Kim, if you decide to foster or get a ferret or two (or 4), cause like cats, you can never have too many ferrets, please know that I will be here to be a resource to you for whatever help you might need.
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Kim, if you decide to foster or get a ferret or two (or 4), cause like cats, you can never have too many ferrets, please know that I will be here to be a resource to you for whatever help you might need.
I appreciate your offer! I'll most likely give it more time and more serious thought before doing anything. Right now I will continue to enjoy learning more about them! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Queen of Poop
I have owned ferrets off and on for all my life. My first one lived until 7, died of old age.
It was many many years until I decided to get another. I adopted Napster from a local lady who didn't want to deal with him anymore. When I got him he was malnourished and very very thin. She had been keeping him outdoors in the backyard, and fed him canned Friskies cat food. He got no attention but somehow still managed to stay a sweet well adjusted boy. He had great health up until he developed a blood clot which claimed his life in a matter of about an hour. It was in his heart and he passed away in my arms on the vet to the hospital. Necropsy confirmed it. I was greatful I was able to be by his side while he passed. I can't imagine him being alone for something like that. He was such a sweet laid back boy and loved to play with everyone, especially my rats.
Then came Rusty and Bear. They were adopted by my old roomate and he just decided he didn't want to deal with them anymore. Their old owners didn't take very good care of them and my old roomate took even worse care of them. When they came to me they were in a small cage full of feces! I kid you not, there was at least 2 inches of feces in the cage. Rusty was healthy but Bear was not. He was very very thin and you could see all his ribs. He had major diarrhea and would not eat. He was hypoglycemic and also had a huge cyst at the end of his tail. I took him to work the next day where he was given some syrup, iv fluids and started on antibiotics. They both had ear mites and ended up spreading it to Napster and all my cats. It cost me $550 dollars to treat all my animals for the mites. He also had giardia. He got a little better but would relapse every so often. Despite blood work sent out to Antech about one a month we never could find the exactly cause of his illness. Unfortunately, only after having him a few months I made the decision to end his suffering. He was only 4 years old.
Then it was only Napster and Rusty. Poor poor Rusty. Napster passed away shortly after Bear died, and he was never the same since. He was so sad all the time. He would just look up at me and stare for minutes. He no longer wanted to play. He was depressed. :( I decided to re-home him with a girl I work with who had a female ferret who was going through the same thing. It was a match made in heaven! They couldn't have been happier. Unfortunately only a month after I gave him away to her she brought him into work because he mad a mass in his abdomen and bloody urine. He had a uti and upon inspection of his x-rays we discovered his whole belly was full of tumors. :( He was euthanized one month lady due to his masses growing larger. He just wasn't comfortable anymore and there was no cure, even with surgery. He was only 2 years old.
Owning ferrets has been a very depressing experience for me, but even having to deal with all the bad I would get another again. These ferrets gave so much back to me. They were the sweetest, more gentle creatures and I miss them all terribly.
here is a website, that lists ferret rescues around the country.
http://www.everythingferret.com/ferret_shelters.htm
Sorry about all the typos, but I'm doing about 5 different things at once. :rolleyes:
Also, Critter Crazy, if you take information off the internet to post here please include the source information. Thanks!
DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG????:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by luckies4me
I don't think you did. I mean it is just a link to find a ferret rescue. I wouldn't think you would need to say I googled ferret rescue in the United States and I found this. I don't think you need to say what search engine you used. But maybe Cass meant something else altogether. :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by critter crazy
Thank you for sharing your story, Cass. I'm sorry that so many of you here have had heartache with your ferrets. I guess that is to be expected to some degree with all animals, and smaller species even more so. I imagine that alot of vets aren't very experienced in their care either. I'm not sure if mine is or not? That is another thing I would need to check in to.
Thanks for the link ... I did find one list and there were a couple of rescues in TN, but none real close to me. Only one of them had their own website to visit. I'll check more later! ;)
WolfQ,
Kim asked for advice on having a ferret, their care and upkeep, not opinions on her reasons for rehoming her cats. For whatever reason she DID rehome her cats, it's HER business, not yours.Quote:
Are there any experienced ferret owners here? I handled a few today for the first time and I loved them! I've been doing quite a bit of reading about them online today also! I really want all the advice and knowledge I can get before making a decision on whether or not to get one
I rehomed my cats, yet adopted a rat, yet nothing was said about it?
Kim
I don't have alot of experience with ferrets except for when I worked at Petco. They can be great pets. They do tend to nibble and some, if not socialized, can really do a number when biting.
I think Critter Crazy and Cass gave you the best advice. You're right for doing your homework on these guys. The more you know about them, their personalities and their upkeep, the better the bond you'll have.
Good luck in whatever you do!!
Thank you for the support, Donna! I truly do want to make the best decision not only for myself, but also my other pets and potential new ferret baby. ;)
Kim
:) Might I state Kim that I Just Love Your New Aviator & Siggy of your Sweet Jenna.. Adorable.. ;)
Oh, why thank you! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by lvpets2002
Hi Kim, Ferrets can be lots of fun, but they're lots of hard work too! I use to have a little girl one named, Meca. She was the runt in the litter. I use to hold her and cradle her in my arms and she would fall asleep. She would sleep in my bed with me too. I use to let her run around in the house and have fun. She would stay close by most of the time... Once she got under the house! Someone left the door opened! It took several hours of searching for her in the dark! but we finally found her! :)
I only had her less than a yr (9-10 months I think) and I had her out letting her run around on the floor (like always) I got to doing something, but then I noticed I hadn't seen Meca in about 10 minutes or so...so I began looking for her. I was so shocked when I went into the bathroom to find that she had jumped in the bathtub in some water that some one had left... She drowned that day and I felt so terrible...I still feel bad and it happened about 10 years ago. I really miss her. So, that's all the experience I've had with ferrets. They are tons of fun, at least my little girl was. I really miss her.
Just make sure you read about them! I've thought about getting lots of animlas, but decided not to once I read about them ;)
Good Luck! I hope you find the perfect one if/when you decide to get one!
Genny
I would say that the only pain with having a ferret is taking apart the cages for cleaning! :D
My parents had two connecting ferret cages so there was one huge one. Altogether, there were five levels, tons of tubes, ladders, blankies, hammocks, etc. We cleaned the cage itself about once a week (personal preference) but the tray was cleaned more often. The litterbox was completely changed every other day. It's not that much! :D
My ferrets, honestly, did not smell. They were descented but had no more of a scent than any other critter or person I've seen (of course there are the normal skin oil and blah blah) :). They did have stinky potty breaks so we kept one of those "poofing" air fresheners. Plus, they got baths. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by kittycats_delight
I wasn't talking about the link. I was talking about the information she posted on the first page. When you take something off the internet (a ferret website in this case) you need to link a source to it. Unless she wrote that whole article herself credit should be given to the author. It's just basic internet etiquette (sp?) is all.
She already edited it to include the link where she got the information from, so no worries. :) That's all I was talking about. Not to be nitpicky. :o