Ferrets – The Best Pets By Far!

is it safe to let a ferret swim in the bathtub?

i don’t have one yet but i want the best for my ferret and im researching alot about them. i’d like to know if it’s ok for ferrets to swim in the bathtub. like should i let it swim in warm, cold, or hot water, how high it should be, should i put toys in there with it, or should i put shampoo in there so it can swim and be cleaned at the same time?

It’s good to see you are researching first! Do ferrets like water? My personal experience is, No, they do not. I’ve had 18 to date and none ever liked getting wet. Also, if you do decide to ‘try’ your ferret in water, make sure the water is where they can stand on the bottom and their head is above the water, not all ferrets swim. My Sassy jumped into the tub and sunk, thank goodness I was ‘in’ the tub to retrieve her! Also, ferrets need ‘warm’ water, a ferrets natural body temperature is between 101-103, so what feels warm to you will fill chilly to a ferret.

As for bathing….I do not bath my ferrets. Many years ago when I first got my ferrets I bathed them, they hated it. They bottle brushed their tails and ran under everything trying to dry off. They use to act like I was punishing them when I did bath them. As time passed and I became more knowledgeable and after talking with many long time experienced ferret owners, I found most all of them did not bath their ferrets. This is when I quit and once I quit they actually started smelling ‘better’. For now this is as close to bathing as my fur kids like

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The secrets to keeping a good smelling ferret are:

1. Wash bedding ‘at least’ once a week. Most ferret odors concentrates in bedding that is never washed. Imagine never washing your bedding and sleeping in it, you’d smell too.

2. Keep cage cleaned and clean litter boxes twice daily

3. Keep their ears cleaned

4. Feed high quality ferret food/Premium cat or kitten food

The ferret’s scent is partially due to the natural oils from the ferret’s skin, so a bath may temporarily reduce the musky scent. However, because the bath strips the skin and fur of these oils, the bath actually stimulates an increase in the production of these skin oils, so the musky scent may actually become stronger for a couple of days after the bath. If you feel a need to bath you can use Johnson’s baby shampoo or a shampoo made for ferrets. Like I said, I do not bath and I have had many people tell me how good my ferrets smell (even my vet commented). I wash their bedding weekly and use ‘Downy’ fabric softener in my wash load. You could say my ferrets smell ‘Downy Fresh’ And I’ve had as many as 15 ferrets at one time smelling this good!

As for de-scenting a ferret. This has nothing to do with their body odor, spaying and neutering is what lessens the hormones thus lessening the ferrets smell. I have had ferrets that were not de-scented and they smelled just like my ferrets that were.

Also, ferrets do not shed year round like cats; they ‘molt’ twice a year in the spring and fall. They also do not lick and groom themselves like cats. They may on occasions lick but it is not an everyday, compulsion like cats do.

May I suggest getting the book, ‘Ferrets for Dummies’, by Kim Schilling. This is an excellent, easy read, book and will help you greatly in your quest for knowledge with one of the worlds most wonderful pets….ferrets!!!

Marshall 8-Ounce Original Shampoo with Baking Soda $3.89 Specially pH balanced for ferrets with the gentlest natural cleaning system available. Contains a special blend of aloe vera, euclyptus and other herbs to enhance skin and coat. Used regularly the shampoo controls odors without stripping essential body oils….

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The Ferret $3.48 This lovable creature is on its way to being the third most popular companion animal after dogs and cats. Table of Contents: PART ONE: Welcome to the World of the Ferret. 1. What Is a Ferret? 2. History and Ancestry of the Ferret. 3. The World According to the Ferret. PART TWO: Living with a Ferret. 4. Bringing Your Ferret Home. 5. Feeding Your Ferret. 6. Grooming Your Ferret. 7. Keeping Your Ferret Healthy. PART THREE: Enjoying Your Ferret. 8. Training and Socializing Your Ferret. 9. Having Fun with Your Ferret. 10. Ferrets and Your Family and Friends. 11. Legal Issues and Ferrets in Your Community. PART FOUR: Beyond the Basics. 12. Recommended Reading. 13. Ferret Resources.

Ferret $21.27 With the introduction of Ferret, Ruby users now have one of the fastest and most flexible search libraries available. And it’’s surprisingly easy to use. This book will show you how to quickly get up and running with Ferret. You”ll learn how to index different document types such as PDF, Microsoft Word, and HTML, as well as how to deal with foreign languages and different character encodings. Ferret describes the Ferret Query Language in detail along with the object-oriented approach to building queries. You will also be introduced to sorting, filtering, and highlighting your search results, with an explanation of exactly how you need to set up your index to perform these tasks. You will also learn how to optimize a Ferret index for lightning fast indexing and split-second query results.

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Ferret $19.99 With the introduction of Ferret, Ruby users now have one of the fastest and most flexible search libraries available. And it's surprisingly easy to use. This book will show you how to quickly get up and running with Ferret. You'll learn how to index different document types such as PDF, Microsoft Word, and HTML, as well as how to deal with foreign languages and different character encodings. This document describes the Ferret Query Language in detail along with the object-oriented approach to building queries. You will also be introduced to sorting, filtering, and highlighting your search results, with an explanation of exactly how you need to set up your index to perform these tasks. You will also learn how to optimize a Ferret index for lightning fast indexing and split-second query results.

Ferret $19.99 With the introduction of Ferret, Ruby users now have one of the fastest and most flexible search libraries available. And it's surprisingly easy to use. This book will show you how to quickly get up and running with Ferret. You'll learn how to index different document types such as PDF, Microsoft Word, and HTML, as well as how to deal with foreign languages and different character encodings. This document describes the Ferret Query Language in detail along with the object-oriented approach to building queries. You will also be introduced to sorting, filtering, and highlighting your search results, with an explanation of exactly how you need to set up your index to perform these tasks. You will also learn how to optimize a Ferret index for lightning fast indexing and split-second query results.