Ears and Weight Questions

[dakota314]

I have a couple of newbie questions for ya'll. I adopted 2 ferrets in August, Gwin and Zeke. I've been cleaning their ears with my cat's ear cleaning stuff, which has been working, but they hate it. I heard about using olive oil, but will vegetable oil work also? It won't be bad for them or anything will it?

My other question is- Why is one of my ferrets sooo much fatter than the other? They both eat the same food, get the same amount of exercise, same amount of attention, live in the same cage, but Zeke is so much bigger than Gwin. Not proportionally bigger either; Zeke is just plain chubby. They eat Purina One cat food, with the first ingredient as turkey. Why do they have such a big size difference? Also, what can I do to slim Zeke down?

[Deleted]

If Gwin is a female, that may explain the size difference. What does Zeke weigh? Ferrets are naturally putting on winter weight now. It may not be a cause for concern.

I would stick with olive oil, vegetable oil is a rather unhealthy product for ferrets and people.

[Sherry]

Agreed about the olive oil. As for the weight, it is winter and some ferrets, like people, will naturally carry more weight as well as have more trouble losing it. When a kibble has a lot of grains in it they'll add it on that much faster.

[Sherry]

If you are going to feed a kibble, you want as many meat products as possible in the first five ingredients. And stay as far away as possible from anything listing corn.

[dakota314]

Thanks! Gwin and Zeke are both males, so I guess that's not the reason for the size difference. I heard Fromm and Blue are generally good foods, correct? I picked up Purina One because I couldn't fond Fromm, and the local Walmart was out of Blue. Do you have to get Fromm off of the Internet?

Oh, and one more question. They are both very itchy all the time. They'll be playing one minute, and then they'll suddenly fall over and start biting their back or tummy. I've checked them over for fleas or ticks, but didn't find anything. We also have a dog and 3 cats in the house that go in and out of the ferret room, so if one had fleas/ticks, wouldn't they all? Are ferrets just naturally more itchy?

[Heather]

Ferrets are the itchiest wee creatures on the planet, I swear. I've had them launch out of a hammy, from a dead sleep, to scratch an itch. Shedding causes even more itchies. Raw foods help control them and adding high quality salmon oils will also help
ciao

[dakota314]

Ah okay thanks, that makes me feel better. I got some olive oil, and they loved it. I put a drop on their tummies while doing nails today, and it was so much easier than having a wiggly squirmy little ferret acting like I was trying to kill it. I kind of look forward to cutting nails now. I also put a few drops in each of their ears, so tomorrow I'll clean out whatever they don't get out of each other.

I tried to weigh them for you Suzie, but my little scale that I use for weighing my snakes doesn't go that high.

[Heather]

I've found a kitchen scale that goes between 5 and 7 lbs works best for ferrets. Most of the time you won't use those upper limits but sometimes you get the fatty who tips the scales ;D
ciao

[Deleted]

I've never heard of Fromm and I'm not sure what Blue is, but you can use this chart to help you select a decent kibble. Purina is awful. It nearly killed my cat years ago by causing urinary stones I think.

I'll link you the more dooks chart, but it seems like it may be down.

moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret

The better kibbles usually have to be purchased online or fro ma specialty/holistic pet food store.

[crazylady]

Hi the easiest way to clean ears with olive oil is to drip a few drops in warm massage down then wipe the outer ear with a little dry cotton wool ( this removes dirt from the folds of the ear ) use a separate piece for each ear wipe them again next day and repeat the dripping down some oil that will ensure every thing is out ( well for two weeks any way lol ) males ears tend to be a lot dirtier than females as they produce a lot more oil the reason one male maybe be bigger than the other if feeding kibble is simply one is eating more than the other ( kibble is like you eating bread the more slices you eat the bigger you get ) as kibble is mainly carbohydrate hope this helps take care bye for now
Bev

[Sherry]

Either way you choose to go- we still need to see pictures of these little monkeys? (hint, hint ;D )

[dakota314]

I don't have a lot of good pictures, because they are so go go go all the time and the lighting in my house stinks, but here are some of the decent ones I have.

Zeke:



Gwin:



Here they are right after I woke them up, Gwin's on the left and Zeke's on the right.

[Deleted]

It could also be that one of them has his seasons backwards. I have some that just put on winter weight and some that just lost it. Figure about a 40% difference between when they have their winter weight on and when they don't.

Best kibbles I have found:
wysong ferret epigen 90 (online only around here)
natures variety instinct cat kibble (get the ones with 40%+ protein)
wellness core grain free original cat
orijen 80/20 grain free cat poultry/fish
zupreem ferret grain free

a proper raw diet is even better, but these will improve your ferrets' health over the other kibble.

[Sherry]

Thanks jadeguppy, for posting the kibbles

[Deleted]

:DThanks for the pics! Very sweet little faces, I love how they make a heart shape when curled up together<3