[This was posted in 3 parts which have been combined into one. BIG] I've received a number of emails later concerning my remarks about handling biters. The most commonly asked question is "What do you do?" but I think that the most important question is "Why do you do it that way?" I've tried to be as concise as possible and I've omitted some perfectly acceptable gestures and methods for the sake of brevity and to concentrate more on the "whys" than the "hows". Any "how" that conforms with the "whys" limitations will likely do your ferret no harm. Please be aware that I am not a vet or a shrink or an animal behavior "professional". I have no animal/medical industry "brotherhood" to represent or defend, or fellow "professionals" for whom to make excuses or cover up. I'm just an ordinary Dr. Mom that scoops the poop and breaks up the squabbles and has 14-18 hours a day to observe the 20 some-odd fuzzies that range free in my home/office during the day. If any of my opinions or remarks violates some proven ethic, I am more than willing to research that ethic to try and resolve the contradiction. By nature, ferrets bite for survival. They bite to eat or because they are afraid. Those are the only two reasons. Anger is an extension of fear and not a separate thing. Anger is a chosen response to a stimulus. Ferrets (and humans) choose to become angry because something has threatened some aspect of their security. The choice of using anger instead of a different choice (fleeing/hiding, submission, humor) to resolve the threat is made because anger has proven to be an effective, expedient means of resolution before. Ferrets who bite in anger as an initial response are actually few and far between and have been severely abused for a long time. The usual biter is acting on a habitual fear response. The usual first comment I receive on that statement is "But I have never, never hurt this ferret!" Which is wonderful, if it's true. But it seldom is. We humans tend to rationalize that if we're ok with it, it doesn't hurt the ferret either. Here, we should probably redefine the word "hurt". To the ferret, it means "threaten". (And to humans, also, although we don't like to admit it.) (I personally threaten ferrets on an hourly basis... usually when one backs up beside the litter box and grins in defiance while depositing a mother lode.) Our biggest problem with threats is in the degree of danger the ferret feels. So how do we know how much danger the ferret perceives? We certainly don't intend to hurt them! Fear is learned. It's really that simple/complicated. Each biter has an individual set of experiences in its lifetime that has taught it to respond in fear. The only tool we have to work with is observation. And it's a very unwieldy, slow, and tedious tool. We have to watch the ferret's responses to what we consider "routine" daily living and try to catalog what "normal" things seem to cause "abnormal" responses. It's (marginally) easier if we know something of the ferret's history. For reference, I'll list some examples: # 1. Powder, a beautiful dark-eyed white, came to the shelter at two years of age as an "incurable" biter. Whenever touched, she would bite, viciously drawing blood. To put her out to play it was necessary to open the cage quietly and pick her up while she was sleeping to quickly put her on the floor. To return her to her cage, she had to be allowed to curl up and sleep somewhere so that the process could be repeated in reverse. Her owners, very admirably, never hit her, in spite of being bit. Why did she bite such caring and conscientious owners? Powder, unknown to her original owners, is deaf. Being suddenly touched without warning frightened her as a young kit. With each progressive "security" measure her owners used to handle her, the learning of the fear response was intensified. Quietly (not jarring the cage, movement she would have felt if sleeping lightly) opening the cage, being sure to catch her from behind to avoid the teeth, waiting until she was asleep, quickly dropping her to the floor, all served to convince Powder that the next time she was touched might be worse. # 2. Chiquita, a Panda faced light sable 1 year old would bite unpredictably, drawing blood. "She just bites for no reason, just because she wants too!" For her we have no history, no recounting of how she was handled or disciplined. Experience and observation were to be our only clues. Reaching into a sleepbox or an enclosed area to get her was a sure-fire way to get nipped. Kissing her was a guarantee. In fact, putting her anywhere near your face was tantamount to asking for a bloody lip, nose, or chin. Why? I still don't know. I can only guess by adding up all the separate incidents. Maybe she originally ran and hid when she was frightened (was she chased down for pooping on the floor? - ferrets see nothing wrong with that!). Was she was dragged out (frightened more) and scolded (held up eye level and yelled at? Frightened more) and hit or maybe even bitten back when she bit (yes, biting back, the tail usually, is a common practice for some breeders, even!). #3. Rosa and Emily, a light sable and a dark sable, 3 months old, would bite any hand that entered the cage. It had taken their young owner only a few weeks to realize that keeping a ferret cage clean required daily attention. The child s mother learned just as quickly that a dirty ferret cage smells. The cage, with ferrets, was moved to the garage. Where attention was given even more infrequently and they lived mostly in the dark. Even after several weeks at the shelter where food and water were always fresh and the litter box cleaned daily, Rosa and Emily still had to be handled with extreme caution. Moving them from the cage to the play area and back had to be done very slowly. They still reacted like animals that d never been handled by humans. Then came the time to disassemble their cage for a thorough cleaning and they were temporarily moved to a large pet taxi. As is typical at private animal shelters, other matters intervened (other rescues to pick up, trips to the vet, etc.) and the girls ended up spending several days in the temporary accommodations. They had finally begun to come around. They were less wild, and they didn t nip. Their cage got cleaned and they were returned to its more spacious living area. They regressed with more biting, more struggling to get free. They were moved to a different cage and their behavior improved. To them, their original cage was a place of neglect where food and water might run out. The dark probably didn t bother them as much as it seems offensive to us. They prefer dark dens to sleep. # 4. From another shelter which uses the same methods for incurable biters comes Rascal s story, another "interesting case"...(who's now living the good life in Florida). After a few days here I realized that he would bite my hands whenever they came near...whether I reached in his cage or reached toward him while he was out to play or even if he came up to me...he'd always bite my hands. I could see in those eyes there was a very sweet and loving ferret just waiting to "come out" so I continued to try different things. I discovered that he had no problem giving kisses and even seemed eager to do so (after you bandaged your hand and held him to your face like an idiot)...what was even more amazing considering it was invading his space...is that I learned I could open his cage door and stick my head inside his cage near him (no hands, just my face) and he'd shower me with kisses! He loved me, he wanted to be friends but he was deathly afraid of "hands". The reason is obvious...he'd been severely abused. Once I made this discovery it took very little time to win his trust and get him to stop biting my hands...though I did nothing except call his name as he bit, to let him know it hurt and that I was talking to "him". Eventually he only put his teeth on my hands as a warning. I moved slowly and once he released my hand I stroked him gently with the same hand, talking calmly and soothingly the whole time...well that didn't last too long either... he stopped biting at all. # 5. Iah, is a dark sable 4 year old that would bite bare feet. Not a vicious biter, she would just nip the top of your foot. She was a little over a year old when she arrived at the shelter. She has a ring of bare skin around her neck where a collar used to be. It was too tight for too long, and fur doesn t grow there even after 3 years. No history of hitting or kicking or mistreatment. (You have probably realized by now that shelters seldom get the whole truth from owners who surrender ferrets.) Iah loves to be held. Iah loves to go places with us. And when she gets sufficient holding and attention, she doesn t nip our feet. The scar around her neck tells the true story. Iah was neglected. None of these ferrets still bite (without reason!) Powder can even be picked up when she s asleep without awakening frightened (it s taken two years to accomplish it). Chiquita nips only when you put her to your face too suddenly or don t pet her before pulling her out of her sleeping place. Rosa and Emily, now 1 year old, have learned to play and love to be held and petted. Neither bites. Now Rascal s just a "love". And we hold Iah a lot. :-) They all have one thing in common. They were all hurt in the sense that they were taught to fear something. Pain is the word that only humans first associate with the concept hurt . To treat these ferrets, they were held, petted, and spoken softly to while blood dripped from our fingers (chin, lip, nose) on the floor. They only had to learn that biting would not produce the result they expected (being released) or that being touched was not something to fear. And no, it s not easy to not react with a sudden movement or a yell when those sharp teeth dig in. Unlike a cat, which bites and releases, a ferret usually bites and holds until you give up. They were never hit, flicked, thumped, or touched in any other sudden aggressive movement for biting. To do so would have been equal to hitting them for being afraid, even although after years of responding with a bite, it is more of a habitual response than it is still an actual fear. Please bear in mind, that this is how we handle problem biters. Young kits are a slightly different subject. Most have simply not yet learned that humans are wimps. A scruffing and a firm eye to eye No! or dragging by the scruff across the floor (the mother ferret s version of discipline) is usually eventually effective to train the youngsters that nipping is not allowed. And, as hard as it is, wear a sweat suit and heavy socks to bed and absolutely ignore the undercover nippers/scratchers. Don t even wiggle & try not to jump! And notice the use of the word eventually. Ferrets are one of the most persistent (muleheaded) critters I ve ever encountered. It takes awhile for your opinion to get noticed, a little longer for them to consider its merits, and a little longer for them to decide that you really are bigger and more muleheaded than they are. Ferrets understand pecking order. They realize that everyone has a place in the chain of command. But they don t understand regret. They don t feel sorry for pooping in the corner or digging up the ivy. They do associate their actions with our reactions. They will feel threatened if they are hit while walking from the corner to go play, or yanked out of the dirt they were playing in and yelled at. Then, if they don t want to be hit or yelled at they shouldn t do those things, right? Well, which thing was that? Walk across the floor? Play? Pooping? Digging? I don t think you ll manage to stop them from doing any of those things because they simply don t associate Don t poop! with in the corner! and the words don t and dig don t belong in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence. Digging at blocked pathways (closed doors, furniture) is not a habit to be broken. They are ferrets and these behaviors are instinctive, not learned. You could teach them not to breath just as easily. For those behaviors, it s the human who must learn to compensate. (Put plastic carpet runners in doorways, etc.) Since they can associate their actions with our reactions they can be trained (or they can train us, the jury is still out on that differentiation). Getting praise or a treat and pooping in a litter box associate quite well. Enough that after several repetitions, they ll go the litter box and do a phantom poop just to get a treat. (Who s training who?) The same goes for rewards and digging in a sandbox of potting soil or rice. (Pot plants are still at risk! The call of the wild is just too great when it s convenient. The sandbox must be available & the pot plants out of easy reach.) Now to turn it all in a different direction and really confuse you: All I have to do is say Scruffy! sharply, and my 2 year old wannabe alpha male will immediately stop harassing semi-hairless Snoop. Why? Because I hissed at him (or what he has learned is my equivalent of hissing at him specifically). He understands that I am above him in the pecking order. It took 4 months of pulling him off Snoop, scruffing, scolding, dragging, and swats on the flanks (short & fast but no harder than you would lightly applaud or tap an elderly lady on the shoulder) to convince him that I was serious and would not change my mind. What!!??? I HIT him? Yes. The purpose is not to inflict any degree of pain. The purpose is the sudden, aggressive movement. If you ve ever watched a dominance struggle between two ferrets, have you noticed how they ll turn sideways and bodyslam the other, or, when they re serious about biting each other, how quickly their heads lunge? My version of spanking without the sting is more or less that equivalent. Their bones are really very fragile in spite of the nonchalance with which they ricochet off solid objects. Tapping a nipping young kit s nose accomplishes a similar purpose. Not thumping, or hitting, or causing any degree of pain or stinging! Not even enough to make it s head move, only touching. Just the sudden, aggressive gesture establishes dominance. Again, there are no instant results. It takes time and consistency. Trish Curtis has said, One of the biggest issues I deal with concerning biters is trust. Once they have been mishandled/mistreated/slapped/thumped/whatever some ferrets lump all humans in the same category...ie: "you are a human, therefore you will hurt me unless I hurt/dominate/kill you first". This explains the unprovoked attacks/bites we shelter operators get. It can be a slow process (and it is in most cases) of allowing the ferret to simply be themselves; to play, romp, poop in corners, tear open our fingers, bloody our noses, etc., with no reaction from us except reassurance, holding, speaking softly to, etc., to finally convince these ferrets that for some odd reason *we* are different than all the other humans they've known before. Trust is instinctive, not learned. It is there underneath the learned fear. When the fear is unlearned, the animal s natural instinct is no longer repressed. (Which is, technically, what we re doing when we train an animal to modify an instinctive behavior, i.e. make the trip to the corner with the litter box instead of the nearest corner or stop chewing on the other ferret s ear when scolded.) This is by no means meant to imply that those who flick noses (stinging), or pull whiskers (again, producing discomfort), or hit to cause stinging or slight pain are being abusive. I do realize that they see an apparently effective result. To be completely objective, there are, in fact, ferrets that do not suffer any undue ill-effects from slight physically uncomfortable discipline. But given the ferret s inability to communicate whether or not it is one that can take it, I personally prefer to err on the side of caution. In my experience, the gesture, without the discomfort, is sufficient although it may take longer. Ferrets perceive pain as a threat. They don t have the capacity regret they did something that got them hurt. Whatever hurt them is perceived as a source of fear. If that fear source has also established dominance the ferret may appear to have learned not to do what got him hurt to that dominant fear source. But when someone else does it, the ferret s first response is to get in the first shot in this new battle for dominance. The ferret has not learned not to bite. It s only learned it s below the dominant handler in the pecking order. Anyone else is fresh meat. Biters can t be treated the same as other disciplinary problems, just as humans treat emotional disorders differently from behavior problems, once they are correctly diagnosed. It s really that easy(?). Debi Christy Ferrets First Foster Home, Carthage, TX [Posted in FML issue 3012]