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Post by Sherry on Oct 17, 2013 9:34:30 GMT -5
Got to love hubby's like that!
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Post by crazylady on Oct 19, 2013 18:32:43 GMT -5
He He and this is before they arrive I can see ferret math taking hold here very quickly lol just a rod of advise never under estimate a ferret they may be small but they have the brain of 10 computers if there is a way of getting into things they will find it lol ( ask heather she has some guys from me who can open a refrigerator and feed them selves they also can tip cans out of her garbage bin lol hence the reason her refrigerator door is now sealed shut lol )others in her group have also figured out how to climb skyward and scale places which lead to her fish tank ( not only cats like fish lol ) and as sherry has said water is to be drunk in moderation but spilled in excess lol I have been around ferrets all my life and I am a slave to many lol I work show judge and breed ferrets ) I was given my first by my father when I was 7 I am now 53 and have never been without a business of ever growing ferrets lol all of whom are raw fed on a variety of meat I never give the same meat two days in a row you will soon get into the routine of raw feeding the secret is dont give in to those eyes that say I dont like that lol start as you mean to go on lol ( it wont work but you can try and be boss ) I feed mine once a day usually when it becomes dusk as that is when a ferret in the wild would become more active and begin hunting for food I simply pop in the meal and let them get on with it lol no they wont starve lol I have guys 5 pounds and upwards at this time of year and they only recieve 3-4 oz of meat per day lol plus bone ( for example a large male would get 3/4 of a rabbits hind leg complete with bone and fur ) the foot I remove as they never eat the feet anyway lol its great that your going to a shelter to do hands on but word of advice avoid baths lol this dries out the fur making them produce more oil which in turn results in a ferret that smells stronger ! I groom by using a fine toothed comb ( type used to remove headlice in children ) then I brush using a medium hard bush ( this helps distribute the oils along the hair shafts and keeps the skin stimulated ) then finally I slick them down with a dry chamois leather ( used to clean windows and cars lol ) this helps remove the last particles of dust and any tiny loose hairs I do this daily with all my ferrets while grooming it gives you a chance to check them over get to know your ferret and you get to feel the weight of them in your hands daily its easy to tell if they are gaining or loosing weight when doing this lol they wont like it at the begining but pretty soon they will be standing in line for there daily session ( ask heather one of her guys even climbs on her knee for a nightly foot massage lol now thats something everyone needs to see lol ) good luck with your babies and welcome to the wonderful world of ferret slave lol take care bye for now Bev
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2013 20:35:13 GMT -5
Hi Bev, Love your post. I see the rule is also to have a sense of humor about our slave-drivers. Well ferret math has taken effect. We originally wanted two. Well one plus one equals... FOUR!! The director of the shelter introduced us to eight available ferrets and then four of them really got along well and after we learned to clean ears and clip nails and do dental, and the little ones were done exploring us, the four all snuggled into a pile in a blanket and we looked at each other and decided that there was no way we could choose out of the four, so we'll be adopting all of them! These are the pics from the rescue. We'll put our own up as soon as we can. Skeeter Candy Rufus Trigger They're all older, fully potty trained. None of them bite, or even tried to nip at us. Two are big kissers. We can't wait to get to know our babies. We just need to keep an eye on little miss Candy. She is too smart and I have a feeling she's going to be the one to give us a run for our money. Trigger and Skeeter are two lazy dozy boys who just like to pal around. Rufus (or Rufus the Goofus, as Donna calls him) is a big lovable guy who likes to play the clown and make you smile. He was the first one to climb into my lap. I have one week to get my ferret area into tip top shape and stock up on all of the plethora of supplies that you guys have listed here on the forum. I'm getting there. I'm sure I'll have tons of questions this week. I'll keep you guys posted. Next Sunday is bring-em-home day. ~Kate
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Post by Sherry on Oct 19, 2013 23:53:31 GMT -5
OMG!!!!! (excited) (dance) ( excited) This is WONDERFUL!!! I am so glad to hear you are rescuing an entire business!!! They are adorable. And yes- females rule the roost and are most likely to give you a run for your money
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Post by Heather on Oct 20, 2013 1:03:17 GMT -5
They are gorgeous....congratulations. You've adopted a whole business. This is so fantastic. They're beautiful and thank you for taking them in ciao
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 2:35:33 GMT -5
Hi and Welcome! So happy that you got to bring home the entire bunch! One note....you mentioned that you thought the water fountain would be too heavy to move. I must say...I have a 1.5 pound little girl who managed to drag a 16 pound bag of cat food down the hall. Don't underestimate the determination of a curious ferret! They can and will do almost anything and if they can't do it right away, they will think on it for a while and try a new way to do it. They use tools and have very active brains! LOL I have one boy who will bring over a box in order to get on it to jump over the playpen wall. Be on your toes! And enjoy every minute of it! They are the most wonderful additions to your household..,.CONGRATS!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 7:49:26 GMT -5
One note....you mentioned that you thought the water fountain would be too heavy to move. I must say...I have a 1.5 pound little girl who managed to drag a 16 pound bag of cat food down the hall. Don't underestimate the determination of a curious ferret! LOL I have one boy who will bring over a box in order to get on it to jump over the playpen wall. Be on your toes! I'm not worried about the boys so much, but now that I've met the petite little miss Candy, I am sure she'll figure out a way. So I'm trying to creatively figure out how I can lock it down in the cage. I have a few ideas and of course she'll let me know if I got it wrong or right. Regarding the using tools to jump over the playpen wall, I was sitting on the floor about a foot away from the panels (Donna has her kitchen cordoned off by Marshall playpen panels). Candy starts crawling in my lap and exploring my arms and here I am thinking that she and I are really hitting it off. Nope, she realized that her toy box was on the other side of the panels and that my shoulders were just the right height to allow her to climb over, if she could do it without getting caught. I figured it out and grabbed her just as she was scrambling for my shoulder LOL. I was glad to see that none of the four are too into chewing on plastic. Donna (rescue director) makes ferret toys by putting a noisy object in easter eggs, taping them shut and then crocheting a "shell" around them. These guys roll, drag and toss them around but none of them try to eat the crochet or the plastic. They also have homemade snuggle sacks and hideaway hammocks. All proceeds go to the shelter, so we're getting our snuggly supplies from them too. Today is going to be a BUSY day while I run around gathering supplies.
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Post by Sherry on Oct 20, 2013 9:13:34 GMT -5
Most ferrets seem to like crocheted eggs
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 22:03:04 GMT -5
I have experience with the fountain you posted. Haven't used it with ferrets before, but I've disassembled and reassembled it, so I may be of some use to you All of the black parts are hard plastic and the rest is stainless steel. There is a softer rubber washer where the plastic fountain head piece connects to the stainless steel cone. The cone is pinned in place by the 3 plastic feet. These can be a bit wiggly; you have to make sure you get the positioning perfect if you don't want them to be able to move around. If ferrets were to remove any part of the fountain, that would be my first guess. I honestly don't think ferrets would be able to tip or move the whole fountain though. As long as you keep it fairly full, it is very heavy. The wiring doesn't work quite the way you would expect. It goes from the pump (located in the center of the cone), through a tiny hole at the base of the cone, into the main part of the dish, and then up over the lip of the dish. A plastic foot is attached over the wire in order to cover and hide it. As an example of what not to get, this is the fountain that my ferrets currently have: One of my ferrets leaves it alone, but my smarter girl removes the green plastic disc at the top, takes the filter out, and stashes it behind the fridge. On the plus side however, they've never managed to tip it. And having a regular plastic pet place mat under it is enough to catch any spills or splashing.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 22:56:37 GMT -5
You've adopted a whole business. So, I spent the day confused, thinking that you guys thought I saved the Rescue... meanwhile thanks to Google, I now know that a group of ferrets is called "a business." Well don't I feel silly now.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2013 23:37:14 GMT -5
hehehe Glad you don't feel silly! Just a ferret term... It is just wonderful that you are doing all your research before you get your "business". I'm excited for you...so much fun getting new house mates! And once you get them, we are here for your questions!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2013 8:57:23 GMT -5
Another question: I was reading through the Mentor Application. I'm a brand new mom-to-be and I don't know my ferrets habits yet, but I am very worried about the fact that they are all 3-4 years old and have been eating kibble for soooooooooo long. So when it comes to question 5, I am a little concerned. The first part is easy, but the later questions are where I'm worried. Do they have any health problems?I have the vet records in the paperwork from the rescue and I'm reading through about 50 pages of documents right now. Should my very first step be to get them to my Small Animal Specialist for checkups, just to set the baseline? Are they overweight? Underweight?I don't know ferrets well enough right now to tell if any of them are overweight. I believe that Rufus is on-weight, but I believe she said he already has an implant for adrenal (I have to look that up). I would say that the three sables are likely underweight, but I guess the pictures I post and the weights when I apply will allow the mentors to help me there? How long have you had each ferret for?You all know that answer. Is there a rule about how long you have to have them before you can apply? I've already met the 15 post minimum, and I have food sources. I also have the meat prep items (huge knife set including a cleaver and boning tools - my husband and I are also carnivores ). I am a bit concerned about whether my Magic Bullet will actually pulverize bone. What brands of blenders or meat processors do you guys use to make raw soup? I respect the rescue director greatly. She did say that she would love to do a raw diet with them but being on a fixed income and having anywhere from 15 - 20 ferrets in the rescue at a time, she can't afford it. She also said that almost every family she re-homes to has no intention of doing it, so it wouldn't be good for the ferrets to get raw food and then spend the rest of their lives eating kibble - it is just less complicated to keep them all on kibble. I did notice that she was very liberal with the Petromalt. I thought I read on the boards here that it contains sugar and that there are healthier alternatives (like salmon oil?), so I really want to get them on a healthy diet ASAP. So I was also looking for a list of brands of the healthy alternatives for things like Ferretone, Ferretvite and Petromalt. (FYI: I am weary of anything containing MALT since I have Celiac Disease and that is one of the things I'm allergic to! I would rather not be exposed to it if at all possible.)
As a side note, I'm such a tortured soul because I can't get my kids yet. So Donna sent me this picture with the message "Sending a ferret group picture. Can you find your four?"
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Post by Sherry on Oct 21, 2013 14:02:09 GMT -5
On the phone so can't answer all your questions, but the reason for "how long have you had them" is so we have a better idea of possible age and health. If you've only had them a week you may not notice a slightly unusual wobble that could be indicative of insulinoma, or you might no realize that they are actually a MUCH older ferret than you were initially told. Underweight hips/ribs will be prominent. Overweight will be quite obvious. Just answer as best you can and we can work from there
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2013 15:08:34 GMT -5
Ferretone: alternatives would be oils sold for cooking or omega 3 supplements (can be bought from human pharmacies or pet stores). Good examples would be extra virgin olive oil or salmon oil. Check to make sure there are no preservatives.
Ferretvite: this is a sugar paste treat that shouldn't be fed to a healthy ferret in the first place. No need to buy this or substitutes. Oils and meats make great treats already. If you want a training treat that's easy to handle, I've found that freeze-dried meats work well.
Petromalt/Ferretlax: is for clearing/preventing hairballs or other obstructions in their GI tract. Alternatives would be canned pumpkin (I believe the people here are now recommending to use it only when necessary), extra virgin olive oil, or raw egg yolks.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2013 19:57:19 GMT -5
The person you are adopting from should tell you if any of your bunch are adrenal or have any other issues. Going through the records you receive from the shelter will help as well. The shelters records should have weights on all of them so that will give you some gauge as to what they have been weighing.
As far as under or over weight....the best idea would be to take pictures of each of them (and with new ferts, lots of pictures is easy hehehe).... Hold them up under the arms with their legs dangling and get whole body shots like that of each ferret. Also views from above looking down on them. That will help your mentor see if they are proportional or show signs of any other afflictions that you might not know about.
When you bring your babies home, they should come with some food that they are used to...you can use that for a little bit until you can start the transition to raw soup. Some ferts take to it right away, but some take a bit to make that transition. But as for the supplements, salmon oil or extra virgin olive oil should suffice for your needs. fuzzfuzz (above post) is correct....if you have a need for something to help with fur balls, egg a few times a week helps maintain good movement and if something more drastic is necessary, pumpkin can be used to help unblock them.
A good first step would definitely be to get them all checked out by a ferret knowledgeable vet. If you decide to tell your vet that you have decided to go the route of raw feeding, be prepared for resistance. Just my opinion here, but I would hold off on that conversation for a while. Just take them in and get a whole body, head to toe, exam with weights and that will be a good start. If they came from a shelter, the odds are they have had their vaccinations so more shots probably won't come up.
There are a lot of resources on this forum for you to make educated decisions later on for the continued good health of your babies. so if the vet comes up with something you are unsure of, you may want to take a pass and do some research on your own first.
As far as a blender or other mechanism with which to make your soup....I use bone meal so as not to put undue pressure on a grinding tool. I still use my Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus (mini food processor) to make small batches of soup. It does really well mushing up organs, chicken, basically anything without bones.
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