Introducing a new cat to an existing ferret household

[kenhorse]

We had 3 cats, all raised with ferrets since they were kittens and we just lost the last one.

We've had 20 ferrets over the years and currently have 2, both are middle aged and active. We're looking to get a new cat (perhaps 2) and want young(er) ones. As we have no experience with introducing a non-kitten to a ferret household, we're looking for input about doing so! Our ferret have pretty much free reign of the house after dinner until our bedtime (roughly 6 pm to 11 pm) daily. We don't allow them in a couple of rooms however (we have a relatively large house), the master bedroom included.

Thoughts?

[unclejoe]

Hello and welcome. I Have had a lot of kats and a lot of ferrets, and from what I've seen they usually work thing out. When i first got ferrets, we had 3 young adult kats. In less than a year I had 7 ferrets, mostly because I rescued one pair off craigslist, and another 2 pairs came to me from friends who knew that they needed new homes and I had the most ferret knowledge. So, 1 kat played with the ferts on occasion, one ignored them and the other avoided them by climbing on furniture and just watching them. As long as the kats have someplace to get away from the ferrets it shouldn't be a problem. I've only ever kat that was outright aggressive toward the ferrets, but I have had a couple ferts that pestered kats. That was a Maine coon kitten, and he got so bad we had to rehome him. We now have 3 3-month-old kittens that were born here and the play with the ferrets.

[Charlie]

As long as the cat is old enough and not too small where the ferrets might think it's prey. And as unclejoe, the cat has a chance to get on something high to get away from the ferrets. The cat will need a safe zone too.