Future ferret mom

[nephilemofthewoods]

Hello, I’m maggie. I’m hoping to get a ferret in the next year once I move out of my parents home to train service tasks for my mental illness crap. I came on here for advise on training and future place to show off my little one when I get him/her. 
Thanks

[caitmonster]

Welcome Maggie! It'll be neat to hear about your service training, I personally don't know much about it. All the best to you and your future fuzzie! 

[nephilemofthewoods]

Apr 21, 2018 21:02:34 GMT -5 caitmonster said:

Welcome Maggie! It'll be neat to hear about your service training, I personally don't know much about it. All the best to you and your future fuzzie! 

Thanks I trained a dog in the past (not very well but she knew her tasks, she had to leave because I lost my job a few years back but I’m on a steady income now) so I think I know how to train a ferret a little bit  

[lee]

Hello and welcome to the forum. This is so strange you have posted this, as for a few weeks now I have been looking into this sort of thing. I've been doing a lot of ferret related games and racing etc for children's party's and I have came across a few parents that have children with some learning or anger problems and they have said how different there child is when they are around the ferrets. I also have had a tuff 2 years and at the moment I'm going through some real bad problems with my diabetes and the ferrets have made things a bit easier. 
Ive been looking in to using the ferrets as emotional support animals (EMA) , just because of the joy they can bring us when they are acting crazy and also how content they are just to have a cuddle when we are feeling sad. 
As for using them as a service animal may be a bit harder to train them as they have a mind of there own lol. I wish you luck in your journey. 
If it will help we can swoop ideas for training and any information we pick up along the way

[nephilemofthewoods]

Apr 22, 2018 15:05:44 GMT -5 lee said:

Hello and welcome to the forum. This is so strange you have posted this, as for a few weeks now I have been looking into this sort of thing. I've been doing a lot of ferret related games and racing etc for children's party's and I have came across a few parents that have children with some learning or anger problems and they have said how different there child is when they are around the ferrets. I also have had a tuff 2 years and at the moment I'm going through some real bad problems with my diabetes and the ferrets have made things a bit easier. 
Ive been looking in to using the ferrets as emotional support animals (EMA) , just because of the joy they can bring us when they are acting crazy and also how content they are just to have a cuddle when we are feeling sad. 
As for using them as a service animal may be a bit harder to train them as they have a mind of there own lol. I wish you luck in your journey. 
If it will help we can swoop ideas for training and any information we pick up along the way



definetly, I think it will be hard but not impossible what’s going to be more difficult is getting public access rights with the town I live in lol

[Sherry]

Hi and welcome As for training a ferret, what do you have in mind? They make for great company and are often good at reading our moods and responding accordingly.

[nephilemofthewoods]

Well I’m going to train her to alert me to anxiety attacks as they will leave me really confused where I am and what I’m doing, also they’ll be a bit small but sitting on my shoulders or chest to provide some grounding (so shoulder training, I’m planning a girl so their small enough to do that.)

[Sherry]

Honestly, I'm not sure they can be trained that way. I think with most ferrets who can do it, it is something that they just clue in on normally.

[nephilemofthewoods]

Probably not but there’s good use in trying at least, (if not esa is just as good)

[nephilemofthewoods]

I can still do tasks for them on command like laying down on my chest or licking me which would help with grounding, those are legit tasks (and I would think easier than something complicated)
in other news I held my first ferret today at a local family pet shop (I wanted to see if the musk bothers me, I kinda like the smell, it’s kinda sweet?)

[LindaM]

Keep in mind that honestly, to those of us who raw-feed already, kibble-fed ferrets STINK to the high heavens. So if you can handle the one in the pet shop that's on kibble, you're gonna be just fine! With a raw diet, ferrets smell MUCH nicer and their poops are also much better in smell and size. My lot are raw-fed and smell delicious, people have actually asked me if I put perfume on them! LOL! No, of course not.

[nephilemofthewoods]

Apr 24, 2018 13:20:33 GMT -5 LindaM said:

Keep in mind that honestly, to those of us who raw-feed already, kibble-fed ferrets STINK to the high heavens. So if you can handle the one in the pet shop that's on kibble, you're gonna be just fine! With a raw diet, ferrets smell MUCH nicer and their poops are also much better in smell and size. My lot are raw-fed and smell delicious, people have actually asked me if I put perfume on them! LOL! No, of course not.

I forgot to ask what they ate (my brain just stopped and instantly went to survival mode I think, I did ask some basic questions tho) but they smelled really good there

[LindaM]

If it's a local mom & pop shop, they might be feeding a higher quality kibble, which does help. The poorer the kibble, the nastier the stench. Most big pet stores will be feeding Marshall's crap in a bag, which really makes the poor lovelies stink and helps give rise to people complaining about the smell of ferrets. "You have a ferret? Oh no, don't they stink!?" On their species appropriate diet of raw, they smell quite nice.

[nephilemofthewoods]

Yeah if I want my mom to visit me at all when I move on my own my baby is going to have to be raw fed (she’s got a very sensitive nose,)