Originally Posted by Pazuzu
I'm on ferret #8, she has a cat as a friend right now to keep her company in her final days (she probably has a year left). Generally had 2 at a time over the past 15 years.
ferrets and cats get along as well as cats and cats...you never know until you put them together. They're both mousers and both fighters and can be fine. Our two have a healthy respect for each other, but you'll never catch them snuggling or anything.
They are awake 4 hours a day and run at 110% the whole time, then crash out and sleep the rest of the time (so they won't keep a cat company). When you're not home or asleep, they should be locked up for their own safely, so again, cat has no friend.
Ferrets and dogs is questionable, unless the dog is raised from a puppy next to ferrets, they will see the ferret and a squirrel and you'll have a dead ferret in short order. One of mine (before we adopted him) raised a 120 pound great dane, but the dog was a puppy when they met, so the ferret quickly took control and would chase that dog down and tackle him.
Ferrets are 10 times more work than cats, you need a big strong cage or a devoted room for them (when they sleep, or you're at work).
The smell is already in your house if you have 3 cats, ferrets are no worse than cats, give them a bath once a month, watch their bedding, clean the litter box twice a day and you'll be fine.
I've never used cat litter with the ferrets, they will get all that dust in their nose and it can hurt them. Imagine if your cat was 2 inches tall...I use recycled newspaper pellets ("Yesterday's News"). I also have ferret food that I can only buy online, but i'm weird about that (although the cat eats the ferret food, so I only have 1 food...).
Ferrets are unfortunately still badly inbred, and suffer from lots of well known but ultimately lethal problems (insulinoma, cancer, adrenal disease, blindness, deafness) and also are well known for finding every dangerous thing in the house (finding poison and dying, sleeping in recliners and getting crushed, getting into a drawer and then into the cabinets then into the wall and dying, escaping and dying...get the trend?)
You need to seal every hole in the house bigger than about 1 inch, EVERY hole.
Flip side is ferrets are the best parts of cats and dogs, they do their own thing like a cat but like to wrestle and chase you like a dog, they can sit in your lap and sleep or knock over your water glass and steal your remote controls.
One way or the other, if you go get a ferret, adopt one, don't go to the pet store. Ferrets are bought all the time because they're cute, and people don't give them enough time and effort, there is a huge number of ferrets living miserable lives that need to be adopted away. All of ours have been adopted, some from unhappy home lives and some from other reasons (family moving where pets not allowed, etc).
Oh, we are not getting any more once this one dies. We got tired and beat up with putting them down every 3 or 4 years (they generally live about 8 years, with the last year being sick and requiring extra care).
Also, there's issues like, you can't just drop them off at the pet hotel when you travel, you need a place that specializes in ferrets. we board at our local vet, who specializes in exotic pets. Also, you need a vet that specializes in exotics, most vets cannot take care of a ferret. It's hard to have a neighbor come over if you travel like you can with a cat, since the ferret requires so much more care and interaction. Can't fly with them, sometimes can't stay in a motel (even a pet friendly motel), there's all sorts of little things that you never think about until you have to deal with it.
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