Need some help here

[Dorknstine]

Ok had a strange evening, neighbor knocked on my door and asked if I had a ferret. I said well no why, I must say I did laugh at Debbie it was just a strange totally out of the blue question. So she goes on to tell me she's been watching something going in and out from around my house a few days! She's been sick and not came to tell me..anyways she told me she called to it and anytime she got near it it would run back under my house. So we go walking around the house looking and I see a small white nose poke from under the siding I got down and sat and patted my leg and it ran right to me. Right up my lap to my neck. So it seems I now have a ferret. I'm guessing it got lose from somewhere I live beside a creek in a small neighborhood none of my neighbors are missing one. Do they swim could it have crossed the creek? He's so thin it's sad he ate some catfood from me and I know that's probably not great for him he... she, I don't know how to tell is asleep in my bathroom cuddled in a blanket right now.. What can I do to help with getting it back up to weight? 

[unclejoe]

cat food is better than no food for now. Once everything is settled you can worry about diet.  A pic of your new fuzzy would help us judge overall condition.  In the short term, a cat litter box will work, or newspapers in the corners of the room.  
ferrets will almost always go in corners or n front of doors.  

Do you have a cage?  Depending on where you are, you could post flyers around that you found a ferret with your number and a photo of the fuzz.  Someone might be missing their little one.  i got back one escapee that way.  She was found almost a a mile from home.  

A male ferret will have what looks like a belly button, but isn't.  A female may have what looks like a seam in her belly fur where she had spay surgery.  I'm assuming you are in the Americas where ferrets sold in stores are fixed.

You should probably find a cage for her/him to sleep in for safety.  Ferrets are notorious escape artists.  I have had half my business go out thru a hole in a bathroom vanity where the pipes come thru. 

I hope these quick tips help.  Congrats on your new room mate

[Dorknstine]

Thanks for the quick advice I don't have a cage yet. What can I use for now? I got a picture of him, he has a button that's not a button. So if he stays here he will be Malfoy. He seems to be exausted and since I gave him the warm towel he has only came out to eat. I've only put small amounts of broken up Food in the little bowl. He wouldn't touch an egg I gave him. I'll take your advice on the flyers.Someone would surly miss him. He's so sweet but I have no idea how old he is.

[Dorknstine]

This picture is from out in the yard before he got so sleepy.

[Deleted]

He is so cute. For any reason he found you. If you don't find the owner .....keep it. He is lucky he founds you and you care.

[unclejoe]

If you're ok with him sleeping in the bathroom for now, make sure there aren't any wats to get out. You can look on craigslist or othere sires for a used cage. It doesn't have to be fancy.

Startlooking into more appropriate food as well. He's beautiful

[Dorknstine1]

We made it throughthe night. He came for cuddles and I noticed 2 small tattoo dots on his ear. So he's a Marshall ferret a according to google. He used the litter box I put in the corner last night. Seems he's still really tired or maybe just lazy. We used large art in frames to block off the doors to the closet and my bedroom he didn't escape lol.

[abbeytheferret6]

Ahh what a sweet gift to get! Yes he is a Marshall's. Watch out for anything and everything rubber. They can get blockages and they just LOVE rubber. Let's see---earplugs and pencil erasers too.
They are not veggie eaters and no sweets. They can be fed mice and rats. depending on what he was fed, he may reject them, tho. 

Here is some info holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/
Click the HFF website above and you can find other info that is interesting.

Enjoy your new one

[Sherry]

He also looks to be a marked DEW(dark eyed white), which means he is also most likely deaf. Not a real concern where domestic ferrets are concerned. They clue in so well to body language/movement many people don't even realize
Read through a lot of threads on this board, including stickied ones. If you want him on a kibble, look for Origen as it is one of the "better" ones out there. Or you could look at switching him to a proper raw diet It does take some work however Here is a link on the process: holisticferretforum.com/natural-diet/raw-diet-the-meat-of-the-site/

[Deleted]

I tried some egg last light, both raw and boiled. He had nothing to do with them. So this morning I thawed out some steak and cut it thin, wouldn't touch that either. He only wants cat food I'm gonna read through the posts and see what I can do to get him off the kibble! He's so small he weights less then a pound. I talked to the people at the dollar general, which is our lost pet central, also checked local missing pet sites and local facebook Noone is missing him so far left my number. He is sleeping all the time just getting up to eat. What can I do to help him get energy back? I'm already in love he's so sweet. I just wanna get him better!

[LindaM]

Ferrets shouldn't get any cooked foods, it no longer holds any nutritional value for them anymore. So avoid giving things like cooked/boiled eggs and meat. Raw egg is fine, always give it whipped together, or yolk by itself, never give only the white alone.

This wee baby is probably already past their imprinting stage, since we do not know how old he is, and was likely fed on a cat food diet, whether a good or bad one, you won't know. The fact that no one is missing them, or putting up notices of a missing ferret could also mean his previous owners might have just abandoned him, which is truly sad, but it happens.

A raw diet will do amazing things for his energy and be much healthier. If you can get him to eat Orijen cat kibble, that's much healthier than your usual grocery store unhealthy kibbles, and would have him on an okay diet while you switch to raw. You could even see if he will take to some rehydrated Freeze-Dried Raw like Stella & Chewys or Primal Raw (check for upwards of 90% meat content, nothing lower than 90%). But if he refuses that, it'll just be less stress to switch him onto raw using the kibble he is willing to eat already, that way you don't need to do a double switch.

If you can find some Salmon Oil, I suggest you get some, this is a nice treat for them, and it can also be used as an incentive to get them to try new food. There is a limit though, 1 tsp per ferret, per week.

[Deleted]

I have only been able to get him to eat the cheapest stuff. I have a husky also, Star eats blue buffalo wilderness. So before I saw the post about orijen I went to the pet store a always get food at and got some samples of blue cat food and a few others to try. He won't touch them. He still has low energy. He will play for about 5 min and crawl back in his blankets. Do ferrets typically drink alot? All his trains seem to be running good lol. Eat poo and sleep.

[Sherry]

Most of his energy is going toward digestion since he doesn't get a lot of nutrition from his food. If you want him on a different kibble, you have to trick him into it. Mix about 90% old food with about 10% new food into a sealed container and mix really well. Shake it daily for a week. Then top his dish up with that mix. Add new food to container shake well, and next day top up the dish again. Keep repeating until the new kibble has replaced the old.

[Blue]

You could also try kibble soup for the short term. That way you can progressively mix in some good kibble and also keep him hydrated. I think it's 1/3rd kibble, 2/3rds water, soak overnight, then blend. That's what they used to do at my local ferret shelter.

He looks adorable, I'm so glad he found you

[unclejoe]

You can grind the kibble with a coffee grinder and add water to it to make a thin mush. We add raw ground turkey and and a wet cat food with no veggie fillers.
A couple tablespoons of powder is enough to flavor enough soup mix for 7 ferrets.