Hi! Barry wishes you all a great day!

She looks so innocent here, which is impressive considering the amount of chaos she's capable of causing in approximately 30 seconds

tippy was found on the streets by someone about five years ago. they posted on facebook asking if anyone recognized him. no one did so me and my mom went to pick him up. five years later here we are. cancer. he’s on two different pain meds after an emergency vet visit. because of the holiday weekend i couldn’t take him in today. tomorrow i will kiss and hold him and tell him i love him as he goes. thank you tip whip. your mom loves you.

Hello!

We’ve had to separate two of our ferrets due to them not getting on, which is fine. Our silver mitt girl is very clever and is continuously scratching behind the door to get out of whatever room she’s in when she’s awake, including at 4am 😭
Has anyone found a way to dampen the sound of door scratching?

She does have a cage but will wrap her tiny paws around the bars and rattle it which isn’t much better lol.

Thank you for any help!

Photo added because she is a cutie.

I just discovered that my six-month-old ferret's canine tooth is broken. I can see the dental pulp. It must have happened yesterday while I was away because it was broken when I returned. My ferret was strangely calm and licking its lips without having eaten. At the time, it just caught my attention, but nothing more. I have an appointment tomorrow at the emergency vet clinic, a three-hour drive from where I live. I feel so guilty. And I'm devastated because I know he's in pain. He's unusually quiet and sleeping abnormally more.

Has this situation ever happened to you?

Finally, this text is a translation because I am French and do not speak English.

Hi everyone ❤️ My ferret passed away a few months ago due to a heart condition. I thought he would be with me longer, so I purchased two 10 mL packages of furosemide for animals that he unfortunately never got to use.
Both packages are brand new, completely sealed, and unopened. I’m hoping someone with a ferret who needs them can make use of them.
If you’re interested, feel free to send me a private message. ❤️🐾

If you’ve been in this Subreddit for a bit, you’ve definitely seen my lil man Finnegan around, but a lot has been going on behind the scenes so here’s our story of terrible vets, lots of stress, and a very stinky boy! It’s long, but please do take some time to read it!

Finn backstory! He’s a privately bred ferret, 75% domestic ferret, 25% polecat. Big ol’ beefy boy, and the healthiest ferret I’ve ever had. Because I got him at 12 weeks old, he still had all his parts. From the breeders recommendation, I decided to chemically castrate him with the same implant they get for adrenal disease, and it completely stops the musky smell and shrinks his testicles, aka it works BEAUTIFULLY. He’s always been SUPER flinchy about his back feet and tail being touched regardless of how much I tried to desensitize him, but I figured he was just a sensitive guy. Just a happy-go-lucky boy who loves walks and squishmallows.

Ever since Finn reached maturity, he’s has issues with his anal glands. At first it would be here and there with no real cause, and of course the occasional expression when loud, scary sounds appeared, but nothing seemed terribly wrong. After a few months of this, he started expressing his glands much more often. And I mean MUCH more often, anywhere between 10-20 expressions A DAY.

After a few months of this, I was finally able to snag a vet appointment. I work at an animal emergency hospital, and this was the clinic we recommend to anyone who has a ferret emergency (our hospital only sees dogs and cats). It was a 45 minute drive, and he had expressed his glands about 3 times, and was asleep almost the entire ride as he loves car rides. Everything was going as smoothly as it could and I talked to the doctor about my concerns. I told her how often he expresses them, how much he licks, and how little human socialization I’ve been able to do due to him gassing everything for no reason. I told her about the chemical castration instead of neutering, and that he’s on a balanced raw diet with freeze dried raw as well. She did her exam, said his anal glands felt fine and he was a very healthy ferret. I expressed my interest in getting the anal glands removed, and everything went downhill from there.

From that point on, everything I did was wrong.

Raw diet? A terrible choice for a ferret, they should be fed nothing but kibble.

Chemical castration? We don’t know about it, he needs to be neutered.

De-scenting procedure? Unethical and considered mutilation.

Their treatment plan? An estimate to get him neutered because removing his anal glands will do nothing for the smell. The doctor later sent me an email containing these things;

- De-scenting is NOT an option unless medically necessary. Neutering would have to happen first, as the skin oil would not change with a de-scenting
- Again, castration is the first step and MAY reduce smell
- Hormonal implants for castration isn’t something we see, so we recommend neutering him

And then the last point. The most INSANE article I have ever seen IN MY LIFE.

- A “Care of the Pet Ferret” google document. Explaining to me, who has had ferrets for 6 years at that point and this is my 5th ferret, how to care for ferrets. In this article it tells you ferrets should have a small amount of fiber and vegetables. The thing that just about knocked me off my feet was the fact it ENCOURAGES people to give their ferrets RAISINS AS AN OCCASIONAL TREAT. No way was I listening to that. A single raisin can kill a small dog, let alone a FERRET.

I left without doing any further services, and they proceeded to call and send me emails regarding the neuter surgery for about two months before they got the hint. During this time, I tried everything I could, from probiotics for pets to supplements to bi weekly egg yolks to different meats, only for nothing to help.

It took me many months to gather the courage to find another vet and try again after that experience, and in that time it only got worse. His expressions became fouler, and it would travel between the levels of the house. Understandably, the house was miserable and I moved him into my room so no-one else had to deal with his smell.

It wasn’t until March of 2026 that I was able to find another vet. It was in the opposite direction of the first one, and also about 45 minutes away. This vet visit genuinely changed both of our lives.

The appointment comes around and I bring him in. The technician was the sweetest thing ever. Turns out she also had a horrible experience with the first vet, they told her she needed to put her ferret down and called every day for WEEKS that she needed to euthanize the ferret even though it had already recovered.

After a bit, the doctor comes in and starts her exam. All is well until she gets to checking his anal glands, when she lets out a “Good lord!” and just stares in disbelief for a moment. She turns and tells me he has, by far, the biggest anal glands she has ever felt on a ferret in her career, and they are both completely full. After that, she talks about treatment plans. She said due to how large and full they are, theres a very good chance he would need them taken out in fear of impactions. She was happy to hear he’s on a raw diet, and had zero issues with the implant for castration. Needless to say, a complete 180° from the first vet.

We start talking about the de-scenting procedure, but under the actual name of anal sacculectomy. The main risks are loss of anal tone and infection due to the location. Both quite spooky, but if it means he can have a better life, it’s a risk I was willing to take. And of course, this is when his anal gland started impacting and becoming infected.

After getting bloodwork at my primary and setting up the appointment, the day came. August 13th, 2026. Of course I was stressing, second guessing, and wondering if I was a terrible pet owner for this. But I made the early drive, kissed him goodbye, and left him in their care. I stayed in the area in case anything happened and was stressing the entire day. Because the procedure is considered ‘dirty’, he was the last procedure of the day. I got a call around noon letting me know he had been a very good ferret and she wanted to feed him a bit now simce there were still a few procedures in front of him. They also told me he was the best behaved intact ferret they’ve seen, so yay for Finn! It was about 3pm when I got the call that they were about to induce him and to plan to pick him up around 5:30pm. Still stressing, I sat in the library for the longest two hours of my life.

Side note, seeing vetmed from both perspectives, being the one monitoring the patient in surgery and being a pet owner waiting for surgery to finish are horrifically different. I completely understand why some owners call every half hour to see how their baby is doing, I wanted to do the same!

5:30 came around with no updates (no news is good news!) and when I went to pick him up, he was still in recovery. Surgery went smoothly, and his anal tone was back to normal before surgery even ended! He did amazing, and the doctor said she doesn’t think she will do many more anal sacculectomies in the future with how tedious and smelly they are (and I don’t blame her one bit lol). I won’t get into details, but they had to bring in a second doctor to assist with it due to how small and fragile everything is. I thanked her profusely, and off we went with our strong sedatives and pain meds (antibiotics were acquired at primary that night). She also told me that his anal glands were 3x the size of his testicles!!! For reference, the glands should be about the size of a pea, and they were the size of small grapes.

He looked so pitiful and sad from his injectables (last picture), until they wore off and he was bouncing off the walls. Literally. He got confined to a single level of his cage for two weeks and a cone on at all times, which took a bit to find a configuration that would work but we eventually found one and it worked perfectly! And don’t worry, he still got supervised out-of-cage time as usual!

It’s been a bit since then, and although he is still rocking his Brazilian shave, he’s doing amazing!!! No more gas bombing the house, no more anal secretions on me after cuddles, no more obsessively licking his anal area, and no more stress. And just the other night I realized he is so much less reactive when touching his back feet or tail. Before, he would genuinely flip out like someone was electrocuting him, and now he just looks at you. I do feel terrible that he had to suffer with his anal glands for so long, and if the pressure from his anal glands was causing him that much pain and discomfort and I waited so long to get it done, but the other part of me didn’t want him to have more issues after having the surgery, especially with how everyone says its mutilation and should never be done to a ferret.

The reason I’m sharing this is because it can be scary to advocate for yourself or your pet. A doctor only sees a small part of your pet’s life, so you have to advocate to make sure they get the care they need. Finn is thriving, and once the weather cools down more, I’ll finally be able to take him to parks and pet friendly stores without worry.

If you read all this, thank you! It’s been a long journey for us and just so glad everything worked out the way it did. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, I’m more than happy to answer them!

My 5 year old albino ferret has recently got a cough, we have been giving him ferret antibiotics from the vet for 3 days now and today I noticed his cough has changed and sounds significantly worse.

Anybody dealt with this before ? Vet said to wait till the antibiotics have run its course but I am concerned.

Ignore the video, I had to leave my phone recording close to his bedroom so I could catch the sound.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

TLDR:
How bad is the ferret smell in the home really if you care for them properly, and keep up with litter and bedding everyday etc. 2 bed apartment, and planned on keeping their cage in the living room.
Hi everyone!
Me and my fiancé are moving into a 2 bed apartment, and are looking into getting ferrets. My mom had ferrets when I was young, I loved them so so much, but she ended up getting rid of them:( I’ve always wanted a pair of my own in adulthood since. One thing with my mom and the ferrets, she let them free roam, and was NOT good about keeping up with the poop and such. It was in every corner, and as you can image, it was gross, and the smell was intense. I always felt that if they were taken care of properly, the smell wouldn’t be THAT big of an issue.
I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading, going through this forum too, and I feel like I’m getting some mixed opinions on just how bad it can get even with great proper care?
We would have them in the living room, and I think that’s why I’m more concerned about the general home smell. I wouldn’t be concerned at all if we had a separate room to keep their cage in.
Need honest answers please!
I miss ferrets so so SO much and the possibility of having them back in my life gives me so much joy.
TIA!!

hi everyone,
around 1 hours ago my two six month old ferrets got their first rabies vaccines at the vet.

i am pretty neurotic and obsessive about their health so i was wondering what common versus concerning side effects are, and how long they should last.

right now they seem fine, they are just really sleepy (im assuming also because they had a very long day), and even then its hard for me to not start getting anxious :’))

the realist half of my brain is not at all worried about them right now, this is just me asking for ease of mind haha

Researchers at The University of Nottingham Vet School are looking into the key knowledge and skills that veterinary graduates need when treating exotic pets and small mammals. 

They want to hear about pet owners expectations, and are recruiting participants for a focus group on this topic.  

To be eligible to participate you must be the main caregiver to at least one:

• Rabbit
• Guinea pig and other pet rodent (such as hamsters, rats or mice)
• Other small mammal, for example ferrets or hedgehogs
• Bird, including pet chickens
• Reptile

You must also:

• Live in the UK,
• Have sought veterinary care for your pet within the last 24 months, and
• NOT be a qualified vet/vet student, or qualified vet nurse/veterinary nursing student 

If you're interested in participating, please sign up through the link below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

What should new vets know about treating exotic pets? Register your interest – Fill in form

If you have any questions about the study or this form, please contact Dr Anna Fisher: [svyaf5@nottingham.ac.uk](mailto:svyaf5@nottingham.ac.uk)

I'm looking into getting a pair of ferrets (a pair because I know they are social creatures) and was wondering if I could get some helpful feedback on what things I should prepare for going into it or just common knowledge some of the community could share. I've already started looking at cages, and I've found this one https://a.co/d/08790guR and have looked into getting covers for the plastic shelving bits along with litter boxes, but I am open to information on which food products are best and other information. I also know that buying from the pet store is bad due to poor treatment and health issues associated with them, but sadly this is as much of the information I am privy to, so anything will help!

I’m feeling really guilty, and just missing my girl. She was about 7 or 8, I got her from a friend whose family member couldn’t care for her and have had her for four years. They had her for about two and a half but didn’t know her exact age. Is that a good life for a ferret age wise?

This last month she had started losing some fur, and when I gave her a bath her back legs weren’t as strong. I had contacted a couple vets just trying to get her in, and actually had an appointment coming up on the 15. Last week she seemed to decline really fast. Losing a lot of weight, and just wanting to stay in her cage really. I’d leave the door open for her to come out, but she’d come out for a little, then go back in. Saturday she didn’t want to get up, and it was cage cleaning day. I brought her out and she just couldn’t stand, and was very lethargic. I got her to eat a treat, and she was more lively, and I brought her to the emergency vet. They did some tests, they could barely get any blood from her. Her sugars were good. They did an ultrasound and didn’t have any tumors on her adrenal glands (which I suspected she had with the hair loss starting), and the only thing they noticed was her spleen was abnormal. She started to have really dark poops while there. They told me they could only give her steroids, and wait until the vet visit, or to let her go peacefully. I’ve never had to make that kind of decision for any animals. I feel like they kept saying that the steroids might not help, and just with her being that old they don’t know how much time it would buy. So I did go with letting her go peacefully. She passed in my arms being cuddled. I am just so sad, and keep wondering if she really was just old, or if I should’ve tried the steroids for her. It’s so crazy how small of an animal can hold such a big place in your heart. It’s been so weird with out her. And just so crazy how one day she was begging for treats, acting like her goofy self, and the next she couldn’t walk.

My previous post has picture of my ferret tail and fur. I called the vet we usually go to but they said they can treat her for adrenal and diagnose her based on just physical exam. They recommended me to go to another vet if I wanted actual testing for it. But the other vet I’ve always had bad experiences since they’re money hungry they won’t even tell me how much the testing is only how much the exam is which is DOUBLE what I pay for a regular visit at my normal vet.

How did yall ferrets get diagnosed? Is the blood testing worth it? I don’t want to pay $400-700 for testing her to MAYBE not even have it. I’ll do it if I have to but what is the best route?