Baby Ferrets are known as Kits and need special care at first.

Young Ferrets - Home preparation and advice
　
So you’ve bought your Ferret, it’s been to the Vet, had the ‘once over’ and the necessary inoculations and it’s old enough to be taken home, but have you ‘Ferret proofed’ your house or at least, the areas in which your young Ferret will live?

A young Ferret, or a Kit as they are called (no matter which sex) are tremendous fun but they are also a lot of hard work and there are some basic and elementary checks that you should do before it becomes your house-mate.

Strangely enough it helps if you have the mindset of a convict trying to escape from prison, not that your Ferret will be conscious that it is trying to escape but the fact is, they are so inquisitive that they will sneak into any opening or hole that they can get into and sometimes that can lead to trouble; so make sure that the room that they will spend most of their time in, when out of the cage, doesn‘t present them with the opportunity to escape.

Ferrets do not have strong homing instincts, so most probably, they won’t be returning home if they get out into the wild and as they are domesticated, their chances of survival from predators are pretty slim, so ensure that there are no small gaps or openings that they can crawl through and that you don’t have a cat flap in the door of the room in which they are going to be kept and of course, make sure that they can‘t get out of an open window.

A major cause of trouble is their teeth as they are incredibly sharp and will allow your Ferret to bite through such things as electricity cables, phone wires, your Broadband connection……. I’m sure you get the idea, so you have to ensure that they can’t get at that type of thing.

If you are going to buy your new pet some toys (which you probably will do) make sure that they too are ‘Ferret approved.’ Dog toys aren’t any good, not unless they are made of strong materials that can’t be chewed or shredded. Remember ‘If you have soft bedding or soft toys, you have to make sure that your new pet can't chew off great lumps that it can then swallow; Ferrets are prone to having intestinal blockages which can kill them or require expensive surgery.

Ensure that their cage is large enough for them to run around in and to grow into…….you don’t want to be changing that every couple of years and you also need to make sure that there are plenty of places for them to sleep, so buy some hammocks or sleeping sacks as they will be sleeping for up to 18 hours a day or maybe longer!.

A new Ferret -v- existing children and other pets is quite a consideration. When your Ferret first arrives, it is recommended that you watch very closely, the interaction between it, your children and other pets.

A responsible caring child, that isn’t too rough and is properly supervised, will find that a Ferret is a great pet, similarly with dogs and cats; once they get used to the furry little newcomer and its ‘odor’ they will find that they have a really good new playmate, on the other hand, if they start taking chunks out of each other, you’ll need to keep them apart!

Health is another issue and of course, we have dealt with that separately, but there is one aspect of health that we should touch on in the context of young Ferrets.

Lymphoma is a common cancer found in young Ferrets under the age of 2. Juvenile lymph sarcoma can spread very quickly through the body and will affect the major organs, the disease is treatable but it is dependant on the age and health of your pet and the location of the cancer.
There are some warning signs and these are things that you would probably notice straightaway such as difficulty in breathing, loss of appetite, weight loss and coughing. In the event that your pet develops any of these symptoms, get it to the Vet as soon as you can.

Follow these simple steps and adjust accordingly as you get to know your new pet and you will have a wonderful life together, but don‘t forget, a Ferret is for life, not just for Christmas.’
　
For more information regarding Ferrets care and illnesses visit http://www.ferretfacts.info

Regards,

Walt