And then the decision has been made. We're going to get a ferret as a pet. How are we going to handle this? The first thing to take care of is proper housing. We buy, or make a large cage with enough room. In the cage there should be at least a couple of cloths, but more fun and nicer for ferrets are hammocks and sleeping-bags. We make sure that in the corner there is a litter pan filed with (dust free) cat litter, or other dust-free litters made for ferrets. Of course the food bowl and the water bottle are already in the cage. The cage is standing on a water-proof and cool place (so not in the sun!) We buy special Ferret food if we couldn't get those, high quality kitten food. One or more toys should also be in the cage. Further more, we have taken a good look at our living room, and made sure that there are
no dangerous places anymore. The Ferret should be unable to reach the plants or they have been secured or covered to prevent digging. If the Ferret is able to go into the kitchen, then it should not be possible to get behind the refrigerator or stove. Make sure there are no places that the ferret can get outside from (holes, air vents, closets, etc.)
Then the big moment is there, we're going to look for a Ferret. The most simple place seems to be the pet store. At the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer, a lot of Pups appear in the pet stores. A number of stores know how to keep ferrets, but only a small number of stores know how to keep ferrets correctly. Sometimes, the animals are being housed the proper way and get a lot of attention. Unfortunately there are a lot of stores who do NOT know how to do this. Ferrets are badly housed, get no attention and are kept too long in a much too small cage. Therefore it is not wise to buy a ferret at the pet store. Sometimes the kits have been torn from their mother too young, and they lack the right upbringing which only gets worse through bad housing and care taking. The end result is a biting, non litter trained ferret, that is not used to human hands.
So far that is not the most ideal place to start as a Beginner.
A much better source is a breeder, and then not a large breeder who breeds dozens of ferrets just to make money. No, the private breeder, the true ferret lover, is the best source. Here the pups are being kept by their mother, get a good start in upbringing, and get attention from the breeder. You also know when the pup was born and who the parents are. Of course not all private breeders will fit into the above ideal picture, but the chance of a nice ferret is much greater than when you would obtain one from the pet store. Also there are a number of Ferret Unions or Foundations that have rescue shelter for ferrets. The ferrets who are brought there, will be placed in a new home. But These Ferrets usually are not kits, but somewhat older animals. At the Shelter of "Frettig gestoord" difficult ferrets first get a new upbringing, they look at the ferrets health and give the necessary inoculations. The result is (usually) a reliable, well raised ferret, even though it may be some what older. The Unions and Foundations also have reliable addresses for ferrets. So it is certainly worthwhile to contact one of the Unions or Foundations.
While obtaining a ferret we have to take a look at the coat: It should be shining, and if it is a kit’s, the coat should also be soft. The Ferret should not be skinny and should not react with fear. He should be curious. The ferret’s eyes should be cleat and it should have a clean nose. The animal should not be on straw, hay, or sawdust. If there are droppings, these should be neatly long stretched brown turds, The urine should have a bright yellow color. Some pups and ferrets who eat soft cat food might have thin droppings, but it should have a brown color and not greenish or slimy. An 8 week old pup has two rows of teeth, the milk teeth, and behind those the adult teeth are already waiting. When a pup does not have these, chances are it is not yet 8 weeks old. It could be that he is older, but then the ferret would be much bigger. If we are able to look at the ferret longer, we can watch a number of things.
A ferret should be playful, curious, and walk straight, with no wiggling or dragging of their limbs. A ferret will make funny noises and jumps, but this is all very normal.
The costs for a ferret are about € 50 to € 125 (or $75 to $150 U.S. Dollars). Then you will have a non inoculated and not spayed animal.
The Private Breeder often is cheaper then the pet store. After the purchase of the kits, a visit to the veterinarian is the next necessary step. It is necessary because, a ferret should be inoculated against a number of dog diseases (distemper and rabies) and eventually against Weil Disease.
In The Netherlands there has never been ferret with weil, it seems to be a very rare disease. Ferret unions and Foundations demand at their meetings that the ferrets are inoculated against Weil Disease. On the other hand the reason no ferret ever died of Weil disease might be because it was inoculated against it.
The costs of the inoculations are high, You can expect €50 to €80 per ferret, per year. A Ferret we do not use for Breeding should be spayed/neutered, and for a female this is very important. With a neutered male, the body odor will lessen and also the aggressive behavior will lessen. The costs for the castration will also be around the 100 guilders. As an extra, but very advisable, is Micro Chipping The Ferret, the costs are about € 60 ($100 U.S.).
So now we have a ferret for a pet, but it is sometimes better to have two ferrets. The ferret, a companion animal, needs a playmate, a companion. It is also much nicer for the owner. The ferret will not need as much attention anymore, because the ferrets will keep each other occupied, and it is truly amazingly funny to see ferrets play. Don't be afraid that the ferrets won't pay attention to the owner anymore, on the contrary they will enjoy double the attention!
The mentioned prices are common and could be much different. depending on the veterinarian, number of treated ferrets and the number of treatments at the same time, For example operation and Chipping
Names for the new Ferret.