Tis the Season

     To have gaily wrapped presents under a tree. Homemade goodies and candies piled up on the counter from neighbors and friends or our own ovens. We let our guard down about our animals. Forgetting that some of the most wonderful things about this time of year can also be the most deadliest.

     Wrapping paper with its colorful print or metallic shine entices a ferret to come play with it. We forget that ferrets are the forever child that needs constant supervision. They love to put things into their mouths that could ultimately kill them. Some wrapping paper comes from around the world and the dyes that are used maybe toxic to a ferret who likes to lick paper. The metallic paper can produce its own hazard if it is ingested depending on what is used to give it the metallic look.

     Chocolate is poisonous to more than just ferrets. As can an overload of sugar be dangerous to a ferret. Candies often are called lick and sticks by ferret owners because a ferret will lick a piece of candy until it is sticky and then leave it somewhere to glue its self in place or the unsuspecting hooman steps on said piece of pilfered candy in his/her bare feet.

     Holiday plants pose their own brand of dangers. Some are toxic to animals and children that chew on them. The Christmas tree holds a number of hazards. The main one is its height. Remember ferrets don’t have depth perception so they always think they are only a few inches off the floor when in reality they are four to eight feet off of it and they love to climb.

     Next are those beautiful blinking lights. While they may memorize us with their beauty, a ferret wants that nifty bulb for him/herself. They don’t know there is electricity running through those wires or that the whole tree will come crashing down while pulling on that one bulb.

     If it is a live tree the pan with the water may have chemicals in it to preserve the tree for the time it is indoors. A ferret sees it as just another pan of water for them. Artificial trees cause problems when a ferret chews on the plastic needles and some of those sharp pieces make it into the ferret’s intestinal tract where they can puncture the lining.

     We as ferret owners can never let our guard down for that one second of inattention can lead to the injury or death of our beloved ferret.

Jo