Hi All,

This post is mostly for newer ferret owners or people who may be
thinking about getting a fuzzy of their own and are browsing.

Before I got my first fuzzies I did extensive research about them and
one of the things I came across was that 'some' ferrets react very
strongly to the sound of a squeaky toy - in short - they go nuts and
will attack the person EVEN though that is not their normal behaviour.

Hey - I'm not dumb... when I heard people recommending getting squeaky
toys as ways to call their ferrets - I declined. Today I got a frantic
call from a person in another province who had recently adopted a pair
of fuzzies. I was the third person he called because the previous two
were bewildered and couldn't help him.

Now this guy passed the adoption screening with flying colours. He has
a toddler but was very aware that she was never to be left unsupervised
with either of the ferrets. BUT he was not aware about the fact that
some ferrets react with extreme aggression when a toy is squeaked.

And neither were the adoption coordinators. No one had thought or
knew to warn him. Today his toddler and his new ferrets were being
supervised by dad when the little girl picked up one of 'her' squeak
toys, put her arm above her head, ran gleefully to the ferrets and ...
squeaked... the toy. The gib immediately ran up her arm and bit her in
the temple. Dad reacted quickly and grabbed the ferret, who then bit
him. To his credit he was not angry only extremely concerned.

He immediately and calmly put the ferret in his cage and tended to his
daughter. The child thankfully is fine. He called the woman who owned
the ferrets previously, she was horrified and appalled because neither
had ever shown the slightest aggressive tendencies. I was the third
person he called to get a sense of what on earth might have happened. I
gave him the theories, i.e., squeaky toys sound like distressed kits,
etc.

Anyway PLEASE use caution when using a squeaky toy with your ferrets,
unless you know for certain how they will react.

I'll pass on the squeaky toys thank you... crochet eggs anyone?

Tressie A. Dutchyn, PhD (c)
Dalhousie University
Research Associate, Community Health & Epidemiology
 
http://port.mcgill.ca/dutchyn.htm

[Posted in FML 5950]