Ferrets: the first 72 hours at home, proofing and what to check

Quick answer

The first three days with a new ferret are mostly about two things: making sure the house cannot kill it, and finding out quickly whether the animal you have brought home is well.

Ferrets are the most determined escape artists and the most enthusiastic swallowers of unsuitable objects of any common pet. A ferret can pass through any gap its head fits through, will investigate the inside of a reclining chair, and will eat a rubber earplug given the chance. Almost every emergency in the first months of ferret ownership comes from one of those three facts.

The proofing is done before the ferret arrives, not after the first escape. Assume it will find the one gap you did not check.

• Ferret-proof one room completely and keep the ferret to that room for the first days.
• Remove every piece of rubber, foam and soft plastic. Swallowed rubber is the classic ferret surgical emergency.
• Never operate a reclining chair or sofa bed, or run a washing machine or dryer, without accounting for every ferret.
• A ferret in deep sleep can be picked up without waking. This is normal and it terrifies new owners.
• Find out the distemper vaccination history before you bring the animal home, not after.

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Canine distemper is almost always fatal in ferrets and it does not require contact with another animal.

The virus can be carried into a house on shoes and clothing. An unvaccinated ferret, particularly a young one, is at real risk from a household where nobody owns a dog. Establish the vaccination status and dates before purchase or adoption, keep an unvaccinated ferret away from anywhere other animals have been, and speak to a vet about the schedule in your first week.
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Decide in 60 seconds

Ferret-proofing, in order of what actually kills

Gaps. A ferret's body follows its head. Anything the head fits through is a route out, and the gaps that matter are behind kitchen units, under cupboards where the plinth does not meet the floor, around pipework, behind the cooker and fridge, and at the bottom of doors. Block them physically. Wire mesh, cut board or expanding filler all work; a cushion pushed into the gap does not.

Reclining chairs and sofa beds. Ferrets climb inside the mechanism to sleep. Operating the chair then closes the mechanism on the animal. This is one of the most common causes of severe injury and death in ferret households. If you have one, either do not keep a ferret loose in that room, or check inside the mechanism, physically, every single time before operating it.

Washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers. Warm, dark, enclosed and full of interesting fabric. Keep doors shut and check the drum before every cycle.

Rubber, foam and soft plastic. This is the ferret's characteristic emergency. Erasers, rubber bands, earbuds and earplugs, headphone tips, the soles and insoles of shoes, sponge, foam packaging, latex gloves, the rubber buttons on remote controls, plastic bags and cling film. Ferrets chew them and swallow the pieces, and the pieces neither digest nor pass. The result is an intestinal obstruction that needs surgery. Go around the room at ferret height and remove all of it.

Recliner footwells, cupboard voids and appliance backs. Anywhere warm with a motor.

Windows, balconies and doors. Ferrets are curious and not sensible about height.

Toxins. Chocolate, xylitol-containing products, human medication, and a range of houseplants. Ferrets investigate with their mouths.

Other pets. A ferret is a predator to small animals and prey to a large dog. Nothing about the first 72 hours should involve introductions.

The three days

Hours 0 to 2.

Put the ferret straight into its cage in a quiet room and leave it. No bath, no introductions, no passing it round the family. Offer water in both a bowl and a bottle, because you do not know which it has used before, and offer the exact food it was eating at its previous home.

Do not change the diet on day one. A move is already a large change, and a simultaneous food change will produce loose stool you then cannot interpret.

Hours 2 to 24.

You are collecting facts. Has it eaten. Has it drunk. Has it used a tray. What does the stool look like. What does it weigh on a gram scale.

Expect a lot of sleeping. Ferrets sleep for a very large part of the day, and new ferrets in a strange place often sleep more. Expect at least one episode where the animal is so deeply asleep it can be lifted, turned over and put down again without waking. This is normal ferret physiology and it is the single most common reason new owners phone a vet in a panic.

Do handle the ferret briefly, calmly, low to the ground, but keep it short.

Day 2.

Short sessions out of the cage in the one room you have proofed. Twenty minutes at a time is plenty. Watch where it goes, because it will find the gaps you missed and it is better to discover them while you are watching.

Start litter training by putting trays in the corners it has chosen rather than the corners you chose, and seeding each tray with a little of its own waste.

Keep the diet the same. If you intend to change it, plan that for after the first week.

Day 3.

Extend the out-of-cage time and start building a routine, because ferrets settle well into predictable patterns. Book the first veterinary appointment for this week rather than next month.

Weigh again and compare with day one.

Hammocks and sleep sacks with hemmed edges, solid cage floors, and corner trays. Loose threads and cut fleece edges wrap around toes.

Age by age

Kits, under about four months.

They sleep enormously and then are ferociously awake. They nip, hard, because that is how they play with littermates and nobody has told them human skin is different. They need food available frequently, because a young ferret that goes without food can become hypoglycaemic. They are teething. And they have usually had only the start of their vaccination course, so they should not go anywhere other animals have been.

Nipping is managed by redirection and consistency, not by punishment. Offer a toy in place of the hand, end the session calmly when teeth arrive, and never flick the nose or hit the animal. Scruffing, holding the loose skin at the back of the neck, is a legitimate and well-tolerated ferret handling technique that produces a relaxation response and is used routinely by vets, and it is a useful way to calm a wild kit or to look in its mouth. It is a handling tool, not a punishment.

Adolescents and adults.

More capable, more determined, and better at opening cage doors. Escape-proofing needs to be better than you think. This is the age at which most rehomed ferrets arrive, so the history you get with them is often incomplete and the first vet visit matters more.

Seniors, from around four years.

The two diseases to have in mind are insulinoma, which causes weakness, hind limb wobbliness, drooling and staring episodes from low blood sugar, and adrenal disease, which causes hair loss starting at the tail base and can cause urinary obstruction in males. A new senior ferret should be examined early rather than after it settles in.

Practically, seniors need low cage furniture with ramps rather than climbs, soft bedding, and sometimes softened or liquidised food. Ask what they have been eating and how.

What to ask whoever you got the ferret from

Date of birth, or best estimate.

Distemper vaccination dates and the product used, and rabies vaccination where that applies in your country.

Whether it is neutered, by what method, and when. Surgical neutering and hormonal implants have different implications for later health.

What it has been eating, by brand, and how often.

Whether it has lived with other ferrets, and whether it got on with them.

Any illness, treatment or medication.

Whether it has been tested for Aleutian disease, if that is done where you are.

Whether it has ever been outdoors, and whether it has had parasite treatment.

If the answer to the vaccination question is unknown, treat the ferret as unvaccinated until a vet says otherwise, and keep it away from anywhere other animals have been.

Reading the first stools

Stool tells you more in the first three days than anything else.

Normal. Brown, formed, soft but holding shape, roughly the consistency of toothpaste and no looser.

Loose or slightly green for a day after the move. Common and usually stress related, but worth watching closely and worth mentioning to the vet.

Green, mucousy, or containing what look like undigested seeds or grains. This appearance is associated with intestinal inflammation and infection in ferrets and warrants a vet call, particularly in a newly arrived animal.

Black and tarry. Digested blood from higher in the gut. Ferrets are prone to gastric ulceration, and this is a same-day problem even in an animal that seems bright.

Thin, pencil-like or ribbon-shaped. Can indicate a partial obstruction, which in a ferret means a swallowed object until proved otherwise.

Nothing at all, with a ferret that is off food, retching or pawing at its mouth. Treat as a possible obstruction and go the same day.

Introducing a new ferret to resident ferrets

Not in the first 72 hours. Quarantine the newcomer in a separate room with separate equipment first, and ask your vet how long they want that to be.

When you do introduce, use neutral ground, not the resident's cage, and expect it to look alarming. Ferret introductions normally involve neck biting, dragging, rolling and a great deal of noise, and most of that is negotiation rather than fighting. Intervene for blood, for a ferret that is being pinned and screaming continuously without release, and for anything that does not de-escalate.

Give it several sessions over days, and do not deep-clean the shared cage into total neutrality afterwards or you remove all the scent work they have just done.

Check bedding for loose threads at every change. Frayed fleece and knitted fabric wrap around toes and cut off the blood supply.

Where the usual advice goes wrong

"Bath it when it arrives to get rid of the smell."

Ferret odour comes from sebaceous glands in the skin, and washing strips the oil so the skin produces more. Frequent bathing makes ferrets smell stronger, not weaker. Most of the smell in a ferret household is bedding and litter, and washing bedding twice a week does far more than washing the animal.

"Let it explore the house so it settles in."

The house is the hazard. One proofed room for the first week, then expand as you verify each new space.

"Change it onto a better food straight away."

Change the food after the first week, gradually, once you know what normal looks like for this animal. Ferrets also imprint strongly on food textures when young and can be very resistant to change, so any transition needs to be slow and mixed.

"It sleeps all the time, something must be wrong."

Ferrets sleep for most of the day and can be almost impossible to rouse. Check that the animal is warm and breathing, and then let it sleep.

"Give it a rubber toy to chew."

No rubber. Not toys, not chew items, not anything. This is the material most likely to end in surgery.

"It nipped, so scruff it and say no firmly."

Scruffing is a calming and handling technique and it is worth learning. Used as a punishment after the event it teaches nothing, because ferrets do not connect a consequence with an action once the moment has passed. Redirect in the moment instead.

What never to do

Do not operate a recliner or sofa bed without accounting for every ferret in the house.

Do not run a washing machine or dryer without checking the drum.

Do not leave rubber, foam or soft plastic within reach.

Do not bath a newly arrived ferret.

Do not change the diet in the first week.

Do not introduce a new ferret to resident ferrets or to other pets in the first days.

Do not take an unvaccinated ferret out of the house, and do not let it meet visiting animals.

Do not assume a deeply asleep ferret is unwell, and do not assume an unwell ferret is asleep. Check that it is warm and breathing, and if it does not rouse after a few minutes of gentle warming, treat it as an emergency.

When to get help

Go the same day for a ferret that has not eaten within a day of arriving, for repeated vomiting, for pawing at the mouth or grinding teeth, for black tarry stool, for thin ribbon-like stool, for straining with nothing produced, for weakness or wobbliness in the hind legs, and for any sneezing, nasal or eye discharge or crusting on the chin, nose or feet.

Go immediately for a ferret that is limp and cool and does not rouse with gentle warming, for collapse or seizures, for a suspected crush injury from furniture or an appliance, and for a ferret that has been seen to swallow rubber or foam.

Book the first routine appointment within the first week regardless, for a physical examination, a discussion of the vaccination schedule, parasite treatment and neutering, and a baseline weight.

Three days in, the picture you want is an animal that eats, drinks, uses a tray, plays hard for short bursts and then sleeps deeply.

Bring everything you were told by the previous owner in writing if you have it, the vaccination dates, the date of birth, the neutering method and date, the exact food, the daily weights, the stool photographs, and a note of anything you have seen the ferret chew. Expect the vet to examine the abdomen carefully, to ask specifically about rubber, and to want to know how the animal has been housed before it came to you.