Greetings from my three fuzzbutts and me!

[furyet]

Hello, I am Furyet/Grace... I have three lovely ferrets. 

The OG (lol) is my beeny boy Merlin. He's 10, and is definitely not looking so great these days   I mostly joined this forum to see if there was something which might help him recover some weight, or at least be more comfortable and happy. (I will be blending some Greenwoods, eggs and goose fat up for him as regular meals now, hopefully this will give him a bit more energy and he will enjoy eating it more than kibble). He is the nephew of the first ferret I ever had (well, took care of - he was my brother's but I ended up caring for him in the end!).


Second oldest is Coco, who is 9.  She is a lovely light sable who is mostly a cream colour now with a mask and light brown front legs. She is Merlin's BFF.

Aaaaand then there's the baby of the business, Flapjack, who is silver (2 years old). She is a very friendly and people-loving. Sometimes thinks I'm her baby. Has tried to rescue me from 'drowning' in the bath before.   She's a funny little character. I really want to fix up her diet and provide the best possible care I can - Merlin and Coco were raised primarily on James Wellbeloved ferret food, which they loooved but is obviously not the best for them. And some of the treats I gave them, eeeeeek. 

Anyway now they're on Amazon's thrive premium+ and I've just bought a blender so I can incorporate more meat into their diet! I liked the look of the Greenwoods food because it's already balanced. Blender is to whizz up the meat, and if necessary add some kibble to it so they will eat it! They don't like eating raw meat. Yet  

[unclejoe]

Hi. you're doing well to have 10 and 9 year old. Welcome to our group

[abbeytheferret6]

furyet, hi and welcome to the forum.
I have to agree with Unclejoe concerning your ferrets---but hope both little ones have some more time with you.

I am always curious when someone has a ferret that makes it to ten---and even nine is a good number. Are U in USA? I know UK ferrets tend to live longer(lighting, raw fed, and less spaying and neutering).
 

[furyet]

Thanks guys! I am in the UK, yes. My ferrets have primarily been kept indoors, and Merlin and Coco have both been neutered (after sexual maturity). Quite surprising they are so long lived, seeing as their diet wasnt the greatest either. Probably has a lot to do with their background - their parents came straight off a farm where they were kept for working.

[Sherry]

Hi and welcome Definitely read through the diet archives as the diet boards for info. The oldest ferret I've helped switch was 8 yrs old. The oldest I've heard of being switched was Heather 's girl at 10 It gave her another 18m of a good life.

[Poseidon]

Hello and welcome to the forum
9 and 10 are really good ages for ferrets to reach, when you calculate it into human years is like whoa! How old?! 1 human year is 22 ferret years.
My oldest is 8 and she's still entire, her previous owner kept on breeding her over and over so I had to take her from that situation because breeding any animal over the age of their retiring age is just plain cruel. One of my hobs will be getting vasectomised next month so he'll be taking care of jill seasons when they all start coming in. Anyway Margo is looking really well in herself and yet my parents think that she's not going to last long, I think she's going to prove them wrong!

[furyet]

I would love to get another 18 months out of him, but I don't think it's likely. He is very frail, I really do not expect him to last the year. I reckon eventually he will deteriorate to the point where he will have to be PTS. But I'm trying to stay positive; at the moment he has plenty of good days, doesn't poop in his bedding (although he has become a much messier pooper in general), isn't in pain, can get around etc. I am hoping switching his food will give him more good days and improve his energy levels. Of course, I'm not expecting him to magically become younger.

I am definitely considering a full switch to raw. Just weighing up the cost of it all. Tight on space here too so freezer space is at a premium. I have a few questions RE raw feeding but I'll put them in the appropriate places instead of asking here.

Poseidon I see you're also in England from what i've heard, ferrets tend to be long-lived over here so your girl has a good chance! Can't imagine doing back to back litters, that must've been tough on her little body. I hope she proves your parents wrong
Wish I could have a v-hob for Flapjack but they're kept indoors so I try to keep smell to a minimum. Hopefully that won't be an issue this time next year though (excited).

[unclejoe]

the only fuzz we've have make it to nine was blind, deaf and incontinent before we finaly took her to be pts. We were so sure that one morning she just wouldn't wake up. Other than that, no matter the age, if a ferret became so weak and feeble she could't get to the litter box, we figured it was time.

[Poseidon]

Jan 24, 2018 9:00:06 GMT -5 furyet said:

I would love to get another 18 months out of him, but I don't think it's likely. He is very frail, I really do not expect him to last the year. I reckon eventually he will deteriorate to the point where he will have to be PTS. But I'm trying to stay positive; at the moment he has plenty of good days, doesn't poop in his bedding (although he has become a much messier pooper in general), isn't in pain, can get around etc. I am hoping switching his food will give him more good days and improve his energy levels. Of course, I'm not expecting him to magically become younger.

I am definitely considering a full switch to raw. Just weighing up the cost of it all. Tight on space here too so freezer space is at a premium. I have a few questions RE raw feeding but I'll put them in the appropriate places instead of asking here.

Poseidon I see you're also in England from what i've heard, ferrets tend to be long-lived over here so your girl has a good chance! Can't imagine doing back to back litters, that must've been tough on her little body. I hope she proves your parents wrong
Wish I could have a v-hob for Flapjack but they're kept indoors so I try to keep smell to a minimum. Hopefully that won't be an issue this time next year though (excited).

Yep, I'm close to Derby if you know where that is. And you could borrow my hob when he's vasectomised if you're close enough but if not there's a few dotted around the country which people sometimes allow others to use the service to bring jills out of season