My friend has just got jill ferret, whats the best thing to help the awful smell?

Question

We love little Lila but shes so stinky and we were told she could only have 1 bath a month, is this true?

Answer 1

Hi there I have recently got a ferret myself, we have had him 4 weeks and he was neutered when we bought him from the rescue center.We brought him home and after about an hour I was beginning to seriously regret my discission as the smell was EVIL!! I put up with it for a few days and then had to call the vet for some advice as I was beginning to obsess over the foul odour. The vet advised me to wait a couple of weeks and if the smell was no better then we could have his scent glands removed. I persevered and continued to play with him and handle him as much as possible and after about 2 weeks he stopped squirting and settled in to the family really well. I think it could be possible that Lila is still a little unsure of her new house and is squirting all the time because she is a little scared or even a little excited. Make sure your friend handles her a lot and plays with her a lot and I'm sure she will stop stinking. Ferrets do have a musky smell but it shouldn't be foul - the foul smell is the sqirt they do like a skunk. I have been told that the more you bath them the more musky oil they produce and the smellier they become so it's counter productive to bath them a lot. I have had Freddie for 4 weeks now and I've only bathed him once, he is very comfortable around us now and even jumps up to us when he wants a cuddle. I'm sure Lila will be fine once she settles in and realises how lucky she is to have people who love her lots!! Tell your friend good luck and stick with it.

Answer 2

First off, descenting doesn't have anything to do with sexual glands, it's an anal gland ferrets use to "Poof" a little cloud of odor into the air when startled. Much like skunks.
Most ferrets bought in stores are descented and spayed/neutered. Ferrets still have a natural musky smell to them. They have oil glands especially around the head area that produce that smell and bathing the animal more than once a month will make the glands overproduce resulting in more smell even sooner. So don't. It dries their skin out and makes them itchy.
Feeding your ferret chemicals like Bi-Odor is questionable at best. Personally, I wouldn't.
Now, is it the ferret that stinks or it's waste?
Keep the litter box scooped twice daily, wash it out once a week when you clean the whole cage and change the bedding to be washed. I use old t-shirts on every surface of the cage. They are washable and I have plenty of them.
Keep the ferrets ears clean, sometimes they start smelling too.
Read the labels on your food. If the major source of protein is fish based, your ferret's waste will smell worse. Chicken, lamb or pheasant based is better. Mine smelled worse when I fed them Marshall's and Totally Ferret as well, for some reason.
No matter what you do however, ferrets will ALWAYS smell like ferrets. You either live with it or you find a new home for your fuzzy. Did you not know about the smell before you got her?
You have a lot of mis-information in your answers here, be careful what you believe.
KASSIE: ferrets live longer than a couple of years, try 6 - 10. The reason the one you are referring to died at two was because it went bald..........it was ADRENAL!! Vet tech? Yeah right!

Sorry, didn't mean to get ticked, but people like that just make me mad.
Anyhow, good luck with your ferret. I hope you can get a handle on the smell so you can enjoy your little fuzz butt. BTW, a fixed male is a gib.

Answer 3

My ferrets were bathed everyother week also make sure the blankets or anyhting else they sleep on when in the cage is washed evety week and keep the litter box cleaned out daily and wash it good once a week. They still will have a ferret smell but will not stink. Mine passed away 6 years ago and I still miss the lil ferret smell he had you really come to enjoy it.

Answer 4

Ferrets are regularly neutered already once you're finding at one from a puppy keep. Age isn't a element you're able to evaluate once you're finding for a ferret. a ferret will bond to you no rely how previous he or she is. that's necessary nevertheless, to have your ferret neutered in the event that they are actually not already. A neutered male has a delicate, in spite of the indisputable fact that distinctive fragrance than we are used to. Ferrets do no longer spray like a cat to mark their territory. If a ferret hasn't been descented, they might launch fragrance while they are very stressful, yet to no longer mark. once you're pondering a woman, she desires to be neutered while she's 4-6 months previous. If she's no longer fastened, she has a extreme probability of bobbing up a form of anemia while she reaches adulthood. in case you do no longer shop a non-neutered male round her, there would be no actual way for her to grow to be pregnant besides. What you're able to seek for in a ferret is one whose character seems to be purely like yours. Coat colour and gender do no longer rely in case you and your ferret don't get alongside. while finding, shop an open strategies and manage each and every ferret you could. in case you wait an afternoon when you got here across a achieveable tournament, and you have a feeling that he/she is the only, hat's once you be responsive to you have picked the mind-blowing one. scientific historic previous is regularly purely important while coping with a ferret over 4 years previous. ( in case you provide your ferret a shower as quickly as a month and wash their bedding as quickly as a week, they're going to stay smelling sparkling and that they are going to rejoice with it.! in any different case their pores and skin will dry out and overproduce oils.. maximum suitable to a smelly ferret.) purely verify you shop an open strategies and allow the ferret %. you.

Answer 5

We've been keeping ferrets for years. We use BiOdor. It works very well.

Do not bathe your ferrets more than about twice a year unless they REALLY need it. Their skin is quite sensitive and can become dry or react with the shampoo.

We recommend Ultimate 8-in-1 food, it provides better nutrition than Marshall's and we think the ferrets smell less when fed Ultimate.

Answer 6

no, you can give your ferret a bath once a week, just be sure to use a shampoo that is made for ferrets, also there are products that can be added to your ferret food or water to help with the odor. taking your ferret to the vet to be de-sented is not the answer, some become infected and require more surgery to remove the parts that they missed or did not see in the first place.

Answer 7

these "glands" that ppl r talking about are actually the ferrit's sex organs, it's what they use to attract a mate, by the sounds of it u have a female ferrit, and let me tell you they smell the WORST!! The only real solution is to get your ferrit fixxed, no sent glands, thus no smell, it's not cheep, and if u should choose to go ahead with a procedure, be carefull as to what type of anistheia they will administer, i actually lost a ferrit that way, she was put asleep to get fixxed, n she didn't wake up!! turns out it was because she was too old eor the opperation, so if u have a young ferrit, it should go well . Hope i could be of some help!!! SMJ

DO NOT under ant circumstances, feed your ferrit anything that claims to rid her of odor, u dont want to know whats in it,!!! Probally the reason a lot of ferrits get cancer!!

Answer 8

They have very sensative skin and they are very stinky creatures. Most in the US are de-scented and spayed... but they still smell... double check with the person you got her from that she was. They usually only live to be a couple of years old, until they start going bald (most of them) because of cancer. Its a terrible thing. BUT... as for the stench, clean the cage, hang an air freshener, get used to it, because other than normal everyday cleaning, it doesnt get much better than this.

Answer 9

Pet stores carry deordorizing shampoos for ferrets and there is a product called Bi-Odor that you put in it's water to help with the smell. Plus...I've heard that foods that have a primary ingredient of fish (Marshalls) can give the ferret stinkier breath and poo.

Answer 10

Yes it is true. If the smell is still too much for you it can be done bi-weekly with a ferret shampoo. Just don't use human shampoo on any pet. It can dry the skin out.