My Stinky Ferret

Updated on March 09, 2008
T.M. asks from Alice, TX
9 answers

We recently got a pet ferret and the smell of it is amazingly bad. We gave it a bath and the smell didnt go away, not even for a minute. My husband said that he was told that there is a pill you can give it to make the smell go away, but to me thats more trouble than what its worth. If it was once a month or even once a week, I would consider it, but daily is too much. I've thought about the pet wipes, but I wanted to ask someone who knows from expirence before I start spending my money on stuff that doesnt work. Also, can I use the puppy pads to potty train it? Please Help!

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So What Happened?

I want to thank everyone for their advice. We bought a pet spray that, you can tell, hides the smell. We hardly handle it, so we noticed most of the smell was in the air of the room he sleeps in. We bought an air purifier which I wanted for years. This was my excuse to buy one. Thanks a bunch for your help....T.

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S.D.

answers from Austin on

No matter what you do, even removing the gland, all ferrets have an odor, male and female. Since they "corner" a friend has the litter boxes made for corners all over her home. It helps to an extent but they still miss. As far as the puppy pads, they consider it a toy and will either tear it up or just play with it.

Good luck.

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K.E.

answers from Houston on

I have had a few ferrets and the younger ones do stink. most of mine were older and adopted as they get older they stink less. You need to find him a vet that deals with ferrets as a domestic animal which they are, and not an exotic which they are not. If the vet treats it as exotic it only means they dont know what they are doing and will charge you 3x as much. I do believe either having their glands removed or simply getting them fixed will help. The puppy pads are a great idea to place in the corners. They are amazing, sweet, and playful creatures but please keep it away from plastic because they like to chew and can hurt themselves. Hope some of this helps.

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D.M.

answers from Houston on

why o why did you get a stinky farret? my step brother had one at one time. those things are just nasty. they have a gland somewhere in them that produces that odor kinda like a skunk. my step brother had his ferrets removed; elliminating the odor. good luck with that!!!! :)

D. Mattern
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M.S.

answers from Houston on

They have a gland in them that produces smell. You can keep them bathed and their cage clean, but after that the smell u smell is them.

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R.

answers from San Antonio on

Male ferrets have a gland near their tail that causes them to smell. This is normal and nothing will make it go away.

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A.H.

answers from Dallas on

Ferrets are musky animals and you can never get rid of that. If you have a male fixed and his sent glands removed at the same time, this can make a significant difference. We loved our ferret. I would suggest a litter box as I wouldn't let my out. We actually found him running down the sidewalk, so they can get away very easy.

Our ferret loved to hide stuff- he especially loved to play with toilet paper rolls! Good luck!

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K.S.

answers from College Station on

Most ferrets you will have to have their scent glands removed. That usually takes care of the odor. But if you have a female you will have to have her glands removed and have her fixed. also you can use puppy pads to train them on but to be honest mine used a litter box like for a cat. Worked great just had to clean it daily.

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P.P.

answers from Austin on

They may be cute and what we think would be a good alternate to a normal pet such as a cat or dog or fish but they take a lot and a lot of work to take care of. They have that stinky almost no matter what, part of it is a territory issue. Try this website it can tell you numerous things to do, and as it says do not bath your ferret more than once a week. Hope this helps!!

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17979/deodorizin...

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J.S.

answers from Houston on

I don't see much hope for the ferret getting any better. They just stink like hamsters and gerbils do. Went through the same thing with stinky gerbils. Washed their little stinky fur until their little eyes bugged out. Changed the cage constantly to no avail. Find a household that has less smelly standards than yours and give the ferret and cage and stinkyness to some one who can tolerate it. That's what we did! JS

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