really needed it for some other reason, and kept their hammocks etc. washed every few days.

I can see the rings you are talking about, but all of my old ferrets had them as well so I thought it was normal, and they were too all spayed/neutered. I even remember a female of mine having rings such as those, and they were all healthy, had clean cages and never developed adrenal gland disease. :confused:

He's already been seen at work ( I work at Banfield Animal Hospital) and he checked out OK. We'll be drawing blood on him possibly tomorrow to make sure everything is alright. I just want to be safe. I planned on doing this before, but our Antech doesn't do the test so the test is going to have to be shipped.

Ya, I have some ferret crack LOL! He's a good boy and lets me clip his nails no problem. I swear he's the coolest ferret I've had. I'm so in love with him already! :D He's getting used to using his harness and leash too and I've been taking him outdoors to satisfy his digging needs...my bedroom carpet can only take so much!:eek:

[xVelvet_FuzzButtx]

he looks a lot healthier glad hes on good food.
i love how collars look on ferrets but aside from just for looks, i wouldn't need them.
heard bad things about them as well..

hes a cutie.

[luckies4me]

Collars can be dangerous for cats as well, if they are not fitting correctly. However, a snug fit collar should cause no problems for cats nor ferrets. He only wears it occasionally, when I can watch him and take pictures. The main thing is making sure they do not get it caught in their teeth, or catch it on something. My old ferrets always wore collars without a problem. :)

[xVelvet_FuzzButtx]

the two problems ive been told about it them getting hung up on somthing and diesing(know its happend) and that the Bell is bad for their hearing.
thats what i was told.

hes a real cutie and looks lots more healthy!

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by xVelvet_FuzzButtx
the two problems ive been told about it them getting hung up on somthing and diesing(know its happend) and that the Bell is bad for their hearing.
thats what i was told.

hes a real cutie and looks lots more healthy!

Yes, getting caught in it is the main concern. Bad for their hearing? I don't know how that could be true, as it isn't very loud and they hear a lot louder things in the house. I'll have to research that. :p

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by luckies4me
Yes, getting caught in it is the main concern. Bad for their hearing? I don't know how that could be true, as it isn't very loud and they hear a lot louder things in the house. I'll have to research that. :p

I've heard & read that too, I'm not sure how true it is but common sense would say that it has to be annoying to the ferret. Would you like a ringing bell near your ears all the time? And common sense would say that after some time it may cause some damage to the ears.

I don't think it has THAT much of an impact on the ferret. I only use the harnesses on my ferrets & thats only if they go outside. I have bells on my harnesses.

[luckies4me]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
I've heard & read that too, I'm not sure how true it is but common sense would say that it has to be annoying to the ferret. Would you like a ringing bell near your ears all the time? And common sense would say that after some time it may cause some damage to the ears.

I don't think it has THAT much of an impact on the ferret. I only use the harnesses on my ferrets & thats only if they go outside. I have bells on my harnesses.

Ya, he's only worn it like twice LOL. I just thought it would be cute. Though, all of my old ferrets really enjoyed pushing around those cat toys with the bells inside, so maybe it doesn't annoy them as much as we'd think. :p

Speaking of harnesses, which brand do you use???

[lv4dogs]

http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/prodsublist.cfm?group_no=6050

Hagen is a good one, but you can find them way cheaper than that, thats just the first pic I came across.
Marshalls makes a good one too, looks just like the Hagen ones. I like the adjustable ones. But I prefer not to support Marshalls unless I have to.

Mine love the bell balls too, anything w/ bells.
I just said I heard of that cause I did. lol But personally I think as long as you don't have the collar on all the time he'll be just fine.