Hi there!
Before I begin this blog I want to point out I am Not bad mouthing or having a pop at anyone. I am merely talking about a trend I am noticing in ferret owners particularly novices, that I think is being misrepresented.
This trend is weight watching. Now I am a firm believer in checking your pets over regularly, keeping records etc etc but I don’t weigh my pets regularly. Unless I am concerned about something or they are receiving medicine I do not see Any point.
The reasons I see most people say as to why they are weighing so often are to check they are healthy and to know how much to feed. I’ll get to health in a minute but as for how much to feed, just let them free feed. Ferrets rarely over eat and weight gain is generally more to do with diet choice than amount fed.
Now on to health, have you ever heard of body scoring? If you have chances are you’ve seen it to do with dogs showing dogs in different scores from underweight to obese. This is what I do with my ferrets, and frankly it tells me a heck of a lot more than weight ever could. If you feel your ferrets body condition once every week (or even less often) you will gain a feel for their natural rhythm.
Recognizing this rhythm is really helpful, it can tell you when to expect a jill to come into season, when the weather started changing, if they’re stressed or sick. Where as a weight can only tell you of a weight change. An experienced owner can take an educated guess as to a weight change but feeling the ferret is how we know if it’s something to be wary of or not. You might think If you have a record of their weight last winter or last summer that might help you know if he’s still got weight to put on but nope, usually their first winter is their bulkiest so comparing to that you’ll convince yourself your pet is ill when he’s not easily. As for summer weight that can be affected by temperature, age, hormones, activity (which of course can be affected by all these in turn), and a number of other things.
I am now going to talk about one of our homes from many years ago. The lady, lets call her Cian, had a feeling something was wrong with her boy. He was coughing now and then and had a bad feeling. She started tracking weight, as many would and was working alongside a vet. She noticed his weight was barely changing, despite this she noticed he was losing muscle mass and was gaining a tummy. This was subtle enough that he just looked like a healthy ferret with a bit of extra weight. The more experienced of you might have recognized the water build up and the cough as signs of heart failure and you’d be right. It wasn’t until Cian was visiting and we were talking about this trend that I realized when we were trying to help her find a diagnosis I asked about his weight and was reassured that it hadn’t changed, when I should have asked about how he feels and tried to body score him. Then we might have got a diagnosis so much sooner. He is doing well now on medicine btw 😊
Another example of this weight watching not being helpful is with our old boy Xzander right now. At this point Xzander is about 4 months off being our second oldest ferret ever (second to our boy who passed at 14). He is already the one which we have owned the longest. Right now he has very little fat, particularly concerning given it’s now November and we are waiting for snow. That said he is active, eating, no fluid build-up and well-muscled. In short he is healthy. Going purely by weight I would be concerned but he is a spoiled old man who sleep with his daughter, granddaughters and nieces and nephew who are all well furred and fat. In short he doesn’t really need to put on winter weight and if his body wants to make it easier on his respiratory system and joints by not putting on any excess weight I am not going to complain. If he was to have lost muscle and be the same weight now but with fat or fluid build up… well at his age it would be time to say goodbye very soon.
I am not saying don’t weigh your ferrets. If it makes you feel comfortable then there is no reason not to. What I am saying is weight is not the only, or best, way of keeping track of your ferrets health. And if you ever think somethings wrong but scales say you’re wrong go with your gut.
Bye for now X