I recently read an interesting article on msn.com about black-footed ferrets suffering a potentially lethal flea-borne disease that is seriously affecting their dwindled population and it just about breaks my heart! I love ferrets and while I have never actually SEEN a feral black-footed ferret (they are not permitted in the pet trade), I do know of their near extinction and plight for survival. In the early 1980s, they were thought to be extinct but a small group was discovered and a breeding project has been reintroducing them gradually to their former range. But to the point, -I had a domestic ferret in the 1990s that I bought from a pet store that was my pride and joy for over a decade.

Spur of the Moment Decision: To Ferret or Not to Ferret

It was an impulse purchase I must confess, deciding to buy a ferret. I grew up having domestic mice and gerbils as pets and was quite familiar with small mammals. They don’t live long enough, -a few years at most.

I had tame ‘lab rats’ in the late 90s, -they were awesome! And they had a bit longer-life expectancy than white mice so that was a bonus. I had a chinchilla too. Very squirrel-like, but they are not as cuddly as I would have wanted and I still wanted something ‘playful’ and also, a lot more domestic..

A terrible rainstorm washed out a nest of some sort and I rescued three surviving ‘pinkies’. Fed warm sweetened-condensed milk with a small eyedropper, only one lived and grew and it turned out to be a red squirrel! I named him “Kookla”, Russian for “clown” or more precisely, ‘hand-puppet’. I could handle this red squirrel like any domestic rat. S/he’d run and jump and make me give chase all over my apartment! But if I sat down for a few minutes, s/he would return to me to be picked up.

I never knew for sure what gender the squirrel was.

I tried a few times to release Kookla back into the wild (well, my back yard actually) and it was not a success. S/he’d run into the grass and scamper up trees briefly, but would always come back minutes later and want to get back into the waiting travel cage. –Yes, I was to be forever responsible for that which I had tamed. And for nearly four years, we enjoyed the company of each other until the squirrel eventually died quietly one morning of old age. I have seen many wild red squirrels ‘in the wild’ but have never seen one ‘gray silver & white’ from old age. I guess that they would be attrited in the wild long before reaching a venerable old age.

I had never owned a ferret before. It was due to (then) Governor Pataki’s (R.NYS) fulfilled promise that if elected, he would stop the State’s money-grab regulation of ferret licensing. –No longer would the annual licensing fee be required and pet stores could sell ferrets along with other common (and not-so-common) pets. So, on a whim I bought a ferret.

I wasn’t sure if that was going to workout or not but within a few days of having her with me at my home in New York, -we bonded. Ferret ownership was awesome!

Ferrets Play

Ferrets are amazing! They are perpetually ready to play even to the detriment of their own sleep, and they sleep more than cats! I would take mine out for walks on a specially made ferret leash, or just play indoors with her. We would chase each other back and forth between rooms and halls. We’d play this way for hours, often ending up on the sofa where I would lie down for a nap in front of the television and Trouble (isn’t that a great name for a ferret?) would burrow up inside of my T-shirt and cuddle near my armpit and sleep there.

Ferrets probably are not very good swimmers, but I would let her have short, supervised ‘swims’ in my inflatable swimming pool during the hot summer days. A lap or two around the pool was enough. Ferrets do not fare well in the extremely hot days of summer and need to be kept cool. Often, a short cooling dip in the bathtub was sufficient to help her regulate body temperature.

For one weekend’s toil and for about $40.00 worth of lumber, wood screws, wood stain and clear varnish, I made a totally awesome cage for my ferret. Using discarded under grating from a discarded grocery store produce case, I had ready-made sides for the cage. I made a recess hole in the flooring to accommodate a litter box commonly used for cats, and used a small removable plastic clamp-top box mounted to the underside of the flooring made a sub-level nest for her. I build two hinged doors for the top, and added screen. The cage was amazing!

The Aging Ferret

Over the years she became a bit slower, her appetite decreased and she was a bit less playful. She was becoming aged. Ferrets live about 9-10+ years on average I was told. I had her for since ‘91 and she passed away in 2005. She was probably one year old when I bought her so; I knew her life expectancy was longer than most.

I could see that she was gaining mass and firmness in her tummy area, common among ferrets as they age. The fur around her tail and lower spine was becoming finer and thinner. She was loosing her hair. This is often an early sign of Adrenal Disease.

Walks outside would be shorter, and limited to early evenings when there was no sun as being nearly furless around the hindquarters she might more easily get sunburned.

The adrenal glands are small pea-sized glands that tend to fail with age with disturbing frequency in domestic ferrets. An operation to remove the dysfunctional adrenal gland is the recommended solution for younger ferrets; but mine would not have benefited from this procedure. She was too old. Adrenal failure was inevitable as she slowly declined in health.

Trouble the Ferret stayed with us for another six months this way, too frail to do much more than come out and eat a little ferret kibble dribbled with Ferretone (a oily mineral supplement that ferrets love) and lap-up some bone marrow on a spoon for energy, protein and required fatty acids that helped keep her going this long. I finally had to make the hard choice and have her ‘put down’ when she reached the point that she could barely stand. She was sick, suffering, and nearly blind by now. It was a difficult decision, but it needed to be done. I miss my beloved pet Trouble the Ferret. She was like a best friend. Bringing so much happiness and joy to my life in that decade, having her as my pet forever enriched my life.

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