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are the ferrets from the op dead yet? ferrets only live like 6 weeks before succumbing to the millions of diseases that kill them right?
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Apr 17, 2015 02:45
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The shittily bred ones we mostly get in the US probably like 5-7 years thanks to the bajillion cancers and diseases they get. The UK ones closer to 10.
Cless Alvein fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Apr 17, 2015 |
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Apr 17, 2015 03:02
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that's cool i knew a rich idiot who went through like 10 ferrets a year and that was my only ferret experience so i assumed they keeled over if you look at them funny. glad to know ferrets have staying power, ferrets are rad.
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Apr 17, 2015 03:05
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Dr qq posted:are the ferrets from the op dead yet? ferrets only live like 6 weeks before succumbing to the millions of diseases that kill them right? One escaped or was stolen, the other I had to return to the rescue because my bitch rear end dog was terrified of her  UK ferts way more own-some than USA ferts tho
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Apr 17, 2015 11:03
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It seems like US ferrets are dropping dead left and right. Everyone seems to post that their ferret had a horrible health scare or died at 2-3. I love them but I haven't gotten one because of their horrible health problems. Is anyone trying to breed healthier ferrets in the US? 
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Apr 17, 2015 17:55
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With the weather warming up, I'm looking to take my ferts outside (on harness or supervised in a play pen). Are there any flea and tick preventatives that are appropriate for ferrets? I'm tempted to use the kitten formulation, but I'm not sure what the risks are with toxicity. For what it's worth, I'm in Upstate NY, where the wildlife and their associated parasites abound.
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Apr 17, 2015 20:12
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Mathematics posted:Is anyone trying to breed healthier ferrets in the US? I saw a European ferret in a pet store once. Though I have no idea whether they imported it or if someone's breeding them here.
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Apr 18, 2015 00:00
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Mathematics posted:It seems like US ferrets are dropping dead left and right. Everyone seems to post that their ferret had a horrible health scare or died at 2-3. blame marshal farms and other animal farming4profit businesses. I don't know why its just North America that has a lack of independent breeders, probably a law somewhere. peengers posted:Like 3 hours from mouth to rear end, it's amazing. Literally 0.000105633103mph
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Apr 18, 2015 21:19
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it's probably because UK ferrets are primarily bred for workers/pets, rather than just for pets. you guys dont have the same rabbits as us afaik, so no need to send a ferret down underground to flush them. no working breeders means it's all bybs and farms all the time! ferts don't come neutered or de-scented here either; I know a lotta people think de-scenting them is cruel, and tbh i can't see how much of a difference it would make.
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Apr 18, 2015 21:39
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A lot of places here have restrictions on them (in my state you can't have one over 7 months of age that is intact unless you have a permit). Marshall's basically has a ferret monopoly. They provide pets as well as animals for research labs and stuff like that. They churn out ferrets from the same lines year after year, ship them out at a very young age and mostly never hear about them again, so they don't have good data on which lines suffer from what.
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Apr 18, 2015 22:09
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Maully Millions posted:With the weather warming up, I'm looking to take my ferts outside (on harness or supervised in a play pen). Are there any flea and tick preventatives that are appropriate for ferrets? I'm tempted to use the kitten formulation, but I'm not sure what the risks are with toxicity. Bump!
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Apr 28, 2015 20:38
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Maully Millions posted:Bump! I don't know what actually applies to NY state, but in Texas there were 3 big things ferrets had to have to be outside. 1) Heartworm meds. See a vet, get liquid drops, not store bought stuff. 2) See a vet for flea stuff. Supposedly off the shelf cat stuff works but I wouldn't risk it, and we got ours from a vet. 3) distemper vax. They should already have this, because you can apparently track that in on your shoes. As for ticks and stuff? See a vet :P
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Apr 28, 2015 22:23
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Maully Millions posted:We have a big bag of paper under the bed that our fluffs enjoy too! What else do you guys do? I'm always looking for more enrichment for them. For anyone keeping ferrets, I'd advise ping-pong balls. Ferrets love them. Imagine a super-light, super-bouncy indestructible egg that is just too big for them to get their teeth around. Eventually they'll manage to catch it in a corner and destroy it, but this generally takes hours. Give it a try.
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Apr 28, 2015 23:08
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Plek posted:I don't know what actually applies to NY state, but in Texas there were 3 big things ferrets had to have to be outside. 1) Heartworm meds. See a vet, get liquid drops, not store bought stuff. 2) See a vet for flea stuff. Supposedly off the shelf cat stuff works but I wouldn't risk it, and we got ours from a vet. 3) distemper vax. They should already have this, because you can apparently track that in on your shoes. Thanks! They've all three had their distemper shots, so we're good on #3. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and see one of the baby vets at the vet hospital (they're generally really quite good, but not always as knowledgeable about specific exotics). Soylent Yellow posted:For anyone keeping ferrets, I'd advise ping-pong balls. Ferrets love them. Imagine a super-light, super-bouncy indestructible egg that is just too big for them to get their teeth around. Eventually they'll manage to catch it in a corner and destroy it, but this generally takes hours. Give it a try. I gave mine easter eggs or pill bottles with beans in them, and they nosed all of them into a pile in the closet in like, 5 minutes. Ping pong to the rescue! Also, I want to second what Compact Fanny said about the Marshall Monopoly. In the two years since we first decided to get ferrets, I've only heard of two coming up at our local SPCA (where I have an insider who lets me know when they get one), and both of them originally came from Marshall anyway. The nearest breeder is several hours away from us, and may or may not still be actively breeding ferrets of unknown quality. The independent ferret market is pretty grim.
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Apr 29, 2015 00:35
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Maully Millions posted:With the weather warming up, I'm looking to take my ferts outside (on harness or supervised in a play pen). Are there any flea and tick preventatives that are appropriate for ferrets? I'm tempted to use the kitten formulation, but I'm not sure what the risks are with toxicity. I'd use Advantage, the same as you'd use on a cat. In the past they recommended kitten dosages, but more recently my vet recommended the normal cat dose due to the way ferrets metabolize. I'd call your vet and check which they recommend -- won't cost you anything, and they can recommend what will work best in your area. In particularly flea and tick heavy places, the buggers can develop a resistance to certain brands, but your vet would be on the up-and-up if that was applicable. Maully Millions posted:Also, I want to second what Compact Fanny said about the Marshall Monopoly. In the two years since we first decided to get ferrets, I've only heard of two coming up at our local SPCA (where I have an insider who lets me know when they get one), and both of them originally came from Marshall anyway. The nearest breeder is several hours away from us, and may or may not still be actively breeding ferrets of unknown quality. The independent ferret market is pretty grim. And the ones who do breed generally do so for looks and showability. As in, actually ferret shows where they worry about things like head shape rather than "did all of this ferret's lineage die of horrible cancers."
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Apr 29, 2015 03:16
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Do ferrets really make 'dook' noises?
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Apr 29, 2015 19:41
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Dook is really the best way to describe it. Just go watch a youtube video.
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May 1, 2015 21:19
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My tiny girl ferret has recently become a little chunky. This may be due to the fact that a friend of mine passed on some Bandits after her ferret buddy died and ferrets are greedy little fuckers that are super adorable when they beg treats off of you by piling all over one another in an effort to use their cage mates as a furry ladder into the treat-giver's lap. Sorry, guys. Someone has to be the grown up. You're going back on your diet. The crappy treats may be delicious, but there's a reason I feed you the expensive grain-free cat food and freeze dried meat treats.
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May 7, 2015 04:53
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What's a sane price to pay for a teeth cleaning?
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May 7, 2015 07:10
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At work, we put some of the ferrets in an old ball pit, they seemed to enjoy it. Ned, our big black eyed white male, is chill as hell as always. We have 6 ferrets at work, I think I've posted Ned in here before (he's so photogenic  ), the two masked boys and Buster and Donny, the two albinos are Gripper and Bella, and the little silver female is Kali. Sorry for the photo spam!       
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May 7, 2015 20:48
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omg 
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May 7, 2015 21:36
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Dem fangs 
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May 7, 2015 23:08
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Fraction posted:omg Ned is chill as gently caress all the time. All our animals at work get used for a lot of handling and educational talks and such, all the volunteers love him
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May 8, 2015 06:46
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Had to bring Derp to the vet. Massive weight loss out of nowhere, lethargic, straining to poop. Looks like maybe blood coming from peepee. So far not insulinoma and vet didn't feel any blockages or swollen lymph nodes. Wasn't anemic. Getting xrays now to check for blockage/kidney stones/whatever else it could be. Edit: Xrays looked perfect. No growths, blockages, tumors, stones, pneumonia, or enlarged heart to be found. Vet thinks he might have picked up a stomach/intestinal infection so he got some fluids for hydration and anti-biotics for me to shove in his mouth twice a day. Now to shove baby food down his throat in an attempt to get some weight back on him. Cless Alvein fucked around with this message at 23:41 on May 15, 2015 |
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May 15, 2015 22:21
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Get some carnivore care. It is the poo poo when it comes to sick ferrets.
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May 17, 2015 01:35
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Thanks for the tip. Ordered, will be here Monday. Will just use up the rest of the baby food and stinky wet cat food I've got till then. I got him to eat a decent amount of absolutely god awful smelly warmed up cat food. Course being a ferret he decided to try to eat the plastic spoon instead of the food on the spoon. It also had to be the picky eater who had to get sick making it doubly hard to feed him. Mostly involves smearing stuff all his face which forces him to open his mouth to try and clean up which then allows me to shove food directly in his mouth hole. Herp will basically eat anything you put in front of him. Snacking on the dog's food is one of his favorite things to do when running around the house. Cless Alvein fucked around with this message at 08:18 on May 17, 2015 |
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May 17, 2015 03:06
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Fat, now skinny, gently caress is totally back to normal minus the weight issue. He woke me up at 4am because they either finished their water or spilled it everywhere. So he decided to dig at the bottom of their empty bowl because that will totally make more water appear. (I guess it did since I got up and refilled it)
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May 19, 2015 18:47
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Are ferrets from certified AFA breeders generally healthier in the US? Or does it all come from such bad base stock they are still prone to dying rather quickly?
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May 19, 2015 20:00
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GlyphGryph posted:Are ferrets from certified AFA breeders generally healthier in the US? Or does it all come from such bad base stock they are still prone to dying rather quickly? Uh, I don't think there is such a thing as a "certified breeder" in the US, definitely not AFA. Unless your AFA is, like, Australian Ferret Association or something. e: oh they do have standards now. They're just guidelines for look though, I have not heard of any breeders that breed for health over appearance. Plek fucked around with this message at 20:59 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 20:56
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GlyphGryph posted:Are ferrets from certified AFA breeders generally healthier in the US? Or does it all come from such bad base stock they are still prone to dying rather quickly? It's a combination of things, but mostly, pet ferrets in the U.S. are Marshall's ferrets. I don't personally know of any private breeders with a good reputation, but I have heard of bad ones - angora breeders!  I'm not saying a good breeder doesn't exist, they probably do and have paid to import healthy European ferrets to start it. But Marshall's outnumber them, thousands to one. And those ferrets all come from the same lovely stock. In addition to being of terrible genetic health, Marshall's alters most of the kits as soon as they weigh enough to survive the surgery. Which probably plays a hand in adrenal disease, as it is primarily a hormonal disorder. 
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May 19, 2015 22:50
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y'all should just fly over to England, we have solid working stock ferrets literally going for 
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May 20, 2015 09:54
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CompactFanny posted:It's a combination of things, but mostly, pet ferrets in the U.S. are Marshall's ferrets. I don't personally know of any private breeders with a good reputation, but I have heard of bad ones - angora breeders! I had ferrets once, and I would like them again, but I'm not going to support the industry as it is. I would like to support the industry improving, and being part of the market forces shaping that is the smallest part I can play in doing so. Ugh, though. Maybe I'll just start my own goddamn breeding program and Ferret association...
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May 20, 2015 21:00
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Depending on where you live, you may have to get a license to breed them or even to own breeding age intact adults (probably why a zillion ferret bybs don't exist here). If I was going to keep them again I would adopt an oldie with cancer whose lovely people aren't willing to deal with it. Because there are LOTS of those. 
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May 20, 2015 21:20
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Why do there not seem to be any 'breeds' of ferrets like there are with dogs? Or are there in other countries, and its just another side effect of US regulations and the Marshall Farms mill system?CompactFanny posted:If I was going to keep them again I would adopt an oldie with cancer whose lovely people aren't willing to deal with it. Because there are LOTS of those. So from a personal perspective (healthier, long lived ferts!) and from a societal perspective (supporting responsible breeders breeding healthy ferrets and not ferret mills), if I get them again I would definitely want to get them from a real, responsible breeder. GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 21:32 on May 20, 2015 |
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May 20, 2015 21:30
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Guess you're moving to the UK. I don't know any specifics, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were illegal to import.
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May 20, 2015 22:28
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Importing them is probably possible, but I would expect it to be difficult and costly. There are only breeds of dogs because of thousands of years of dog people selectively breeding them for different types of work. Ferrets have only had to do one job, so multiple types weren't needed.
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May 20, 2015 23:10
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CompactFanny posted:Importing them is probably possible, but I would expect it to be difficult and costly. Cats only have one job to do too and there's a bunch of those.
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May 21, 2015 16:09
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Cat "breeds" aren't like dog breeds. It's basically just coat patterns and friendly dispositions. They don't have the extreme variety of size and temperament that dogs do. Look up the breed standard for any cat breed and you will most likely find it described as having a "doglike personality" because it just means they focused on getting the pretty ones to be friendly.
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May 21, 2015 16:23
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I don't know what happened. Derp was getting better on the antibiotics. Both were eating just fine and dandy. I went to check in on them tonight and found both Herp and Derp dead. I don't get it. What the gently caress happened. I'd understand Derp since he was kinda sickly as it, but Herp was just fine. Eating his heart out on all the food I was trying to shove in the others mouth. I don't get it. Not one bit. Why? I can only think of 2 things that they both ate something they shouldn't have or picked up distemper, but both had absolutely 0 signs of that. If it takes 2 weeks or for a ferret to die from distemper, why didn't he show any symptoms at all 5 days ago at the vet? poo poo, did he contract it at the vet and then passed it along? Timeline wise picking up Distemper at the vet does fit minus no signs that I can find on their corpses. If it was distemper and you're wondering why I didn't vaccinate, no vets could get Merial's vaccine and they didn't feel comfortable trying to dose dog vaccine on them. Cless Alvein fucked around with this message at 07:50 on May 23, 2015 |
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May 23, 2015 05:14
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There would be signs of distemper aside from sudden death like that, distemper will make them very very sick with fever, vomiting and diarrhea. I'm sorry for your losses.  If you have the disposable income and really want to know what happened, the vet could do a necropsy, but even that might not give you a conclusive answer.Ferrets are the best and worst pets at the same time.
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May 23, 2015 12:47
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