ferret care is a complex issue.  Although ferrets are lovely creatures and make great pets, they often come with many health problems that can be overwhelming to someone without the financial means to take care of them.

It is important to research many of the health issues that ferrets have before you decide to get one.
Once you have purchased your ferret, it is important to feed them properly (a diet consisting mostly of meat products), to make sure they get adequate exercise and that they stay generally healthy. 

Prevention is the key to keeping a ferret healthy and keeping costly emergency veterinarian bills at bay.  Veterinarians, however, are a priceless commodity for ferret care and you should always seek a veterinarians advice if you are unsure of something yourself.

It is important to find a vet for your ferret that either specializes in ferret care or has a vast knowledge of ferret illnesses and general care for ferrets.  Taking your ferret to a cat or dog veterinarian that knows very little about the ferret breed can be disastrous for both you and your ferret. 

Many cities have exotic animal veterinarians nowadays and some even have veterinarians that practice only on ferrets.  Regardless of who your ferret’s vet is, it is important that you are comfortable with him or her.

Once you have found a veterinarian that you and your ferret are both comfortable with seeing, keep his or her number nearby in case of an emergency.  But also remember that your veterinarian is there for non-emergencies as well.  If you are unsure of something, it is always best to seek the advice of your veterinarian.   Better safe than sorry is the motto for a lot of ferret owners!

Keep your ferret healthy by scheduling the recommended routine doctor visits every year and make a point to go to them and speak directly with the veterinarian about any problems or concerns you have.  Don’t worry about feeling silly asking your vet a hundred questions – again, it is best to be safe and get the answers to the questions you have than to be sorry and wish you would have asked something when it is too late.

Your ferret is the one who stands the most to gain from a positive relationship with your ferret’s veterinarian – a good relationship with the vet translates directly into excellent ferret care.

Learn everything you need to know about ferret care by visiting:
http://www.ferretcareinterview.com/home.html

ferret care ferret facts ferret pet ferret trainingTechnorati Tags: ferret care, ferret facts, ferret pet, ferret training

A ferret lover looking to buy a ferret usually is seeking for ferret facts before making the purchase … or after buying the ferret, to learn how they should take care of their ferret.

In this article we will be talking about ferret facts before buying your ferret.

Pet ferrets can be attained one of three ways –by purchasing a ferret from an authorized, individual ferret breeder, adopting a ferret from a ferret shelter or ferret adoption agency or purchasing an already spayed, neutered and descented ferret from a pet store.  

Many ferret enthusiasts and other people choose to purchase their ferret from an individual ferret breeder because doing so has obvious benefits.

A ferret that has been bred by an authorized and licensed ferret breeder is almost always a purebred ferret – ferret breeders do not usually mix two species of ferret, such as the dark eyed white with the sable ferret or the albino with the silver ferret.

Ferret breeders will usually breed albino ferrets only with other albino ferrets, so you know that you are getting a ferret species that has not been mixed. 

Another benefit of purchasing a ferret from an individual ferret breeder is that your ferret will be bred from top of the line ferret lineage – ferret breeders avoid using deformed or genetically deficient ferrets at all costs.  In fact, this is part of a ferret breeder’s responsibility – they should always strive to improve the overall ferret breed by breeding only the healthiest and most intelligent ferrets.

Many people also prefer to purchase a ferret from a licensed breeder as opposed to a pet store due to the fact that the ferret receives much better care from birth with a ferret breeder than a pet store.  Since pet stores have so many animals to take care of, the ferrets are often kept together too many to a cage and not played with or socialized properly.

Ferrets that come from ferret breeders are taken care of extremely well due to the fact that ferret breeders do not usually breed large quantities of ferrets at one time.  Ferret breeders generally will stick to one litter at a time and from birth they are almost always properly spayed or neutered, descented, immunized and well socialized. 

As you can see, the benefits of purchasing a ferret from an individual ferret breeder outweigh the benefits of most other ways of purchasing ferrets, either from a pet store or a ferret adoption agency. 

Some ferret enthusiasts, however, disagree with the breeding of ferrets and prefer to purchase ferrets from an adoption agency to keep ferret population down. 

It truly depends on the ferret purchaser’s preferences – there is a method of purchasing ferrets for anyone and everyone.  Those looking for the healthiest and most well taken care of ferret, however, will be better off looking for their ferret from an individual, licensed ferret breeder.

Get the right ferret facts before purchasing your ferret by visiting:
http://www.ferretcareinterview.com/home.html
  

ferret care ferret facts ferret pet ferret trainingTechnorati Tags: ferret care, ferret facts, ferret pet, ferret training

Of course.  Surprisingly, training a ferret is much like training a dog.  You can train her to do simple things such as “come here” or “roll over.”  If you are willing to put the time and effort into training a ferret to do tricks, the rewards will be no less than exciting and sometimes hilarious! 

If you and your ferret work hard enough together, you can even get it to do fun things like dance or beg.  There are a few simple rules to follow when training your ferret, however, and they will not only make the process simpler and less frustrating for you but will set the scenario for success with your ferret. 

First thing is first – make learning to do tricks fun for your ferret!  Think about it from your ferret’s point of view – it doesn’t have to learn how to roll over. 

Rolling over does not help your ferret accomplish anything in its daily routine, and it is not required for survival.  Why should your ferret learn how to do it?  What does it get out of putting the extra effort into learning to do something new? 

When you put the process of training a ferret into this perspective, you can begin to see why some people may have a difficult time training their pets – not everyone is able to look at training from a pet’s point of view. 

However, if you make the training fun and rewarding for your ferret, it will want to display the desired behavior – and both you and your ferret will be happy.  First, choose an easy to understand command, such as “sit” or “play dead.”  More than two words may get confusing for your ferret. 
Make sure that when you speak the command, your tone of voice is firm so that you are enunciating properly, but you do not come across to your ferret as stern, disappointed or angry.  Next, set up a way to show your ferret how the trick or desired behavior is to be done. 

For example, if you want your ferret to roll over, take a treat and hold it in front of the ferret’s nose while it is lying down.  Roll the treat above its head – slowly at first – so that it must lie on its back to get the treat. 

Then take the treat and put it underneath the ferret’s chin so that it must roll over once more to get it.  At this point, repeat the command and praise your ferret repeatedly while giving it the treat. 

Don’t get discouraged – a ferret is not going to learn a command or a certain behavior in just one day.  It may take several days or even a week or more for it to catch on. 

A few rules for success – make sure the command, how the trick is to be performed and the rewards and praises stay the same.  A ferret will never learn something that changes and you will both be disappointed and frustrated. 

The most important thing to keep in mind is that training a ferret should be fun for both you and your pet – if your ferret is not getting it, leave it alone for a little while and try again later.

You can also train your ferret to use the litter box much the same way.  You must first, however, understand that a ferret backs into a corner to go to the bathroom.  It is almost always a corner! 

It is also important to know that to successfully litter train a ferret, you must exercise plenty of patience and praise the same way you would if you were teaching it a trick.  In your ferret’s cage, it will pick a corner that it will defecate in and this will usually be the furthest from its food and water. 

Keep a corner pan that snaps in and out that can be emptied in its cage once your ferret has chosen its corner, and it is smooth sailing from there. 

The tricky part is to litter train your ferret when it is outside of its cage.  Remember the basics – your ferret will pick a corner and most likely use the same one repeatedly unless your ferret can’t get to it in time. 

When beginning to litter train your ferret, take it out of its cage only when you are able to supervise the ferret fully and completely.  This is not the time to let your ferret have free run of the house – there will be plenty of time for that later if you so wish.  Watch your ferret and when it backs up into a corner, lift it up quickly and put it in the corner pan in which you wish the ferret to use. 

If your ferret has finished its business successfully in the pan, give it plenty of praise and treats – your ferret deserves it!  After a few times, the ferret will get the picture and begin to understand that you want it to go to the bathroom in this corner and not that one. 

If you do plan to let your ferret run loose and you have a large house, pick several corners in which to have a litter pan – ferrets can’t wait very long to go to the bathroom due to their extremely short digestive tracts, so when they have to go, they have to go. 

Don’t set your ferret up for failure by not having an approved bathroom to go to when it needs to.  Keep in mind that there will be accidents.  Don’t ever punish a ferret for having an accident; you will only turn your ferret off of the whole litter training idea entirely.  Above all, keep the ferret’s litter pans clean.  If they’re not clean, your ferret won’t go in them – that’s not the ferret’s fault, it’s yours.  If you have patience, it will learn how to use the litter box and both you and your ferret will be much happier in the end.

Learn everything you need to know about ferret training and ferret care, by visiting:
http://www.ferretcareinterview.com/home.html

ferret care ferret facts ferret pet ferret trainingTechnorati Tags: ferret care, ferret facts, ferret pet, ferret training