Heya

[Little Wise Owl]

Name's Shannon and I'm from Ontario, Canada. I don't currently own any ferrets but I have owned them in the past. I've had 4 ferrets over the years.

My first ever Bonkerz. I had him from around a year old until he was around 7 or 8 when he passed away.


My second ferret, Rebecca, I had when I still had Bonkers but she ingested part of her bedding which was surprising since they were well fed and became impacted. She was misdiagnosed for having an ulcer and mistreated (which I still feel horrible for). We took her to another vet, finding out she had a blockage, had her go for surgery where she died after. ( I don't have a photo of her but she was a Sable )

Awhile later, I got Edward, a little female albino who was blind in one eye. She was Bonkerz partner for a long while until he passed and we got Judith, another Sable.



Edward


Late last year, I had given Edward and Judith to someone who had more time for them since I had been having trouble giving them the proper attention they needed and felt horrible.

I don't believe I'll be getting any ferrets any time soon but I WOULD like to adopt a ferret in the future, maybe near future.

In the meantime, I've become VERY fond of Snakes and Lizards owning several of each (Ball Pythons, Corn Snakes, IJ Carpet Pythons, Bearded Dragons, Crested Geckos and Leopard Geckos)

My first Ball Python, Julian. (He's 3 years old now and just shy of 4ft)


I also have a Tortoise Shell Kitten named Noodle AKA Noo-noo and I've recently come into interest of feeding her a raw diet and would like to feed my future ferret a raw meal as well.

[sherrylynne]

You ferrets were/are adorable! That's tragic about Rebecca. They will eat anything. I just had a little one recover from eating some foam rubber. It terrified us!
What a shame you had to rehome your other two. That must have been heartbreaking.

[Little Wise Owl]

It was really hard letting them go but I know they're in a good home now.

...Kinda wish I could go to their house and be like "...Can I have my ferrets back now?" lol

[Heather]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Please feel free to prowl and ask questions. Everyone's friendly so don't be shy
ciao

[Little Wise Owl]

Thanks

My family seems incredibly hesitant about feeding our animals raw (5 cats, 2 dogs, and future ferrets) They all seem to think it's really inconvenient, expensive and dangerous because BONES are involved and they're so fixed on that, if an animal eats a bone, it's going to choke. Also, Salmonella.

[Heather]

If you prowl through the various sections, check out the nutritional section, you will find discussions on both those subjects. There are all creatures, dogs, cats and ferrets who benefit from eating the diet that they are designed to eat. Iv'e been feeding a raw natural diet for over 10 yrs. My dogs have consumed, whole turkey, duck, and chicken carcasses, and have eaten lamb, chicken, pork, emu, venison, elk, whole fish...the list is only restricted by the availability of protein sources. Without the bone, you're limiting the nutritional value of the diet they're eating at it's most basic. There are risks, but they're no higher than the choking hazard that is presented by kibble or anything else that you can feed.
Salmonella, is a danger to you...not to your furkids. Their digestive tracks have been designed to eat meats and often some really iky other things too Salmonella requires 6 hours to become a viable bacteria in a digestive track. A ferret has a turn around time of 3 maybe 4 hrs max....there's very little that's going to stay in that tummy Your dog and cat are built in the same manner with a slightly longer turnaround time but still not long enough to have a salmonella problem. If you prepare their food like you would prepare your own, keep your preparation area clean, wash your hands...you're not going to run into any problems. There are more kibbles recalled because of salmonella now than any of the commercial raw foods.
Read through some of those threads...you will find a lot of information there that will help you with your questions
ciao

[Little Wise Owl]

Thankya.

I'm still doing lots of research on it and I've already written down places near me that sell what I'd need for a proper raw diet. Mum refuses to let me use whole prey items but I'm not bothered since I own snakes and handle dead rats weekly.

[Heather]

I feed my ferrets rats from a lady who raises rats for her snakes. I get the excess or the ones that get too big. We both benefit I raise my own mice for my furbabies
ciao

[Little Wise Owl]

I couldn't raise rats or mice live since my father became severely allergic to them. Sad, since I really did like keeping them as pets.