Saturday, December 20, 2008

Safe Cage Toys

Keeping a ferret entertained in his cage is a bit trickier than keeping him entertained during supervised play time. Anything left in a cage with a bored and unsupervised ferret must be nearly indestructible. Because bored ferrets tend to take out their boredom on the items in their cage, cage toys must be examined daily and discarded immediately if they begin to show signs of wear. Probably the greatest little invention (and perfectly suitable for cage play) is a thing called an edible ferret toy. Ferrets can chew and rip these toys apart, but because the toys are easily digested there is little concern over the ferret suffering from intestinal blockage. Another safe cage toy for a ferret is a set of plastic keys - the ones that are given to babies. These plastic noisemakers can be clipped to a cage and some ferrets will enjoy knocking then about. Boxes, bags and crinkly paper, though great entertainment for supervised playtime, are not at all suitable for cages as they can quickly become a hazard. Bags, boxes and crinkly paper are easily ripped apart, creating a situation where a ferret may get its head stuck in a hole and suffocate or panic and injure itself or it may swallow a piece of the material and become ill.

17 comments:

  1. One of Flower's favourite cage toys is a chicken flavoured nylon bone. It is made for "heavy chewers"

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  2. That's wonderful. Nylabones can be great, though my last ferret thought that he was a vegetarian and would turn his nose up at anything meat flavoured... it was too bad too, a nylabone or something similar would have been a really suitable cage toy for him!

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  3. I found the Flower at first didn't want any thing to do with the ferret chews. I smeared some ferretone on one and that changed his mind quickly. You might be interested in the treats you can get from here http://www.hyperfur.com/

    I sent them an email and found out that they do ship to Canada. I have been talking to Total Pet about carrying more ferret treats etc, they won't buy from Marshall, but I am hoping they will stock these ones.

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  4. I have asked Total Pet about their dislike of Marshall, and found out that Total Pet has a ban on Marshall ferrets and products because Marshall uses breeding methods which some call questionable (such as using lighting to trick jills into having more litters) and breeds ferrets for use in labs as well as for the pet market. Petland, however, does not have a ban on Marshall and carries a variety of Marshall ferret products. It would be nice, though, for more choice in ferret products in town!

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  5. It would be nice. I was talking to them down at Total Pet about that. I would prefer to buy locally, and would rather support Total Pet than Petland, but I also need supplies for Flower. I do buy my food from Total Pet since they are the only ones that stock 8-in-1.

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  6. Buying locally is much better, its true! I really hope that Total Pet starts to carry the foamy ferret chews, those look cool! Also, Total pet is more centrally located, which I like =)

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  7. Total Pet is very handy to us. I take Flower for a walk there when it is warm enough. I agree about the foamy fries. I may have to break down and place an order for them.

    How many ferrets do you have?

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  8. Do you know anyone who would be willing to ferret sit for about a week at the end of this month? I have to go to Vancouver for surgery. If necessary we can board him at Total Pet but I am worried about him getting enough attention. We are willing to negotiate a fee, but would need to meet the person and make sure their home is suitable.

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  9. Sorry - to reply to your last 2 blogs (I have been having some computer trouble lately). First... I am sorry, I don't know of anybody right now in Prince George that would for sure ferret sit. I would if I was in town, but am living in Victoria for the next 6 months (will be back in PG after that). I would try to find a house sitter that is comfortable around ferrets. You can try some kennels as well, but Flower will likely get the same amount of attention at Total Pet as a kennel. For the next question... I currently have no ferrets (I didn't feel that it was right to get them when I was either working or in University all the time), but now that I have my degree, I hope to get 2 ferrets from a ferret rescue down here, and should everything go smoothly, I should get them within the next two weeks.

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  10. Thanks for the response.
    I went and talked to Total Pet today. They will take him for the week that we are gone. They charge $5.00 a day. Rick has promised me that he will get lots of attention and cuddles.

    We have someone who comes to take care of our cats, but they are not comfortable with the woozel.

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  11. Keeping a ferret entertained in his cage is a bit trickier than keeping him ... ferretscages.blogspot.de

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  12. Try to think of ways in which your child may use it and test to see if the toy will fall apart. You can also test all toy gifts since they were not given with the intention to harm the child. It is better to be safe than sorry.big teddy bear

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