Putting Food in Litter

[Little Wise Owl]

Okay, a long time ago, I had a little female sable ferret who died from intestinal blockage. It was misdiagnosed and then too late once she was properly diagnosed and had surgery. SO, I'm VERY nervous about my ferret eating things she's not supposed to. LIKE HER FREAKING LITTER.

First she eats her litter because... I guess it looks like kibble, I fix the problem by feeding her more.

NOW, she puts all her raw meat in her litter box and since it's moist, it basically acts like shake n' bake and it's coated in litter again. I can't constantly keep my eye on her. She's driving me mad with her habit of doing this. I even put a little seperate feeding box in there and NOPE not good enough for her. ugh

[Heather]

What are you using as litter? My guys stash in the litter box all of the time and as you've pointed out it works like breading. I've not come into problems with this. I don't appreciate it but have come to accept it as being a ferret thing. I use a product called mewsprint (recycled paper) which is larger and doesn't seem to stick as badly as some other products. They don't seem to consume it, but I'm sure they do. It's not a solution but it's how it works here. I can certainly understand your trepidation regarding your little ones feasting habits.
ciao

[Little Wise Owl]

I'm using a recycled newspaper litter as well.

One plus is she's very good at using her litter box, so there's poop in there always. And she has her food in there too... Bleh, gross. lol

[Heather]

How about a little fact to go with our total gross out about our furkiddies eating habits. In the wild weasels and minks will stash their food and then defecate and urinate on their food to make it totally unappetising to other scavengers and preditors. They will also use their scent glands to mark said food as well
ciao

[Little Wise Owl]

Weird, smelly critters...

Just as long as I know she won't get sick and die on me from eating something she wasn't supposed to... I've had enough of that.

[sherrylynne]

I've got a couple who do it regularly, too. No way of stopping them, so they have littered food sometimes
Only time I'd worry about it is if someone used clay based litter. With the recyclable stuff, not so much

[spiritualtramp]

You could always try skewering the meats and clipping them in place in the cage or in a feeding den. I do that and there is very little litterbox stashing now! I use the pear-shaped shower curtain hooks, shove them through their food, and voila it stays put!

[Little Wise Owl]

I generally do with big chunks of meat but when I give her minced stuff, she just picks up as much as she can and takes it to the box.

[spiritualtramp]

For those sorts of meals, I feed in a separate cage --- it has no litterbox, no bedding on the floor of the cage, and just one hammock. It is my quarantine cage that I've started using for feeding things like heart, liver, and minced meals. I just have to make sure to stay around and keep an eye on who has eaten and who hasn't.

[Little Wise Owl]

I've tried doing that but once she's put in the separate feeding cage, her first instinct is to try and get out and she'll try and try for hours, ignoring the food.

[sherrylynne]

Can you feed her in a different room with no box? Like a bathroom, where you can close the door? You may have to stay in with her, luring her with the food, though.

[Little Wise Owl]

I've placed a box in her cage and she uses that more often than the litter.

She's eating in the bathroom right now though.

Unfortunately, she's back to eating litter. -_- I changed it to World's Best Cat Litter and she ignored it as food at first, but now I can hear her munching at night. I'm going to have to keep a constant supply of chicken jerky around because that's the only thing that keeps her from munching. Too bad the cats also want in on it too and steal the bag when they can. sdjnfksdfn