They are the best of friends and love eachother a lot. The puppy Oreo is 4 months old and about 5.5-6 lbs and unlikely to ever grow a whole lot more-maybe 8 lbs total. She has been great with the ferret Keawea ever since we brought her home at 9 weeks old. They play together almost every day, although I do have to separate them occasionally if the puppy is too rambunctious, simply because I don't want her to accidentally scratch Keawea's large ulcerated benign tumor. The ferret has drawn blood from the puppy's ear when she was startled once, but the puppy has never hurt her, even grabs her tail and pulls her back onto the bed if she starts to fall off (Keawea is 7 years old and blind) I would never even consider this, but Keawea's littermate and lifelong cage mate Rascal died recently (in fact, two days after Oreo came home) and Oreo was the only thing that could pull Keawea out of her funk. I would like to eventually (when she grows up a bit and calms down) be able to leave them both in Oreo's crate when I'm out and about. Keawea is totally healthy and still frisky and unless something unexpected happens, it looks as though she isn't going anywhere anythime soon and we will never have another ferret, so getting her a same-species friend isn't an option. It wouldn't be too terribly big of a deal if they ate eachother's food-well, I prefer Oreo stay away from Keawea's since Oreo's food is organic and the food Keawea needs isn't, but I can arrange that by placing it in a tube only she can fit in. Both are on grain-free diets, so although she won't eat it even if given the chance, Keawea eating Oreo's food would be no problem. Will I ever be able to safely leave them alone?
Perhaps they could stay together, without being together? Such as in a divided crate, (where they would be side by side) or with the doors of their crates facing each other.
Hello,
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com I understand you love you animals and your dilemma, but please never leave them together in a closed crate. It is just too dangerous. Too much could go wrong. It is just too much of a chance to take. It sounds as if you care very much for your babies and I know you would be devastated if something happened. Especially ask they get older ferrets are less able to tolerate rough play even if nothing really bad happened. It is even possible for the ferret to nip the dog in play and do it a little hard or in the wrong place and the dog and the dog yelp and snap and then .....
As far as the food goes, it really is not a good idea to let the ferret eat out of the dogs bowl, you never know when that could go wrong. The dog should be fed several times a day as a puppy and no more than twice a day as an adult and then the food should be taken up after 15 min. You could put the ferret food somewhere that the ferret could get it and not the dog.
The new information about ferrets suggests that the protein content should be a minimum of 40%, 20% fat. (More is better) Ferret food has additional things that dog food does not. Just as dog food has things that dogs need and ferrets do not.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com I am sure that you already know this but ferrets' intestines are so short and delicate that they have to maximize what they eat.
ferretsanctuary1@aol.com
757-463-8942
I had two dogs a german shepherd and a sheltie. One day for a reason noone knows, the shepherd turned on the sheltie. $ 4,000 and 2 surgeries later ..
I hope this helps.
ferrets should never be given any fruits, vegetables, grains, sweets, milk, nuts or peanuts
I wouldn't, personally. But if you feel its right, go ahead. They're your pets and not anyone elses on Yahoo Answers, so your choice is the one that counts. If I was you I wouldn't leave your ferret out anyway because it could get out, and plus animals are unpredictable. Again, its your choice so whatever you do will be ok.
Good luck!! Megziebananas:)
I wish I had some words of wisdom to help you, but I do not. I totally understand why you don't want to get another ferret. We had 2 ferrets, and one died in June after being sick for most of his life. He had some disease the vet couldn't diagnose, which put him on Pred. shortly after he turned 6 months old. He eventually had insulinoma. We ended up putting him down when he was just shy of 6 years. (The vet even commented that she had never known a ferret to be on Pred. for as long as he was.)
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com After Wazowski died, his cagemate, Mike, was very sad. We ended up adopting a puppy from the shelter, and they have become fast friends. Unfortunately, our dog is already over 50 pounds, so leaving them alone is not an option for us . (Scout, our dog, is too energetic and too big. We wouldn't want her to accidentally hurt Mike.)
I totally appreciate your situation, and I wish you the best of luck. I am sure whatever you come up with, you have the best intentions of both animals in mind.
Give your Keawea our love!
You cann ot leave a ferret in a dog crate they can get out for one and you never know when the dog might mis-read the ferret's crazy actions and kill it thinking the ferret was attacking it or play to rough and have an accident. If you can not propperly cage the ferret when you are not home I suggest finding it a new home. Or get a second ferret. Simple really. Sheesh.
