ASK THE VET
Dear Dr. Wise: Our son’s friend has a ferret and now he wants one too. I’ll admit the ferret is cute but does it really make a good pet? Will it get along with our dog and cat?
Answer: Ferrets are affectionate and playful – if you give them the attention they demand. They are almost always gentle when they are small, but, you should know that as they grow older they will get less gentle
and may begin to bite if you don’t continue to give them love and attention. It’s almost as though they were reverting to their feral state.
Ferrets are enjoying a new wave of popularity, perhaps because they are less demanding and require less care than dogs and cats – ideal pets for busy people in today’s fast paced society.
You should be aware, however, that ferrets differ in one important respect from dogs and cats. When a female ferret comes into heat, she must be bred or she may remain in heat and eventually die.
So, like other pets, the female should be bred or spayed. If she is not bred, she often will come in heat in the spring and remain in heat. During heat, the animals have a persistent high level of estrogen that leads to depression of bone marrow. This condition may cause anemia and a low level of blood clotting agents called platelets. Hemorrhages occur and may cause death.
I recommend purchasing a ferret when it is between six and eight weeks old. Your pet will be gentle and responsive if you give it alot of attention and handle it gently from an early age. Ferrets also can be trained to use a litter box. They also can be taught to come when called using the same type of training by repetition you use with any pet.
Like your dog or cat, your new ferret should have a check up by your veterinarian and the appropriate vaccinations.
A ferret will get along very well with a family’s dogs and cats.
If you have a question, write Dr. Wise, Indiana Veterinary Medical Association, 201 S. Capitol Avenue, Suite 405, Indianapolis, IN, 46225, or www.invma.org.
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