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Post by ferretmamaintraining on Jul 1, 2017 13:07:54 GMT -5
Our year old boy, Slinky, had a bunch of cotton ropes which he absolutely adored. He would constantly stash them in different places and take out all of his chewing on them. He recently had some stomach upset and passed some string of rope. Our vet said to take away all of his ropes and only use sturdy rubber chew toys made for dogs with chewing problems (like Kong). We have a few toys which have held up perfectly, but I can't help but wonder if this is actually safe. We also just adopted a little cutiepie to keep our boy company, and she is chewing on the toys as well. If we can't give them ropes and can't give them rubber toys, what can we give them to chew on?
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Post by FerretsnFalcons on Jul 1, 2017 13:23:57 GMT -5
Meats!  See if they would chew on chicken wings, chicken gizzards, mice, etc. There aren't really any safe chew toys for ferrets. |
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Post by LindaM on Jul 1, 2017 14:12:47 GMT -5
No, not only is that incorrect, it can be fatal. Too many people believe rubber toys, especially Kongs are a good idea. They are not. Ferrets are more prone to better chewing abilities and damaging toys through chewing than dogs are. There are NO toys in existence that will withstand a determined chewer.
I have one (our Waardie ferret) that likes to chew.. quite a bit, and my alpha girl rebels by chewing on things if she's stressed or worried about something, occasionally when she is mad too. The one evening that was emotionally very hard for us and had me crying on my husband where she came over to see us, really freaked her out. And she ended up acting out and munched up my hubby's tablet charger's cable, chewed it to shreds and was in a really off mood until we comforted her and played with her and gave treats.
So for the Waardie, I have a lot of water bottles that he can chew and crunch on, it's not a very hard plastic, but enough to not be ingested. When they get ruined, I toss them and the ferrets will steal enough to make up their stashed amount again, they believe around 8 bottles is correct and if you take some away, they will replace to that amount, lol. They're crazy. I also offer crinkle toys with no stuffing, and stuffed toys, they usually all have squeakers, but I do toy check every morning and if a toy is hurt just in case someone got through enough to reach the stuffing, I will mend it or toss it. This does end up being work, much as they love the toys and my alpha gets mad when others ruin her toys, and it does cost some money. And if yours has no qualms about munching stuffing, I just wouldn't risk it.
Like FerretsnFalcons said though, raw is an excellent choice. Gizzards are great for chewing and will increase jaw strength (mine aren't fond of gizzards so will only chew a bit before giving up), but chicken wings and other bone-in meats are also good for chewers. Just make sure that if they eat a decent amount of whatever is given everytime, that you do not unbalance their weekly menu if it doesn't follow the menu.
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Post by Heather on Jul 2, 2017 14:53:10 GMT -5
No, absolutely not. I too, was led to believe Kongs were safe from ferret teeth. They even had one that was suggested for ferrets (did I send them an earful). I spent a very scary night (on a weekend, always  ) as I did the blockage protocol on Nicodemus and Ghenghis who decided the kong I'd bought needed to have the "cannot be destroyed sticker removed". No, do not use, those stupid plastic gum chews, kongs....anything rubber with ferrets. ciao |
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Post by unclejoe on Jul 2, 2017 19:40:40 GMT -5
I think the rope toys would be safer, but any toy has to be monitored and removed if you start to see fraying/breakdown. Rubber is a favorite of ferrets, but even a small piece chewed off can cause intestinal blockage. Even a small dog's gut is a dozen times as big as a ferrets, but ferret teeth are sharp and they are tenacious. As with anything ferret, constant monitoring is important.
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