Having a ferret-safe Christmas

The holiday season is full on hidden dangers for our beloved pets. Most people are already aware that chocolate and alcohol are toxic to cats, dogs and ferrets, sweets are tough on their digestive systems and to avoid tinsel as some animals LOVE to eat it and it can tear through their intestines like shards of glass. Now here are a few special considerations for those beloved pet ferrets...

Consider keeping the tree is a ferret-free area of your house, or placing a ferret gate around the tree to keep your pets a safe distance away. If this is not possible, then there are certain precautions that you should take. 

1) if you have a real tree, avoid putting any fertilizer or tree preserver in the water. Ferrets have extremely long necks and skinny faces - they can often manage to get to the water and seem to really enjoy taking sips from this neat, new water container.
2) Decorate with caution. Be sure to place any and all fragile ornaments and decorations well out of ferret reach - broken glass can injure your pet and losing your favourite ornaments can be quite upsetting.
3) Be sure to place lights out of reach to reduce risk of electrical shock. Lights look very interesting to some ferrets, and they may decide that lights should be played with and put in their mouths. Placing the bulb/ bright portion out of their reach may reduce the likelihood of your ferret being tempted by these fancy new 'toys'.
4) If the tree is on an unstable base, consider tethering it to the roof or wall. If your ferret attempts to jump at ornaments on the tree or is interested in pulling garland off the tree, the tree will rock and may wind up falling on to your beloved pet. Falling trees also damage ornaments and gifts which have been placed under the tree.
5) Be careful with placing gifts under the tree - some ferrets feel the need to unwrap and play with these items, especially if their contents are candy or chocolate.
6) Always supervise your pet around the Christmas tree - some ferrets are incredibly good climbing  trees (though they are quite bad at descending without falling), and who knows what trouble they will get in to way up there!
7) Christmas gifts are fun for us, but are our gifts safe for the ferret? Resist the urge to leave un-safe gifts under the Christmas Tree after the present opening is complete. A toy truck, for instance, is a great toy for a child, but the small rubber tires can put your beloved pet at risk.
8) Don't forget about the stockings! Keep their contents well out of fuzzy reach and out of harm's way. While people will often remember to move their larger gifts, stockings are sometimes forgotten on coffee tables or fire place hearths, ready for ferrets to plunder.
9) Consider letting fuzzy out after the initial Christmas morning excitement. Your ferret will pick up on the hyper vibe and most likely be extra excited during present opening. They may be running and bouncing about and could easily get trod on in all the excitement and confusion that inevitably goes along with Christmas gift opening.  They may also choose to pick through newly opened gifts and ferret away their favourites before you get to enjoy them.
10) Not all guests are ferret aware or ferret friendly. Consider locking fuzzy away when non-ferret people come over to enjoy the celebrations. This will help prevent your pet from accidentally getting sat on, stepped on or let out by those unfamiliar with ferrets and their behaviour.



If you can think of any more Christmas dangers for your pet ferret, let us know and have a happy holiday!

How to Wrap Christmas Presents with Ferrets

Ferrets are very curious animals that LOVE to help around the house, often with somewhat disastrous results... Fortunately, someone wrote a list of step-by-step instructions which explain, in detail, how to wrap presents with your ferrets around. 

So here it is:

Gift wrapping with ferrets:

1) Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2) Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.
3) Open door and remove ferret from closet.
4) Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5) Go back and remove ferret from cupboard.
6) Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc...
7) Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8) Go back to drawer to get string, remove ferret that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
9) Remove present from bag. Remove ferret from bag.
10) Open box to check present, remove ferret from box, replace present.
11) Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
12) Try and smooth out paper, realize ferret is underneath and remove ferret.
13) Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
14) Throw away first sheet as ferret chased the scissors, and tore the paper.
15) Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting ferret in the bag the present came in.
16) Place present on paper.
17) Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize ferret is between present and paper. Remove ferret.
18) Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.
19) Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from ferret with pair of nail scissors.
20) Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
21) Look for roll of ribbon. Chase ferret down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
22) Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
23) Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to ferret's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
24) Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
25) Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
26) Put present in box, and tie down with string.
27) Remove sting, open box and remove ferret.
28) Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for locked room.
29) Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.
30) Remove ferret from box, unlock door, put ferret outside door, close and re-lock.
31) Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear ferret from outside door)
32) Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)
33) Discover ferret has already torn paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because ferret helped with this last year as well.
34) Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
35) Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.
36) Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
37) Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed ferret.
38) Spend 15 minutes looking for ferret until coming to obvious conclusion.
39) Unwrap present, untie box and remove ferret.
40) Go to store and buy a gift bag.