As far as foods, try one of the high-protein cat foods.  I liked Iams
the best, but Science Diet is also very good and preferred by many.
(Well, actually, my ferret liked Iams the best.  It always got stuck
 in my teeth!  :-)  )   As for human foods, Toto loved bits of ham.  He
wouldn't touch any other kind of meat except for a very occasional
nibble of tuna.  I know other folks who have given eggs to their ferrets
but I seem to recall that it was _either_ the white or the yolk, but
not both.  [Fa, do you have a comment on this?]
 
As for her health:  Is she spayed?  If not, and she isn't in heat yet,
then get her to a vet to be spayed ASAP.  If she is in heat, try to find
out how long she has been such.  It will affect the options you have.
Females will stay in heat until they are bred.  If left in this state
long enough, they will eventually die from the side effects of anemia,
estrogen toxemia, and other potential complications.  The first ferret
I had came from someone who did not know this.  She had been in heat
for a few months.  Her system was in weak enough shape that she died
from shock shortly after she was spayed.  (Unfortunately, this was my
learning experience as well.)
 
Re: Cages.  Most ferrets deal well with cages as places to sleep.  I
originally had a cage, but it was soon more convenient to just close
the ferret in the bathroom.  It gives the ferret a little more room to
romp when I'm not home, gives it access to a litter box (or paper) away
from the bed place, and makes cleaning an easier chore for me (don't have
to clean up the cage).  I had linoleum floors, so scratching at the floor
to dig a way out did not cause any damage.  Make sure the room is escape
proof.  Toto once got into the wall of my sister's apartment through a
little known hole in the bathroom.  We had to patiently wait for him to
get bored and come out.  (Either that or we tempted him out by banging
a spoon on a bowl of ice cream.)  A great toy for ferrets is an old sock
with a rubber, jingle ball tied inside of it.  It might provide hours
of distraction.  Or then again...
 
The best bet for box training a ferret is to put the box where the ferret
most wants to go.  Make sure that it is low enough to get in easily.
(Would you want to climb a wall with a full bladder, etc?)  I had cut an
opening in the front end of mine and set it on top of newspapers in a
favorite corner.   Also, whenever I caught him contemplating some other
corner, I would grab him, put him in the box, and not let him out until
he did something.  One of the unexpected things he learned was how to
fake using the box!  It's very strange to see a ferret look serious as if
contemplating a heavy movement, then stare up at you to see if you
believed it.  Finally he would give up, relax, relieve himself, and I
would let him out.  This may have been attention intensive on my part for
a month or so, but he caught on and was fairly well behaved until his
old age.  (My sister's cat hated it when Toto used her litter box!)
 
Good Luck, and have fun with your new ferret.
 
Mitch Pockrandt
([log in to unmask])
Minneapolis, MN
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0147]