I ve tried to harvest as many questions as possible, and many of the questions were asked from multiple people. If I missed your question, drop me a line. Q: How large was the sample size(s) for your percentages? A: I could tell you, but then I would have to bore you to death I may do that anyway. Actually, the sample size allows me to use the more powerful large-sample methods of statistical analysis. Sorry, but that is all I will say at the moment. I have an obligation to preserve the data for scientific publication in order to honor the spirit and intentions in which the donations were made. Q: Why is it always the older ferrets that have tooth problems and not the younger ones? A: It s an evolutionary conspiracy. Well, older ferrets are just like older humans; the older you get, the more problems that seem to crop up. Tooth damage is accumulative, regardless of type. Five years of dietary wear leaves more damage than two years, six years of cage biting harms teeth more than four years, four years of periodontal disease causes more problems than one year that sort of thing. Older ferrets have more dental problems BECAUSE they are older; it is as simple as that. That is why initiating a program of dental care when the ferret is young is so important. Prevent the problem when the ferret is young and you won t have to ask questions like this one later. Q: Are finger toothbrushes ok to use? A: It depends; how large are your cahones? Personally, I don t like them--not because I am afraid of those sharp little canines, but because my finger is larger than most toothbrushes. Every time I have used them, I ve gagged the poor little guy when I try to clean the back teeth. I don t need my little buddies associating my fat ol finger with being gagged. Q: Do ferrets get cavities? A: Not like the one in my head. I didn t see a single cavity in the entire collection, and none are mentioned in the literature. That doesn t mean a ferret cannot get a cavity, but if they did, it would be extremely rare. I would suspect if any ferret had a particular danger it would be one eating sticky sweets and having teeth with tooth damage that would promote caries. Nonetheless, if you have seen anything that makes you suspect a cavity, take your ferret to the vet. Q: Can you recommend any brands of toothpaste to use? A: The type that smears on a toothbrush. Any toothpaste designed for dogs and cats will work fine. Also, the so-called training toothpastes for human infants and toddlers are also good (run a search under baby toothpaste ). ANY toothpaste that does not contain fluoride is considered safe to use, including those designed for adult humans. The fear is that in such a small animal as the ferret, the amount of fluoride in the toothpaste could poison them if swallowed. This is, in fact, not a myth; a real danger exists. There is no lethal dose listed for ferrets ingesting Sodium Fluoride and the lethal dose that kills half of the dosed animals varies by species, so I cannot actually tell you what dose would be lethal. The oral lethal dose of Sodium Fluoride that kills 50% of rats and a handful of other species is listed in the CDC as 52 mg/kg, but this number is provisional when applied to ferrets. A ferret that weighs 1.5 lbs weighs 0.68 kg, so the estimated oral lethal dose would be roughly 36 mg. A new 181 gm tube of Tartar Protection Crest contains 0.243% Sodium Fluoride, or roughly 440 mg of the compound. If our estimated lethality for Sodium Fluoride in ferrets is correct, this would mean that if 12 ferrets weighing 1.5 lbs consumed a tube of Tartar Protection Crest (all eating the same amount), all would get sick and you could expect 6 of them to die. Obviously, there are not a lot of ferrets dying from ingesting fluoridated toothpaste, so realistically the risk is quite low. In truth, the vast majority of cases of fluoride poisoning occur from consuming insecticides or rodenticides. However, there is a difference between a lethal dose and a toxic one. A toxic dose can cause a number of problems, but, again, there is a paucity of published studies of fluoride toxicity in ferrets. Shupe et al., in a 1987 paper on American mink said tolerance levels in the feed of not more than 50 ppm fluorine for breeding stock and 100 ppm fluorine for animals being raised only for pelts are recommended. 50 ppm (parts per million) is roughly the same as saying 50 mg/L (milligrams per liter). If you dissolved a tube of Tartar Protection Crest into a liter of water, the Sodium Fluoride level would be about 440 ppm, or 440 mg/L. I m not going to go through a convoluted set of mathematical formulas to try and figure out what the dose of Sodium Fluoride would be in for a pea-sized drop of toothpaste dissolved in a mouthful of spit, but whatever it is, you can see that swallowing it could potentially have toxic repercussions. While I am not worried in the least about dental fluorosis in ferrets, skeletal fluorosis could potentially be a problem; it can cause cataracts, joint pain, bone defects, reproductive problems, and the calcification of ligaments. Even if the risks are small, it would be better to skip all that and just keep the ferrets away from fluoridated toothpaste. Now, this answer is not intended to scare anyone; I am a firm believer in both fluoridated water and toothpaste. It is just that ferret owners need to understand the necessity of spending the extra effort and money to buy non-fluoridated toothpaste for their ferrets. I don t think it really matters if you use toothpaste designed for dogs or cats, or human babies or adults, as long as the stuff is non-fluoridated. Try a few different types, use the one your ferret likes best, and donate the others to your local ferret shelter. [Posted in FML issue 4526]