Girlfriend wants a ferret - but we have other pets

[x2xtreme360]

She really wants one for Christmas, and has done quite a bit of research on them. I have done minimal research, but would like to learn.

We have one dog; a 9 year old Husky mix male. He is a very friendly dog, and gets used to other animals fairly quickly. He's trained and tame, although he has been known to chase squirrels if not leashed.

The big concern; we have 3 cats. All 4 years old. Two short haired tiger brothers and one male tuxedo. They're indoor cats only, and are very loving cats. As with any cats though, they tend to fight with each other from time to time, and I'm just not sure how well a ferret would be able to adapt to the cats.

I want to make her Christmas wish come true, but I can't do it if there's a chance that the ferret would get murdered by my other animals. Obviously he will be caged, but I want him to come out periodically to get socialized and have range of the house. Her brother has 3 ferrets, and they seem to love them.

Anyone have experience? I know I need to do some research to make sure I'd even want one. Not sure how time consuming they are to keep up with and clean, but I'm sure it's not much harder than scooping all the cat litter we have.

[green-lantern]

My brother has had a few. They stink a bit but not too bad. They are pretty fun and he loved his. The last little bastard he had would hide shit all the time though. He would take it white water rafting with him and got turned over one day. He never found him pretty sad really, he was pretty attached to him.

[Zaroth]

I have 2 ferrets, 4 cats and 4 dogs... as far as mammals go, lol. I can tell you that generally... my cats avoid the ferrets. I have one cat that was a kitten around the ferrets and it mostly runs away from them as fast as it can, but the other cats generally just avoid them and I have some VERY confrontational cats. They practically can't even be in the same room as each other. Ferrets are kind of like cats and have very distinguishable personalities, so if you get one that is aggressive you might have a problem, but most of mine usually just run around and steal shoes.

If I was you I would recommend getting as young a ferret as you can so that you can potty train it and adjust it to your cats.

As far as cleaning, it's pretty much the same thing. They poop in corners, so you will buy a little corner litter box and clean it out as it gets nasty. Generally a little more frequently than cat litter, because ferrets don't bury their poop.

[2fnloud]

I always thought ferrets are social animals, two minimum.

[dbest671]

The cats you really don't have to worry about, a ferret can hold its own against one. I had one w/ cats when I was a kid. However, I would be very careful with the Huskie mix.

Ferrets are fun little critters. Get a young one, like stated above. Other than potty training, they tend to be "nippers". Bitter apple spray will quickly break them of that habit. If you let it run loose around the house, I highly suggest a harness with a bell on it. They can get just about anywhere. They are also klepto, and will stash anything and everything it can cart off, at least mine did.

Mine loved water, so giving it a bath was easy. If you bathe it regularly, it won't "smell".

Oh yeah, don't let it around birds. My ferret killed my sister's cockatiel. I was cleaning out the ferret cage while it was running around in the room... came back in and the ferret was ripping feather out of the bird's chest. Needless to say my sister still hasn't forgiven me for that one.

[Zaroth]

The cats you really don't have to worry about, a ferret can hold its own against one. I had one w/ cats when I was a kid. However, I would be very careful with the Huskie mix.

Ferrets are fun little critters. Get a young one, like stated above. Other than potty training, they tend to be "nippers". Bitter apple spray will quickly break them of that habit. If you let it run loose around the house, I highly suggest a harness with a bell on it. They can get just about anywhere. They are also klepto, and will stash anything and everything it can cart off, at least mine did.

Mine loved water, so giving it a bath was easy. If you bathe it regularly, it won't "smell".

Oh yeah, don't let it around birds. My ferret killed my sister's cockatiel. I was cleaning out the ferret cage while it was running around in the room... came back in and the ferret was ripping feather out of the bird's chest. Needless to say my sister still hasn't forgiven me for that one.

I was fortunate enough that none of my ferrets were biters. Harness is a great idea. I was never able to keep a collar on any of mine. They would always crawl inside of the box spring of a bed and lose it or something lol. Once I bought them harnesses I never had to worry about it again.

[green-lantern]

Yeah my brother had a bell and harness on his also.

[Telionis]

My brother has had a few. They stink a bit but not too bad. They are pretty fun and he loved his. The last little bastard he had would hide shit all the time though. He would take it white water rafting with him and got turned over one day. He never found him pretty sad really, he was pretty attached to him.

Dude, forgive my frankness, but your brother sounds like an idiot. Poor ferret. Ferrets are not very strong swimmers, you're not even supposed to leave them unattended in a bathtub, why in God's name would you take one white-water rafting? No matter how much confidence he had in the harness, which was obviously misplaced if he did, there is no way the ferret would enjoy that experience. The whole thing reminds me of the folks that try to include their dog in college parties by giving it alcohol or blowing pot smoke into its face... "He's one of us man! Yeah! Partaaay!!!"

[AgentOblivious]

So by ferret, she means?


I'm pretty sure that's some sort of kinky....lol.

[j2k4]

Always wanted a ferret since I went to my folks' anniversary party at my sister's house, and her neighbor's ferret came right down the driveway, across the lawn, jumped in my lap and fell asleep.

Neat little creatures.