Post by Mahogany (as Guest) on May 8, 2020 6:16:58 GMT -5
Hi, just registered. Posting here while that is being processed.
I am in Sydney, Australia but can’t find anyone obvious to assist locally, also posted a few days ago on ferretfriendsaz as I found the site via stories of abused ferrets but no response as yet (understandable given current situation).
12 days ago ago we obtained a ferret as a pet for my 14yo daughter and myself. It was not a whim purchase, a lot of research and preparation had gone into it. It is very hard to obtain a ferret here, there are only a few ever available, lots of demand and we always missed out. So, we were overjoyed when we answered a breeder ad and they had some available. One was available immediately and another was to be available a fortnight after so we said we would pick them up together.
Pick up came and went with no contact and when we finally did make contact weeks later, turns out the breeder had been in hospital for a while and many of the young ferrets had died including one we were waiting on to come with the other. The family member who looked after them was not a fan of the ferrets, claimed they were all vicious and he was bitten badly when he tried to feed them. The housing situation was not good. Unhygienic small cages (and I mean small, not much bigger than cat carriers) and the one our girl came from was a completely closed in wooden box with air holes, cardboard box sized and she had been kept there unsocialised for 12/13 weeks. Our girls name is Luna, she is a black-eyed white (although really cream with black flecks).
Luna has behavioural problems and from the start has been an attack ferret. On day 3 of having Luna home I took her to the vet as she was riddled with fleas and I wanted her treated and examined, vaccinated etc. Due to Covid I could not go into the vet with Luna but had to hand her over and the vet spoke to me on the phone. The vet is a specialty exotic vet who has a lot of experience with ferrets. Apparently Luna tried to attack the vet immediately her carrier was opened, the vet said she immediately lunged out at her and tried to attack. Her behaviour was the vet’s main concern as she said she had rarely seen a ferret this aggressive, it must be due to her background and she felt we needed to be realistic that there was not much chance of turning her behaviour around. She gave the option of immediately walking away or if we were committed, working on it but being realistic of small chance of success and giving a timeframe for reassessment. She didn’t think having a ferret with such behavioural issues was fair on our family or Luna herself.
Obviously my daughter and I are devastated. She has waited a long time for a pet she had hoped was a pet she could spend quality time with in a 2-way relationship and even after a few days was very attached to Luna, even with the behavioural issues. Before getting the ferret we had researched bite training but all of this seems to pertain to play biting, nipping etc. Luna’s biting is full on launch and attack, serious injury stuff which seems to lie outside the scope of general advice for biting. We decided to commit to trying with Luna but are at a loss as to how to really help her move forward and am hoping you have members who can help us?
We have a 3 level cage, that is well set up for a ferret. The ferret vet agreed with this. It’s on a stand and goes up to head height. We feed her special ferret kibble which the vet said was fine, although supplementing with fresh would be good but not essential. She has fresh water in a heavy bowl. The advice the vet gave was to get her out and hold her multiple times a day for 10mins only and give her a treat so she associates it with a positive experience. We give her the odd piece of fresh mince (only 20 cent piece size) which she loves but that's it. The vet recommended duck fat and kitten food (meat variety) but she won’t eat these. We also give her a free run in a safe area twice a day but it is challenging as she wants to attack you in a serious way. I'm not sure whether this is a form of play (the free range attack), it may be but the bite is heavy duty, won''t let go and tearing style. Pasically it's thick leather shoes and leg padding! She will immediately try and attack whatever body part is put into her cage (hand/arm) and we need thick leather gloves to handle her. When we get her out she now sometimes is okay for 2-3mins (I mean not viciously trying to attack but you can't hold her against any part of your body as she will go it), and then she just loses it and tries to attack the gloves holding her. Other times the immediate glove attack will begin immediately on holding her. We try a treat while holding but challenging as she will only take mince as a treat and she can't be fed too much. She will On a positive note, after 1 week she was toilet trained with her litter trays in her cage.
I guess we are now at a loss, we need help and don’t know where to turn and am hoping someone can assist us?
The other thing is, initially we were meant to be getting the 2 together but the other one died (see saga above). When we picked up Luna the breeder said there was a new litter and we could have a girl from that when she was ready and we agreed before getting Luna home and appreciating her significant issues. I told the vet and her recommendation was not to proceed as we may end up with another one with exactly the same behavioural problem, then we would have double the issue and it would be even harder to turn around as they would bond with each other and not want anything to do with us and would make any behavioural modification impossible. We just feel bad for Luna not having a ferret friend but if the vets advice is good, we are happy to go with it, just after a second opinion there also, will go with whatever is best!
If there is anyone who could assist with advice we would be really grateful as everything we read pertains to working with typical ferrets only, not ones like Luna. We really want to give her the chance she deserves but at the same time my heart brakes for my daughter who is really ultimately after Luna to be a friendly social companion (albeit she knew any ferret would be work initially in this regard, just sad this is what she got). We certainly didn't get any pet with the thought it was disposable but we really need help with this!
I am in Sydney, Australia but can’t find anyone obvious to assist locally, also posted a few days ago on ferretfriendsaz as I found the site via stories of abused ferrets but no response as yet (understandable given current situation).
12 days ago ago we obtained a ferret as a pet for my 14yo daughter and myself. It was not a whim purchase, a lot of research and preparation had gone into it. It is very hard to obtain a ferret here, there are only a few ever available, lots of demand and we always missed out. So, we were overjoyed when we answered a breeder ad and they had some available. One was available immediately and another was to be available a fortnight after so we said we would pick them up together.
Pick up came and went with no contact and when we finally did make contact weeks later, turns out the breeder had been in hospital for a while and many of the young ferrets had died including one we were waiting on to come with the other. The family member who looked after them was not a fan of the ferrets, claimed they were all vicious and he was bitten badly when he tried to feed them. The housing situation was not good. Unhygienic small cages (and I mean small, not much bigger than cat carriers) and the one our girl came from was a completely closed in wooden box with air holes, cardboard box sized and she had been kept there unsocialised for 12/13 weeks. Our girls name is Luna, she is a black-eyed white (although really cream with black flecks).
Luna has behavioural problems and from the start has been an attack ferret. On day 3 of having Luna home I took her to the vet as she was riddled with fleas and I wanted her treated and examined, vaccinated etc. Due to Covid I could not go into the vet with Luna but had to hand her over and the vet spoke to me on the phone. The vet is a specialty exotic vet who has a lot of experience with ferrets. Apparently Luna tried to attack the vet immediately her carrier was opened, the vet said she immediately lunged out at her and tried to attack. Her behaviour was the vet’s main concern as she said she had rarely seen a ferret this aggressive, it must be due to her background and she felt we needed to be realistic that there was not much chance of turning her behaviour around. She gave the option of immediately walking away or if we were committed, working on it but being realistic of small chance of success and giving a timeframe for reassessment. She didn’t think having a ferret with such behavioural issues was fair on our family or Luna herself.
Obviously my daughter and I are devastated. She has waited a long time for a pet she had hoped was a pet she could spend quality time with in a 2-way relationship and even after a few days was very attached to Luna, even with the behavioural issues. Before getting the ferret we had researched bite training but all of this seems to pertain to play biting, nipping etc. Luna’s biting is full on launch and attack, serious injury stuff which seems to lie outside the scope of general advice for biting. We decided to commit to trying with Luna but are at a loss as to how to really help her move forward and am hoping you have members who can help us?
We have a 3 level cage, that is well set up for a ferret. The ferret vet agreed with this. It’s on a stand and goes up to head height. We feed her special ferret kibble which the vet said was fine, although supplementing with fresh would be good but not essential. She has fresh water in a heavy bowl. The advice the vet gave was to get her out and hold her multiple times a day for 10mins only and give her a treat so she associates it with a positive experience. We give her the odd piece of fresh mince (only 20 cent piece size) which she loves but that's it. The vet recommended duck fat and kitten food (meat variety) but she won’t eat these. We also give her a free run in a safe area twice a day but it is challenging as she wants to attack you in a serious way. I'm not sure whether this is a form of play (the free range attack), it may be but the bite is heavy duty, won''t let go and tearing style. Pasically it's thick leather shoes and leg padding! She will immediately try and attack whatever body part is put into her cage (hand/arm) and we need thick leather gloves to handle her. When we get her out she now sometimes is okay for 2-3mins (I mean not viciously trying to attack but you can't hold her against any part of your body as she will go it), and then she just loses it and tries to attack the gloves holding her. Other times the immediate glove attack will begin immediately on holding her. We try a treat while holding but challenging as she will only take mince as a treat and she can't be fed too much. She will On a positive note, after 1 week she was toilet trained with her litter trays in her cage.
I guess we are now at a loss, we need help and don’t know where to turn and am hoping someone can assist us?
The other thing is, initially we were meant to be getting the 2 together but the other one died (see saga above). When we picked up Luna the breeder said there was a new litter and we could have a girl from that when she was ready and we agreed before getting Luna home and appreciating her significant issues. I told the vet and her recommendation was not to proceed as we may end up with another one with exactly the same behavioural problem, then we would have double the issue and it would be even harder to turn around as they would bond with each other and not want anything to do with us and would make any behavioural modification impossible. We just feel bad for Luna not having a ferret friend but if the vets advice is good, we are happy to go with it, just after a second opinion there also, will go with whatever is best!
If there is anyone who could assist with advice we would be really grateful as everything we read pertains to working with typical ferrets only, not ones like Luna. We really want to give her the chance she deserves but at the same time my heart brakes for my daughter who is really ultimately after Luna to be a friendly social companion (albeit she knew any ferret would be work initially in this regard, just sad this is what she got). We certainly didn't get any pet with the thought it was disposable but we really need help with this!
