???Ferret problem?? Mom threatening to take ALL 5 of them away!!! =[[?

Question

Well my family and I have 5 ferrets and we LOVE them to death, my mom loves them too but one thing she cant stand anymore is their stench. Me and my lil siblings are trying very hard to make sure the house dont smell. We put new blankets for them every week, we put this deorderizer thing to put in their water, so their poo wont smell as bad. We clean the cage and litter We tried everything!

Can anyone give us some tips are something to help make the smell go away. I know not permantly but just not to smell alot.

I really dont want to lose my babies. We have 5 who are Trouble, Junior, Coconut, Lucky and Rocky. Coconut is the only girl outta of the bunch, lol ^_^

I dont wanna see them go..

So can anyone help us? =|

Thank you sooo much!!

Answer 1

Try to use better odor obsorbing litter. Do not use blankets. They obsorb smell  HORIBLY!!

good luck!

Answer 2

try a deodorant shampoo made for ferrets wash thier bedding 2x a week and an air freshener next to cage like a renuzit

Answer 3

Try changing their food, some ferrets don't like to switch but they get use to it. There is a lot of fish oil in ferret food and that can cause the smells. Try using high grade kitten chow (my vet suggested this). My two ferret eat Brandon Farms Organics and the smell is pretty much non existent. Also there is the feeder mouse(prekilled) method, i have also had a high success rate with this in low odor. However...most people don't want to feed their ferrets mice, and it gets pricey.

Oh and don't over bathe your ferrets that can actually make them smell worse; because the body has to work overtime to restore the oils.

I hope you get to keep them and good luck!

Answer 4

There are sprays made for ferrets and stuff to put in their food at the pet store.

And there is always a procedure the vet can do to descent them.

Answer 5

Well, I have many ferrets also and what I found works the best is to clean the litter boxes every day,  I only use a recycled paper product that is approved for ferrets.  No cedar or pine or clumping or clay litter for ferrets.  I do not put anything in their water.

Ferrets are born with anal scent sacs, but these don't contribute significantly to ferret smell. The distinctive ferret odor comes from musk glands in the skin, which are concentrated around the face and spread over the rest of the body. The strongest contributor to ferret odor is hormonal activity. Hormones stimulate musk production in the skin glands, so the best way to reduce odor (by about 90 percent!) is to spay or neuter your ferret.  Now most ferrets in the US are neutered and descented when you purchase them so that is not the problem.  Ferrets just smell and you can't wash their natural odor away.  

When I clean the litter pans every morning, I scoop out the soiled litter and then dump the clean litter into another pan so I can use a mild bleach solution to clean the pan.  After I wash the pan, I put back any clean litter and then add more new litter.  In the evening, I scoop out soiled areas but do not wash the pan unless it is really smelly. Do this every day  and your house will not smell.

There is another big factor in the strong smell and that is the food you are feeding.  Cheap cat foods or ferret foods that have a lot of corn and fish in them make your ferret smell really bad.  I use a chicken base food Innova/Evo and I also teach my kids to eat meat.  This really helps keep their digestive tract happy and they don't have as strong smelling poo.  

For example: Marshalls ingredients

Chicken by-products (organs only, including chicken liver), Herring Meal, Corn, Cod Fish, Dried Beet Pulp, Brewers Dried Yeast, Cane Molasses, Salt, Sodium Propionate (a preservative), DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Taurine, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin, Biotin, Choline Chloride, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, BHA (a preservative), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (a source of vitamin K), D Calcium Pantothenate, Manganous Oxide, Inositol, Ascorbic Acid, Iron Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite

definition of term, chicken by product

Chicken by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.

Examples: Chicken by-product meal is considered an inferior source of protein for cats. Although cats may eat a certain amount of by-products "in the wild," the most nutritious commercial cat foods will show a named meat, such as "chicken" as the first ingredient, rather than "chicken by-product meal."

Then you have herring meal, corn and Cod fish.  Ferrets are meat eaters not fish eaters, and herring meal is very stinky.  No veggies or fruit or sugar because their short intestines cannot handle the fiber and when your intestines are not happy, you are one smelly person yourself.  Make sure you are feeding a good animal protein food that is not full of corn, wheat and fish and your will notice a difference in the smell.  Clean the litter pans and wash bedding!

Hope you don't have to re home them.  They probably love you just as much as you love them.

Answer 6

I have two Ferrets, and I use Cedar chips as their bedding, And I sprinkle Baking Soda under the cedar chips. Clean their cage at least twice a week with that many ferrets. Cedar chips can be bought at Wal-Mart  works better than any thing I have tried. Don't use pine chips they don't work good for odor.

Answer 7

Try buying Ferbreeze and spray it every time they have an accident. When you finish cleaning it, throw away whatever you used to clean it OUTSIDE not in the trash. Spray the house with ferbreeze every morning too.

Answer 8

Well, ferrets have a smell, and you have 5, so it increases the smell greatly. Since you have so many, I suggest washing the bedding every three days and clean the litter box twice, yes twice, a day. If that doesn't work I suggest you join this forum and ask them, there are some people on there who have better ideas than me.

http://www.ferretvillage.org

Answer 9

Ferrets have natural musk glands.  have they been removed? Also, Ferrets have a natural odor to them but it's not nasty.  I love ferrets and had several myself.  You might also want to talk to your vet and see if there's anything else you can do.  But to me it sounds like you've pretty much covered the bases.

I hope you get to keep your ferrets.

Answer 10

NEVER NEVER NEVER use cedar chips with ferrets it is the worst thing for their respiratory system,and it makes them smell worse!!!

High quality food with little fillers . LIke zupreem is the best place to start. Change blankets and litter EVERY DAY. MAKE SURE YOU ARE USING A good litter like yesterdays news scoop in the morning and dump it out at night and add fresh.also DO NOT bathe them, it makes their oils glands produce more oil and a stronger scent.