Hi and Welcome to the HFF
Your English is good, certainly much better than my French.
Ferrets are wonderful, smart, funny and so much fun. I hope your family will agree and you are able to bring a ferret or two, home.
As for your questions:
1. This translates to worm medicine. Here in the States, we do not typically treat our ferrets with a
preventive Heartworm medicine.
Ferrets can get heartworms from the bite of an infected mosquito. Ferrets are similar to dogs in their susceptibility to heartworm infections, but their symptoms are more similar to those seen in cats.
Infected ferrets typically have
low worm burdens, and microfilariae are seen in the bloodstream in only 50 to 60 percent of ferrets with heartworm disease. Symptoms of heartworm disease in ferrets include decreased activity level, coughing, trouble breathing, and overall weakness. Heart failure can occur in severe cases. Based on a ferret’s symptoms, a veterinarian may perform chest x-rays and an ultrasound of the heart to determine if it has heartworm disease. Blood tests to detect heartworm infections in ferrets are generally unreliable.
No drugs are FDA-approved for the treatment of heartworm disease in ferrets. However, a veterinarian may use drugs that are approved for other animals or people in an extra-label manner to treat a ferret with heartworm disease.
2. Ferrets do much better in the cold than in the heat. 10 to 15 degrees sounds very cold though, and I wouldn't take mine outside in that weather. Ferrets do love to take walks and enjoy snow. I'll let someone who lives in a colder climate answer that question.
3. The cost of feeding your ferret will depend on whether you choose Whole Prey or the Frankenprey Diet. Commercial grinds are another option.
I'll break down the Frankenprey diet and you can figure out the costs, based on your local Grocer/Market prices.
A boy ferret will eat about 3-4 ounces a day. A girl ferret will eat about 2 ounces a day.
The Frankenprey menu is based on a weekly menu and you need at least three different proteins/types of meat:
7-9 meals of Bone In meats. Bone In are the Non Weight bearing bones of an animal that is the size of a chicken or smaller. For example; chicken wings, quail, cornish game hen, rabbit
3-4 meals of Muscle Meat; pork, turkey, beef, gizzards and Heart are muscle meats.
One meal must be Heart. Taurine is essential to a ferret, and for our purposes, we use Heart.
Chicken, duck, beef, pork, any Heart from an animal
1 meal will be Liver plus another Organ
Organs are secreting Organs. Liver, kidney, thymus, spleen and brains are an example.
1 meal will be Liver plus another Organ plus a half meal of Heart.
Organs make up ten percent of their weekly intake
Heart makes up ten percent of their weekly intake
I spend around $60 to $90 (dollars) a month. I look for sales and buy in bulk (large amounts). Then I bring everything home and portion it out into servings. I have five ferrets.
4. Ferrets are super smart and yes, they can be taught and respond much better to positive reinforcement. We can teach them social skills, such as nip training. They use a litter box, they can be taught tricks, and they build bonds with their ferret friends and their Ferrent (owner).
They can be emotional, they grieve over loss, they need alot of attention and stimulation.
They should spend alot of time being played with, and little time alone in a cage.
5. Here in the States, we also get most of ours already neutered and descented. We do use adrenal implants also. I'm not an expert on that, I'm tagging
Heather to help with that.
Insulinoma is another disease that ferrets face. That's one of the reasons that we recommend the raw diet. Ferrets cannot process fruits/grains or veggies. They are obligate carnivores and eat meat.
6. An Only Ferret can be happy. They are happier with a friend or two. If you have an Only Ferret, then you are his best friend and he will rely on you for friendship and social contact, play and enrichment. If you have a busy schedule and are not home alot, then the best thing that you can do for him, is to get him a friend. As much as we play with them, we can't curl up in bed with them, play ferret games, or even dance the Wild Weasel War Dance correctly.
7. Cold cannot be transmitted to a ferret. The Flu, however can be contagious.
I hope this helps and I hope that you get your ferret. Doing some research first is very smart. They can be complicated little guys, but worth every minute of time and trouble.
Don't hesitate to ask questions, get involved with discussion or just have fun, looking around the Forum and seeing all the pictures and hearing about the silly things that our little ones do.
(dance)
