Blog
How to support this website
by ferretpapa
I just started a Ko-fi page where you can support me with one-time or monthly donations ☺️
Support me on Ko-fiYou can also shop using one of these referral links (preferably Chewy) or any of the links from my food chart, and I'll earn a small commission.
Every ferret around the world deserves a happy, healthy life, and I will always share as much as I can for free. My email and Instagram DMs are always open as well if people have questions.
However, donations will help me to support my own rescued ferrets and to free up my time to work on research, writing, and developing my website.
All of my ferrets except Auri have been adopted from the GCFA, many of them already on their last legs when I take them home. The GCFA has a foster program which covers vet bills, but I don't take part in this program - aside from some medications, I pay for all of my ferrets out of my own pocket (my lovely vet still gives me the shelter discount though).
In 2021 I had over $10,000 in vet bills that I paid for myself. In 2022 my vet bills have added up to $15,000 and counting.
My current focus is to write more articles and flesh out the ones that are currently there. If my content is enjoyable or useful to you, please consider supporting me!
Thank you in advance for your support!
Ferret Marketplace!
by ferretpapa
I'm happy to announce the launch of the Ferret Marketplace!
It’s a one stop shop to find toys, treats, bedding, anything you could possibly need for your ferrets! ☺️ Plus cute ferret merch and gifts for the humans too.
I wanted to make it easy for ferrents to find quality products, and to support small businesses at the same time. I will never charge any shop - all of the profits will still go to them.
Working on this made me realize how many awesome people creating amazing products we have in this community 🥺
You can also create wishlists and share them. View my favorites here!
An enrichment toy for ferrets
by ferretpapa
Keeping ferrets happy is a never ending task. Toys that challenge them both mentally and physically are hard to find.
One of the best toys I've discovered recently is this treat puzzle toy!
It has varying levels of difficulty - the center white bone pieces can be removed, so that just the red ones slide left to right. So the easiest level is just to hide treats under the red pieces.
Next is that the red pieces also are hinged. It's a little tricky for ferrets because they only open in one direction. Mine could smell the treats and knew that they were inside the red boxes, but it took a while to learn how to open them. It's something they still struggle with a little bit (but that's a good thing - if it were too easy they'd get bored quickly).
And finally, the most difficult thing is to put the white bone pieces back in and put treats underneath them. It's not easy for ferrets to remove these. In fact so far none of mine have been able to, but I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually
The best part is that you can hide treats in different areas every time, so that they always have to do a little work to get them out. So far it's been a couple weeks and the toy hasn't gotten old yet. They get excited and run for it as soon as I let them out and start sniffing and nudging the pieces around.
Linne
by ferretpapa
Yesterday evening the GCFA got a call that somebody had found a ferret dying in a forest preserve 😣
She was barely able to lift her head and flies were swarming her 🤬 It was in the high 80s earlier in the day, thankfully rain had cooled it down which probably saved her life
A wonderful couple found her and called us and took her to their car. Another volunteer met them at the preserve and I was able to get the ferret from them and give her fluids
Thankfully she was not close to starving yet, it was mostly heat exhaustion and dehydration. She had probably only been stray for a couple days. Which is proof that a ferret escaping in the summer is a DEATH SENTENCE. FERRET PROOF YOUR HOMES
The absolute worst part was realizing that what I first thought were seeds on her were FLY EGGS 🤢
I still feel my skin crawling just looking at these pictures. @kittenxlady has an amazing YouTube video explaining that they have to be physically removed, and how to remove them. Unfortunately I didn’t have a flea comb at home and didn’t find her video until 2am (thanks to Covid nothing is open 24 hours)
So I did my best with tweezers and fingers and gave her a bath and went to Walmart as soon as they opened at 6am, got a cheap flea comb, and finished the job. I’m still going to check her and her bedding every few hours but I think I was able to get most if not all of them
She’s going to stay with me a few days… she is refusing to eat anything and has green diarrhea as well, so she will probably be starting antibiotics and Pepcid
I asked the couple who found her if they wanted to name her and they said Linne, because she was found in Linne Woods. She is so lucky they found her, she would’ve probably been eaten alive by maggots if she somehow survived the heat today
The couple donated the car carrier and $50 to the shelter… such wonderful people 😭 if anything we owe them for finding her and not leaving her there
She has strength (fighting me when I was combing and bathing her) and I think she’s going to be ok but she’s not out of the woods (literally) until she eats
Anyways just another day with the GCFA 😪
There are multiple pictures below, it's hard to see but there is a small right arrow on the right of the picture that you can click to see more.
Vitamins, Minerals, and Preservatives
by ferretpapa
The food chart will now identify most vitamins, minerals, amino acids, additives, preservatives, and artificial flavors and colors. More will be added as I see that some are missing.
Foods with limited ingredients get a small bonus. These types of ingredients will no longer count towards the ingredient total because they're not really something that can be noticeably consumed. And most vitamins, minerals, and amino acids are good for the ferrets anyway, so they shouldn't be punished for having more of them.
Some manufacturers kind of "cheated" anyways, by just saying "vitamins and minerals" instead of listing them all out, so previously those foods were incorrectly getting a bonus for having limited ingredients. Now all foods will be ranked fairly regardless of how the ingredients are listed out.
I did notice that almost every food was now getting that bonus, so I made it more exclusive and set the maximum number of ingredients to 10 instead of 20.