Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Litter Training deaf ferrets

A few months ago, I got a ferret and discovered that he was deaf. My first reaction, for some strange reason, was "how am I going to litter train him?". This, it turns out, is not as big of a deal as I thought that it would be. Litter training a deaf ferret is much like litter training a ferret that can hear, minus the ferret's ability to hear you praise them or tell them to use their litter; it requires patience, consistency and positive reinforcement. To litter train your deaf ferret, place them in their litter immediately after they have woken up. If they leave before using their litter or fake using their litter, replace them in the litter. Keep putting the ferret back in the litter box until they go to the bathroom. Once the ferret uses the litter, give him a gentle pat or a treat to show them that they have done something good. Repeat this process whenever you wake your ferret up or notice that they have woken up. Eventually, your ferret will figure out that using the litter box makes you happy and will (hopefully) begin frequenting the box.