Sooner or later you’ll either need a hospital cage or be thinking about having one ready. They are used for cage rest, quarantining and post-surgery so they don’t pull stitches (had that before, tip; have surgical glue on hand after every surgery so you can reinforce the stitches). In this post I’ll go through what we need to consider when choosing a hospital cage and how to acclimatize the ferret to them.
The first thing you should bear in mind with hospital cages is they are for sick ferrets, so the ferret is to be kept quiet. As such you don’t need to put in any toys, and if you do, I would advise you stick to easy accessed hides not interactive toys. It would be a disaster for them to hurt themselves worst by chasing a jingly ball. You also don’t want to put in any hammocks or levels in case they jump off and hurt themselves or pull a muscle or stitches playing. It is much easier to hurt yourself if you’re already sore. Likewise, you want the bed to be easily accessible and low to the ground. If you do choose to use a hammock to take weight off the body or keep them off the ground only raise it a couple of inches so they can walk into it.
On the note of bedding in my experience fleece or poly cotton bedding made for ferrets is best. It’s easy to clean and can be replaced every few hours to every few days depending on how quickly it gets dirty. Depending on why you are using a hospital cage you may have a ferret with an open wound, or a virus and soiled bedding can re-infect or cause an infection. Cleanliness really is key to getting them out ASAP. Ideally you will have a hospital cage that can be heavily disinfected really easily. Our quarantine cage is made from heavy duty plastic and metal, once it is empty, we can power wash it, fill it with bleach solution, whatever we need.
Toilets also need to be considered. In general, a normal litter and tray are fine to use but you may need to consider if the litter will stick to any wounds, if the tray is totally accessible for sore ferrets and the ability to take a urine sample. Puppy pads can be a good alternative for worries about litter in wounds or accessibility. You can get little bead like litters especially for taking samples. More than ever you need to have a solid water bowl or leek proof bottle. You need to keep the cage clean and dry. Although a wire bottomed cage we seem ideal here since it would allow water to pass through and (you would think) poo too these are a big risk for ferrets. They can catch claws or even feet, especially if hampered by an injury or sickness. They also just don't work well with ferret poo. Unlike rodents or rabbits ferret poo is soft and often long and just catches on bars, it is harder to remove from bars that flat surfaces because of this and often you must resort to it drying before you can remove it, not ideal when you're trying to keep everything clean.
On the subject of water bowls and bottles a piece of advice. The argument of bowl vs bottle is irrelevant in a sick ferret. The fact is ferrets, like cats, are not natural drinkers. They don't feel thirst the same way we do and rarely drink water if fed a natural diet. More important with a sick ferret is that there IS clean water available from ANY source and that you provide water in their food, be this by feeding meat, high quality canned cat food, soaked kibble or egg. Our Dylan wouldn't eat anything besides dried kibble, ferret oil and raw egg, we found mixing egg into his kibble about 5 minutes before feeding got him a little more water. Another tip, warming canned food can make it smell more and entice some picky eaters.
The cage itself needs to be quite small so they cannot hurt themselves stretching and climbing. Cheep hutches are usually a very good size for this, and they should be single level. We also need to keep them quiet. With no toy or play mates you may need to distract with a big tasty bone. You want something with a lot of meat on it like a chicken thigh. Bones like poultry feet are not really valued by ferrets and would not do the job. Also be aware of how much you are feeding, the more they eat the more they’ll sleep afterwards. If that fails to keep them quiet, you should be aware of how much you’re interacting with them. Use a cage cover or put them into a quite place in the home so you won’t be disturbing them, and they won’t be trying to get your attention.
The ideal hutch (in my opinion) is our plastic one which is currently 15 years old but you do see them available second hand from time to time. Failing that a small hutch painted throughout with floor paint or a coating paint to allow you to easily and fully disinfect is fantastic. Our other high recommendation is if you can find a large plastic carrier or dog crate with closed sides. The sides have to be closed to prevent climbing. I have found the style in the size needed is most common in “dog airline travel crates” though you need to check bar spacing and gaps of course.
Hopefully this has given you some ideas,
Bye for now!
Comments