Well, I've noticed lots of ferrets have favourites, sometimes me. But me, I don't have any. I'm equally fond of them all. This doesn't make for problems at home, since all the five living with me have different likes and interests, so there's seldom any conflict in trying to be a good human to them all.
My ferrets don't do any other work apart from taking care of me. The first ferrets in Sweden, in the 15:th century or a bit earlier, were brought here as rodent control measures, a task which they performed a couple of decades into this century. Rabbits are hunted with ferrets and have been for more than a century, and in some parts of Sweden that's the most common task for ferrets, while in others they're mostly pets. Not that being a hunter excludes being a pet, far from it!
Working ferrets sometimes lives out of doors. As of this year, that's the only situation it's practical to have them living in cages, as now the smallest cage a ferret can be kept in is five square meters. This includes shutting them in at night or when you're away at work. Mine have the run of our whole home, and I've seen how they prefer different parts of to sleep in during different times of day and year, which probably has to do with light and temperature, in addition to which ones they want to be nearby or not, of course!
Swedish ferret kits may not be taken from their mothers (or their replacements) until they're eight weeks old. This, and the large cages needed will probably mean fewer will be sold through pet stores in the future. The regulation is due to the authorities now having decided which animals can be kept as pets and not, and now ferrets clearly are.
Most hobby breeders prefer to kits them at at least nine or ten weeks old. Kits are never sold neutered, as veterinarians won't perform the operation until they're mature and more than six months old. It's not common with problems because of this.
We don't have to vaccinate our ferrets against rabies, as we haven't had that in Sweden since 1874. Dogs and cats going abroad and wanting to get back without spending months in quarantine can be vaccinated, but there's no vaccine for ferrets, nor do I expect one. Distemper is always a risk, and while I remember when we had to give our ferrets shots intended for dogs, happily nowadays there's ferret approved distemper vaccine, Fervac-D.
Another thing you can do for your ferrets' health is to have them insured, so medical charges don't have to become a big problem. Sadly, I think only a small fraction are insured, which even though the premiums have risen lately doesn't make sense as the cost isn't large.
Nowadays, it's possible to find knowledgable veterinarians in many places, at least the larger communities, but during my time as president of The Swedish Ferret Society I certainly learned that not all of them are, but it's getting better all the time as ferrets get more common as pets, something which was rather unusual 15 years ago. Exactly how common they are today, nobody really knows. There is some ferret food available, but in practice most of our ferrets eat cat food, good quality of the hard and dry variety.
Apart from educating owners and the public about ferrets, for example by participating in general pet fairs, The Swedish Ferret Society, which was founded to watch out for its members and all Swedish ferrets, holds meetings for the members and organizes ferrets shows. During meetings, we sometimes holds agility contests, where the ferret has to negotiate an obstacle course. So far, I think the most difficult obstacle has been the narrow bridge across running water.
During shows, we don't have as many classes as I know there are in some places, but more than in others. This is mostly because we recognizes only four different colors: Brown (sable), white (albinos and dark eyed whites), pastel (approximately cinnamon) and silver (like white but with some dark hairs). In addition to this, brown and pastel can be mitts if they have white feet. Sex and status also determines class, as do age where the three groups are junior, 12 weeks to 12 months, senior, one to five years and veteran, older than five years. National shows can easily gather more than 70 ferrets (Sweden is about as large in area and population as Wisconsin and Iowa together), several times per year.
The Swedish Ferret Society doesn't operate any shelters, instead we work to facilitate adoptions, and sometimes in some parts of the country we actually have a waiting list for adoptions, which is good as then the new prospective owners can be better prepared (unless they aren't already owners). My feeling is that most people who need to find new homes for their ferrets are young people who didn't know enough about ferrets or who didn't foresee changing circumstances making it impossible to take good care of their ferrets.
The ferret awareness in the general public varies a lot depending on are, and apparently also by age group. I've been to parts of Sweden where almost nobody I met could imagine they of course get to sleep in my bed if they want to (not all of them do), but in other parts even small children know enough to tell a ferret from a dog or cat. Older people often thinks of them only as hunters, as that's the only thing they were when they were young, but fortunately many of them realise that they're like hunting dogs in that they must like people, some see them as wild animals, which is understandable as they look a whole lot like the polecats which live in southern Sweden. Then you have to explain that it's like dogs: Some look like wolves, but aren't.
I try to spoil my ferrets rotten. This doesn't involve a lot of treats, in fact the five of them get to share a single raison for a week or more. They don't seem to mind and actually like the fact that the treats come at unpredictable times. Most of them also likes human food and get to eat unspiced pork and chicken as well as egg yolks.
Mental activity is probably the most important thing to keep them happy, so we play lots of games, they get new toys often and we explore new places when we go for our walks. They may look small, but they do have lots of energy and provided the weather isn't too cold or hot, they love long walks, more than 4 km per evening is not uncommon. Some prefer the forest, others the built up areas and sometimes the best thing is to stay in the same place exploring and digging. I have also arranged buckets of flower pot soil indoors, in a larger box, so they can dig whenever they like and leave my bonsai alone. The last works for 80% of them, or perhaps less as I'm not sure all of them know how to climb up to them.
Read more about my ferrets: Ferrets: You can't live without them!
The Swedish Ferret Society's site: Svenska tamillerföreningen
This document written and last modified 1998 June 29
by Urban Fredriksson