Could anyone please tell me why my nursing jill, Tara, scents and does
little poops - maybe half a dozen or so around the room when she has her
break (playtime/exercise) away from her kits, the kits were 3 wks old last
Thursday.  All my other ferrets also have their playtime in the same room.
When Tara is in her own cage she just uses one corner of the main run for
her toilet area and is very fusy about keeping her kits and the nursery
clean.
 
I don't actually breed ferrets - there are enough people doing that already -
Tara is stray that I took in 3 wks last Friday so all this looking after a
nursing mum and babies is very new to me.  Tara is an albino and she has 1
albino kit and 5 darkish kits, 3 jills and 3 hobs.  Mums milk diet is now
being supplimented with softened with boiling water and then mashed up
Ferret Complete - I'm rather scared of the babies choking on lumps of the
biscuits.  I may give them a day old chick to suck on this evening - a
friend of mine recommends pulling the chicks' breast open and letting the
kits have a go at it.  She says they won't eat it but will really suck on
it!  I am having a bit of a problem with opening the chick, I'm rather
squimish.  (I tried gutting a rabbit once, I managed to cut open the abdomen
and then nearly threw up when I removed the guts - mind you the smell was
terrible!!!).
 
A week ago we did a PR show and racing in Brecon, South Wales - we took 17
ferrets with us and came back with 19!  Brecon is a silver mitt hob kit of
perhaps 8 wks old and Powys is a sable jill kit, possibly Brecon's sister.
Brecon is a real softie but Powys is rather nippy - I've got the scars to
prove it, she is, however getting better but we still have to watch her very
carefully and she really bites hard and is very reluctant to let go.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the
National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK
The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS
[Posted in FML issue 1658]