This makes me FURIOUS! Utterly and absolutely FURIOUS!

I was looking at my ferret FB page when I saw a post from an English ferret owner saying …

“This was one of three kits that Cathy Wareing has rescued from a shop called Brunos in Billing Northampton. They were charging £39.95 each. Clearly two of these kits are too young to be away from their mother. The third kit is slightly older. They were in a small cage with no bedding, just a cardboard tube and kibble that was too big from them to eat.”

Look at the photo of one of the little kits …

Photo © Cathy Wareing/Mia Baker

Why on earth did that pet store owner accept those kits from the breeder to sell – that was atrocious – but even worse, why did that pet store owner put those kits in a small cage with no bedding and give them hard kibble to eat. He should be prosecuted for animal abuse and his wretched pet store closed down!

God it really infuriates me how breeders or some pet stores just don’t care about their animals.

Fortunately the lady who saw those babies took them and from what I understand, they are all doing well and improving under her care. Thank God for that!

When I was helping out with Ferret Rescue back in the mid-90s, we got a call from a young girl who bought a ferret kit but her mother wouldn’t let her keep it, so she handed it in to me. The little silvermitt girl was about 5 weeks old – a tiny little thing – and she was crying as she missed her mother.

I called her Marshmallow, as she sort of looked like one when she was curled up, and she was the sweetest but most neurotic ferret ever :D

You can see from that photo how tiny she was and absolutely too young to be separated from her mother.

Good breeders know that kits should be left with their mother until they are 12 weeks old ideally. This gives the mother a chance to teach the babies whatever they need to know to make them into happy and socialised little animals when they go to their new homes and also by that time, mom is ready to say goodbye to her boisterous babies.

Of course some people sell them at an earlier age, like when the kits are 8-10 weeks old. If the kits are going to old time ferret owners who have other ferrets in their houses then it’s okay to let them go at that age. But they should NEVER be sold any younger than that – NEVER!

I’ve been told that some jills actually get so depressed if their kits are taken from them at too early an age that it could kill them so please, if you breed ferrets then be a responsible breeder and keep those kits until they’re old enough to leave their mother.

© 2011, Nona. All rights reserved.

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Filed under: Breeding Ferrets • Ferret Health • Ferret Kits • Ferrets as Pets

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