Shedding season

[vhoey39750]

I recently adopted my two ferrets and so this is the first shedding season I have experienced. I am just wondering what tips you have for me to keep them healthy through this period. Also, what is the best type of brush that will take off all the hair falling out?

[zoshi]

You'll want to up the lax a bit, olive oil works great and you can give some cooked pumpkin to each ferret, a bit a day, to help keep things moving smoothly. Sometimes I mix the pumpkin and olive oil together, since I give them pumpkin every other day. Not sure on amounts of oil and pumpkin, though, I tend to make it around a teaspoon per ferret of each.

Just be advised, cooked pumpkin leads to some very funny orange poops.

As for a brush, I am in love with the Kong ZoomGroom for Cats: www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2750594

The dog version has too big 'spikes', I think, but the cat version works wonderfully well. Mis is really fluffy after this winter and this brush pulls the fur in like magic, each time I brush him it pulls off a whole chunk of shed fur, it's amazing!

[Deleted]

Brush daily (sometimes more).
Keep bedding clean.
Feed about 1/2 tsp of pumpkin a day to each ferret
Feed olive oil - about 1 tsp daily

[kristinb]

Not to hijack the thread, but this is my first shedding season too but I haven't noticed Jinx loosing any additional hair yet, what time of year does it generally start?

[taratee]

ferret lax can effect how they absorb nutrients from what i understand so thats something to also consider

[shilohismygirl]

Kristin, all of my fuzzers shed way back in January. Hiro lost every single guard hair on his back and belly. could it be that Jinx has already had a shed?

[kristinb]

that's possible, because i didn't purchase her from her previous owner until around the third week in January!

[maddiesmom]

Seems like all the ferrets in my area are late to shed and/or loose their winter weight this year. I think its the crazy weather, personally. Izzy has just now started... Isaac is sort of going through detox/transitioning to raw, so his coat is really changing, too. But my friends said their ferrets are started to shed a lot, too. (because I'm a big time worrier I asked lol)

But anyway, I just wanted to chime in and say that I use a cat flea comb to comb them out, and it gets the loose hairs out I also use pumpkin and keep the bedding clean (I vacuum it in between washes LOL)

[crazylady]

Hi the easiest way to help them along is to get a fine toothed comb ( like you use for head lice in children's hair ) comb them with this then use a medium hard brush and brush ( don't worry there skin is tough) this will stimulate the skin encourage new hair growth and evenly distribute the oils along the hair shaft a tsp a day of olive oil helps too but normally if you comb then brush they wont feel the need to groom themselves hope this helps take care bye for now
crazy lady

[Sherry]

I use a kitten slicker brush, along with a rubber static brush. I give 1/2 tsp canned pumpkin per ferret, along with about 1/2 inch of lax a couple of times a week. I also use olive oil, but mine aren't overly fond of it straight up, so I mix it with fish oil. About 1/2 tsp per ferret every three days.
I have a couple who have a problem with fur stuck in their throats every shed, so they cough a lot from time to time. I syringe some water, followed by oil, followed by lax to soothe their throats.

[vhoey39750]

Thanks for the tips!! I got the pumpkin today and am adding that to their diet now. I appreciate the tips on what brush to buy. I'll pick up one tomorrow

[vhoey39750]

Thanks so much for all the great tips. I have started using pumpkin and today I bought the zoom groom and a flea comb. Together they are magic! The zoom loosens the hair and collects some and then i used the flea comb and it pulled huge clumps outta my one ferret. Needledd to say I discovered why my one ferret has a furrier looking coat. I guess the other one shed before I got them. Thanks again!!

[xeopse]

I feel like I'm missing something important here - my girls have never needed a brush. They blew their coats between December to February or so up here (Massachusetts) but I've never needed to brush them. I vacuum between washes, but not all the time. There is very little hair/fur accumulation here, most of what I vacuum is because they dig at their fleece beds so there's always big balls of the stuff that comes up when I shake their bedding. Lulabelle is the only one I needed to give ferretlax to a little bit, because she would dry cough like a cat would with hairballs... but now from looking at her xrays it was probably jsut the heart defect =/ So who knows? They all blew their coats though and they are SILKY. They are so incredibly soft and sleek, it's just incredible how shiny they are!

Should I be brushing them too, I wonder?

[Sherry]

I noticed mine had more major sheds after their first real winter. Now they are hitting 2-3 years, their sheds are definitely much worse, and I'm pulling a ton of fur out

[zoshi]

I think it depends on the ferret. Tikki barely leaves any fur on the brush (although she is adrenal), Coco leaves a very tiny amount, and when I brush Mis so much fur comes off I could build a new ferret with it in a week. The brush is always full when it's his turn. Of course, Mis also had the fluffiest undercoat of the three this winter, Tikki barely had any and Coco was very sleek.