Ferret Grooming Tips

Nail Clipping:

It has to be done. Otherwise the poor little guys get splitting on their nails and get hung up on toys, carpet, hammocks, etc. We have had them get hung up when no one was home and found a ferret with a bleeding nail when we got home. It has to be done.

Nail clipping doesn’t have to be a struggle. After trial and error, we finally found a method that didn’t require scruffing or even two people! Try this:

Have your nail clippers ready to go because this will happen fast. Get some Furo-Vite or Furo-Tone and rub some onto the ferret’s belly. Here’s your window of opportunity. You have a few minutes to clip each nail while your ferret licks it’s belly like crazy. Make sure to only cut the nail down to right above the quick (the little pink line). If you do cut too short and bleeding occurs, use some CutStop Styptic Pads to stop the bleeding.

Bathing:

You either like the smell of ferrets or you don’t. I love it. The scent is a musky one and even a descented ferret will have the musky smell. You may be tempted to bathe your ferret more often if you don’t particularly like the smell, but that will actually backfire on you because the smell is coming from a ferret’s natural oils. Bathing strips these oils and causes them to go into overdrive and produce extra musky smelling oils. A good frequency for bathing a ferret is only once every 2-3 months. Once a month at most! To cut down on the scent, clean the cage often and change the bedding frequently. But when it is time to bath your ferret, here’s a few tips that may make the process a little smoother:

• You can either use the bath tub or the kitchen sink. We’ve done both, but prefer the bath tub because it becomes playtime. Make sure you wet your ferret thoroughly. The undercoat is difficult to wet sometimes so use running water while rubbing your ferret in both directions or rub while in the tub water. Our ferrets enjoyed swimming before we got down to business for a little while. We actually had one ferret that would dive under the water, but most just dog paddled in circles. Add some toys to the few inches of water and watch the fun!

• Shampoo the ferret and rub gently but thoroughly. For some reason, many ferrets enjoy licking the soap. Why is still a mystery. Just don’t let him ingest too much as it can cause digestive trouble, but a small amount won’t hurt. It’s a good idea to use a shampoo and conditioner to keep his coat in optimal condition. There are also some great deoderizing sprays.

• Next you may want to clean out his ears. (Check back for a more detailed description of this process in a future post!) Use a cotton swab and gently rotate to remove the dirt.

• Rinse the shampoo and conditioner completely. After rinsing, we “ring out” the ferrets. Hold him by the scruff and cup your hand firmly around the body below the head and gently squeeze while moving down the body to the tip of the tail. You may need to do this a couple of times. I am always amazed at how much water their fur can hold if you’ve done a good job of wetting all the fur.

• Here’s my favorite part: Drying! Gently towel dry the fur, but he won’t tolerate this long. Set him down in a ferret safe area and watch him go!! He will run madly around the room, shake and ruffle his fur and rub on absolutely anything.

Now you have a clean ferret! It’s a great idea to clean his cage, hammocks and bedding at the same time to keep him fresher longer. Than repeat this process in a few months!