Blowing One's Coat

Ferrets shed twice a year once in the spring losing their long winter coat to reveal shorter fur and quite often times new coat patterns. In the fall, they shed again this time replacing the summer coat with the longer winter hair. When ferrets blow their coat is when they are more prone to hairballs.

These hairballs can cause problems if they become lodged somewhere in the ferret’s internal tract and if left untreated this obstruction can kill the ferret.

It is then better to lessen the amount of fur a ferret will ingest and to help the ingested fur move along the digestive tract easily.

To do these things is easy and not as costly as surgery would be.

Daily brushing with a deshedding tool such as the FURminator®, my personal favorite, or one used for cats can help remove the loose hair that would otherwise end up inside the ferret as he grooms himself.

This also allows you a chance to bond with your ferret and gets him used to being touched all over his body which will be helpful for when he goes to the vet for his physical and/or vaccinations .

One might be surprised by the amount of fur these small bodies loose as each brushing session may result in a small sandwich bag stuffed full of ferret fur.

While you might just toss the fur out into the garbage, it needs to be said that there are organizations that you can donate your pet’s fur to in an effort to help clean up oil spills. But many of these same programs are filled so be sure to check to see if they are opened.

Since we cannot get every loose hair by brushing there is still need a to keep our ferret’s intestinal tract moving and this is easily done by giving the ferret a strip of Ferret Lax ® or Nutri-cal® every day. By both binding with the loose hair in the system and helping it move until it is out of the system we are keeping our ferret out of the emergency room and keeping both his life and ours less stressful.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo