Odd coughing ferret problem...

Question

I just got two ferrets a couple of days ago and they're about a year old. But one of them has a coughing fit(or sneezing I can't tell) everytime we put him in the cage. When we take him out it goes away which I find a bit odd. The other guy, so far, is fine. We did change their bedding because when we got them they had cedar and I heard that it was bad for them so we gave them, CareFresh, which worked great for our pet rats. By the way, these are my first ferrets... I'm used to rats so I'm a bit worried. We just got them from a shelter, and we''re getting there Distemper and Rabies shots soon. But I find it odd that he only does it occasionally in his cage and the other guy doesn't have it. It's 4:30 in the morning and his coughing woke me up so... I don't really know what to do. Any help?

Answer 1

get a new cage, see if the reaction is th same, he might be allergic to the coating of the cage, get him checked out

Answer 2

This is common. ferrets will wake up for no reason sneezing. sometimes the sniff something and it gets in their nose. I don't know what kind of water bottle/ bowl you use but water could get in his nose and make him do this. I wouldn't worry but when you take him for his shots I would ask.

Good call on taking the cedar out. That is very BAD for ferrets. Care fresh is fine. But if you have litter pans I would go to the store and get a pellet litter it is much easier to clean. But that is if you only use litter pans.  

Answer 3

it's probably the bedding. You shouldn't use any kind of chip bedding, (ex: cedar, pine, and the stuff you have). He's probably allergic to the bedding. Just try layering the bottom of the cage with newspaper or an old t-shirt/jeans. If it doesn't stop within the next 3 or 4 days after you changed the bedding, than take him to the vet.

Hope this helped!

Answer 4

Bring him to the Vet.