Introducing Ralph, Norman, and Ramona!

[catahoulamom]

As some of you may have seen on facebook, over the past couple of weeks I have somehow acquired THREE (yes, three) ferrets. For the past two weeks I've been trying to keep it on the down-low as my mom wasn't a fan of having more animals (I don't live with my mom, but I rent a small cottage from her that's directly behind her house). Well, she met them tonight and now she is actually quite smitten with them. Here's there story...

My boyfriend and I were stopping by a pet store a couple of weeks ago to see if they had a certain fish food we were looking for. It was a Sunday and the store had closed early, so as we walked up to the doors and noticed they were closed we left to rush back to the car, as it was one of the "coldest" nights Miami has had all year (cold enough for us Floridians to put our heater on in the car!). Out of the corner of my eye I saw a box a few feet away, up against a wall. Was that a scratching noise I heard? I walked over to the box, that was duct-taped up, and yes... it was definitely scratching noises that I heard. There was something alive in there. I called my boyfriend over and we opened up the box to find a sable male ferret. Poor thing, out there in the cold, left in a box taped up with no air holes, blanket, nothing?! How can people do this?!

Needless to say we took him home and set him up in the bathroom. Made sure he had a litterbox, couldn't get into the cabinets (ferret proofed the room), gave him some food and water. He did really well in the bathroom the next few days as we tried to decide what the heck to do with him. After a few days, he had a name, and we were becoming slightly attached. Well, we may as well look on craigslist to see if we can find a deal on cages...

I was able to find a huge Ferret Nation cage for only $100, they usually cost $260. I called the seller and he assured me it was in perfect condition, so we got the cash and went to pick up the cage the next day. We get there, get through the awkward meeting-a-stranger stage, and see the cage. It was in great condition, but set up as if there was still a ferret living in there. "Oh, you still have a ferret?" I asked. "Did you get him another cage?" Then a young girl walks into the room. "Here he is!" and hands me another sable ferret. Apparently, it was $100 for the cage, plus a *free* ferret! Well, they forgot to mention that in their ad! He had been eating kibbles and bits dog food for the past year that they have had him. How could I say no, I'll take the cage but not the ferret? After all, I had read everywhere that two ferrets are better than one! So, we headed home with a cage and a second ferret that night. Luckily, the two boys hit it off and fell asleep snuggled in their cozy hammock in their nice big cage.

Three days ago my boyfriend comes home with a small white-silver female ferret (without my consent). She has to only be months old, she's really tiny. And deaf, apparently. She was on sale because someone had returned her because she has a virus called ECE (a gastrointestinal virus) and hadn't been given any medical attention. She was pooping green slime. I took her to an exotic vet who told me he could prescribe something to help with the symptoms, but since it was a virus there wasn't much he could do but tell me to keep her hydrated and eating. I did some research online and decided to give her DMG & colostrum mixed into diluted chicken baby food, through a syringe every 3-4 hours, alternating with Pedialyte. Well, that did the trick, and she is now on the mend. I kept her seperate from the others, but apparently if one of them has it, the other's WILL get it too because it's contagious. Good thing is, in young healthy ferrets it only lasts 7-10 days, and once they've had it before they're immune to it.

So, sorry for the long story... but I DO feel as though I have to explain myself as to how I have acquired three ferrets in the past 2 1/2 weeks. I have had a ferret before, and love them dearly, but did NOT expect to have one, not to mention THREE, anytime soon! When we first found Norman (the one abandoned at the pet store), we thought we'd rehome him. Well, they've fit into our lives pretty well... and they seem to be happy with us. And we are happy with them. They gel with the cats and the dogs just ignore them. They sleep about 18 hours a day and spend the other 6 (two hours in the morning, one in the middle of the day, and two hours at night) out of the cage free-roaming. I'd say they are fitting in pretty well here, and I'd like them to hang around for a while. :) We've started switching them to prey model raw (first using Rad Cat to get them to taste the raw meat), and two of them (Ramona & Norman) have taken to raw very well! Ralph, on the other hand, is being a tough cookie. :/ Hopefully I'll have him switched over to raw soon! If anybody has any tips please share!

And now... for the pictures!!! :D

ferret pile!
ferretpile.jpg

Norman, Ralph
boysnormanralph.jpg

Ramona, Norman, Ralph
ralphnormanramona.jpg

Norman
norman.jpg

Norman "pancaking" lol...
normanpancake.jpg

[whiteleo]

Cute! They'll get into everything...and they smell....and their cute...and they smell..and their cute...My old client had one, "Bear" was his name and she use to bring him to all the horse shows with her...He would stay in the hotel room with us, he stunk, he'd climb into the beds and carry crap around and hide it...Lol

[RachelsaurusRexU]

I adore ferrets! Good for you guys and I'm so interested to see how the PMR goes.

[catahoulamom]

Cute! They'll get into everything...and they smell....and their cute...and they smell..and their cute...My old client had one, "Bear" was his name and she use to bring him to all the horse shows with her...He would stay in the hotel room with us, he stunk, he'd climb into the beds and carry crap around and hide it...Lol

Haha, they really are social little creatures and yes they do (try) to get into EVERYTHING! Norman's favorite game is to drag shoes under the bed and hoard them in the farthest corner so I can't reach them... Ralph likes to hoard anything that has a rubber handle. At first the smell bothered me, but we keep the cage spotless so it really minimizes on the odor. I've noticed that it's more the bedding (hammocks, blankets) that start to smell, more than the actual ferret. I must say, I have noticed a huge difference in Norman's body odor since he's only been eating raw!

I adore ferrets! Good for you guys and I'm so interested to see how the PMR goes.

They are pretty damn adorable... it's hard not to love 'em! ;) Thanks, and I'll def keep you guys updated!!!

[minnieme]

So totally adorable! But I have to ask.....is it true that ferrets really stink???

edit: sorry, I posted the smell question at the same time! haha!

[Tobi]

gf already told me don't even think about finding any around here!

I love how you described their attitude!! I'm looking forward to you letting us know how they all do and smell when they are changed over onto raw!!! they are absolutely adorable, and i would love to have them!!! you're lucky!

So totally adorable! But I have to ask.....is it true that ferrets really stink???

If they are fed a Raw pmr diet, since they are obligate carnivores i've heard that they don't smell any worse than a cat.

[catahoulamom]

If they are fed a Raw pmr diet, since they are obligate carnivores i've heard that they don't smell any worse than a cat.

That is true! They have a bit more body odor than a cat (a muskiness, I myself wear Kiehl's musk perfume so it doesn't bother me ;) but their "mess" they make is MUCH less stinky than a cat litter box. I have three cats and three ferrets, and I can't tell you that the cat's waste stinks a lot more than the ferrets (well, it could have to do with the fact that I sometimes get lazy and feed them canned food instead of their raw... the litter box stinks a whole lot less when they're only eating raw).

I must point out that there is a huge difference in Norman's coat just in the past couple of weeks that I have had him. When we found him he was looking a bit greasy, Ralph still looks a little greasy (although he already had a bath - I'm sure it's since he's been eating kibbles n bits his whole life), but now that he's been on raw his coat seems to be fluffing out and he doesn't smell much at all. Ramona has very little odor, and hopefully Ralph will be easy on me and start eating his chicken necks soon so I can get him in better shape!

[maplewood]

CUTE!!! We have two Alistair and Sasha.

Ferrets in petstores generally reek because they're fed a diet of corn and by products. Well fed ones don't smell too bad.

[leilaquinn]

So cute! I used to babysit an awsome little ferret, he was cuddly and fun, really full of mischief but never mean, i loved him.

[GoingPostal]

Lol ferret math hit you hard and fast! You'll find after awhile on a prey model diet the odor is pretty minimal, I had up to 7 ferrets at once on kibble, they have their own bedroom upstairs and people who came over were amazed we had ferrets because they couldn't smell them. I switched to raw last year but I only have two ferrets left now, lots of health issues for sure, I don't even want to know what those little weasels have cost me over the years. Are you on the holistic ferret forum? They have lots of tips for switching ferrets over.