another question

[darren m 1]

does anyone here worm there ferret , and anyone have them enocked against distemper etc .

just wondering , been reading about on ferret world .

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

I would say, " Never and Never ", mate. Only, if I'm brutally honest; A mate of mine ran a Mink Farm and he sent me down a couple of bottles of 'Mink' vaccine. I genuinely can't remember what they were for now. This was bloody decades ago. I jabbed my lot, of the time, with it. But I did that pretty much because I had the stuff given me and it was a case of 'Well; Why not?'. Probably jabbed a few mates ones too. Jabs didn't do anything any harm. None died from it in short order.

 

Saying that though; I'd kept ferrets long before and since and never stuck anything in them for any reason. They too didn't tend to die in short order. Historically is what I'd look to. What have people done, perfectly happily, for the last maybe couple of thousand years?

 

We do seem to have hit a bad spot where it became the vougue ~ probably due to the Industrial Revolution and peoples own living conditions ~ to keep ferrets in dark, stinking hutches and feed them on shit like bread and milk. But we've got over that sort of disgusting habit now. Now we're back to how it used to be and pride ourselves on the airy and spacious quarters we provide them. So light, room and fresh air has been pretty much a constant in keeping ferrets, down through the centuries.

 

Another constant has been the provision of fresh, whole, dead small things for their diet. This being a simple replication of what they would choose for themselves if they regained their 'natural' state.

 

Worming them and sticking needles in them? Naah. I could be proven wrong here. But I've never personally heard of any period in history where either A. Ferrets were 'wormed' as the norm. Nor have I B. Heard referance to any period where they were all dropping like flies because of Distemper. Dogs used to. A century ago. Perhaps some ferrets got caught up in that? But, whilst I've known a ferret keepers Dog die of Distemper, within the last few decades, he never mentioned losing his ferrets to it.

 

Last Quarter Century, of course, everything's changed! Now the ferret has become a popular pet in the US and the drivel spouted from their new infatuation has leaked over and taken root here. Now it's strongly argued - by some - that ferrets should be fed little pellets of much the same shit that's been wrecking cats kidneys for so long. Now people suddenly decide it's impossible to feed a ferret it's natural diet as long as there's a sun in the sky. Now it's quite the thing to cut bits off and out of ferrets. For human convieniance. In US they even remove scent glands, so people can have what's left of the natural animal, without the inconvieniant aspects. They then house them in gayly coloured, pokey little cages in their air conditioned apartments and lord knows what else they do with them. They most certainly Don't use them to work rabbits. Just as well as the poor wretched things probably wouldn't have the stamina, if they even have the instinct. Fur colour is deemed much more important. I expect they even have 'Pedigrees' by now? And, yes; It's a fair bet such people religiously worm and vaccinate their part ferrets too.

 

Entirely up to you what you do then. But man hasn't done such things for a couple of thousand years now, and everything in the ferret court's been rosey.

[Guest JDF]

that's exactly what i was going to say

 

can you even buy wormer for ferrets?

[Kay 3,709]

No & no here as well

[tote 854]

that's exactly what i was going to say

 

can you even buy wormer for ferrets?

 

If the vets think they can make money out of you they will sell you something

[darren m 1]

cheers all -- thats good enough for me :thumbs-up:

 

thanks again .

[Kay 3,709]

I have never had a ferret vacinated agaist distemper in 13 yrs of keeping them , i think its a personal choice thing, as for worming, again never wormed a ferret or given it hair ball stuff which seems to be the new fad of ''must have'' crap , basically if there fed a good ballanced diet they dont need supliments ,

 

Sorry gone off the origonal thread there a bit,but i feel better now for letting off a bit of steam

[jigsaw 11,863]

Keeping ferrets since I was 14 years old and never injected any.I lost ferrets on maybe 2 to 3 occasions in all that time,so dont think theres a real need personally.