cats and ferrets living together?

this weekend we will be taking on a baby ferret as my friend has to go into hospital, she has homed the others but has this 1 9 week old baby left that she couldnt face homing to anyone else. so i will be looking after it for the next few months untill shes back on her feet. how are they with cats? iv been doing some reading up on them, but i dont know to much about them. any insite with this will be great.

i have 3 ferrets and they get along good with cats. they will run around and play with them. They will try to bite the back of the cats neck so watch out for them doing that. but other than that they are good together

see it all worrys me. iv only ever had cats,fish and looked after a dog. so not to good with other animals. we used to have a hampster but it died a few years back and because i got bit i wont touch another one ever!! we have had rabbits etc.. but years ago now. so if possible i need to know everything about them , what i need for them do they have injections??? what they sleep in? etc.etc.

Yes they need shots and often a vet gives benadryl prior too... I have limited ferret knowledge but a trip to petco or a google should help you

they will sleep in a hammock that you can buy at a pet store. or just a wooden house. I feed my ferrets cat food or you can buy ferret food at a pet store. some are litter box trained. that would make it a lot easyer to clean up you may want to buy a spray that keeps them from smelling or you have to give it a bath every two days. at first thay will now like the baths then they get use to it. you can have them stay inside or out. they are fine all year round outside. If you are only keeping it for a few months then i wouldn't worry about shots unless hi/her owner wants you to

As far as shots, you might want to check up on the laws in your area. Here in the US it's required that ferrets have their rabies shots, but if you don't need it there in the UK then don't get it cause it does more harm then good and ferrets do not get rabies anyways. Also, although not required, it's a good idea to get a canine distemper shot if you have problems with it over there.

As far as food, it also depends on availabilty, if you cannot find a good ferret food, then you can try giving him a high quality kitten food(at least 35% protien and as little fiber as possible). Also, try to get a food with little or no fish because fish makes the poo smell REALLY bad.

You need to try and let the ferret out of the cage for about 4 hourse a day. I fecommend breaking it up into 2 2-hour sessions. Otherwise he may get destructive and start digging in his food/litter and making a huge mess of things.

As far as bedding, nothing explains it better then a pic, so here's a pic of the top half of my cage(the little guy in the photo is my foster I just got 2 days ago):



And here are a couple other cage/bedding pics of mine, to show you all the different bedding options(I make my own bedding, so my ferrets are pretty spoiled, lol):








Since you're going to just have 1 ferret, then I would recommend having at least 1 hammock and a cube(or something cave-like he can hide in). In nature, ferrets(the black-footed ones) live in tunnels, so they like to hide.

Oh yeah, about cats and ferrets. Let the ferret out around the cats and watch them at first and make sure that none of the cats is going to try and attack him(or visa versa, lol). As long as they get along or ignore each other, they should be fine. I own 3 cats and 4 ferrets(I'm fostering one right now) and all my animals get along wonderfully.

Originally Posted by bobcat4is_cool

you may want to buy a spray that keeps them from smelling or you have to give it a bath every two days.

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DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT give the ferret a bath every couple days!!!!!!! Ferrets only need bathes when they get dirty, or every couple months, tops!

If you bathe the ferret every couple days then you will not only dry out his fur and skin, but he will actually smell WORSE! Every time you give a ferret a bath it's body has to create more oils, so the more you give him a bath, the more oils his body will create, therefore, the more he will stink.

thank you everyone for all the great information , and lovely pictures, you made all them yourself? there lovely. i knew about the bath thing as i did a small amount of reading up last night , and they reccomended maybe once a month.
also the other thing that worrys me is she only has a 1 story cage? its a big cage reminds me more of a meduim dog crate, by the loooks of it i can add hammocks beds etc, plus litter toys and that, will this be ok for now or will i be better of getting at least a 2 story?

Yes, I made the bedding myself. I've made alot more then that, but didn't want to take over the thread with tons of pics, lol.

As far as the cage, it's recommended that ferrets have large cages, the larger the better. However, since you're only going to have him temporarily, then I think he should be fine in a smaller cage, as long as you can hang a hammock in there and let him out alot.

To tell you the truth, even though my ferrrets have a big cage I VERY rarely see them actually playing in it, then just sleep, eat, and poop in it, lol.

I assume that the ferret is not neutered yet, but is he descented? If not, then watch out for the "poofs". If they get scared they'll poof out a fart, like a skunk, lol. From what I've heard, it's powerful enough to clear out a room, but only lasts a short time. Heehee.

Be sure to post lots of pics for us to ga-ga over.

iv had to say no to looking after the ferret, i would have loved to from what i have read. but we have cat flu plus another kitten sick with something which we will know more tomorrow, and so much going on , it wouldnt be fair to bring in another animal at this time. so she is looking for someone else. but thank you so much for all the great infomation.

Originally Posted by XxtashaxX

this weekend we will be taking on a baby ferret as my friend has to go into hospital, she has homed the others but has this 1 9 week old baby left that she couldnt face homing to anyone else. so i will be looking after it for the next few months untill shes back on her feet. how are they with cats? iv been doing some reading up on them, but i dont know to much about them. any insite with this will be great.

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ya know...after watching America Funniest Videos for live EVER now...i think cats can co-habit with any animal ...take your time with them though...every animal is different.

Awwww, sorry you won't get to watch him. Well, maybe in the future....

yea , my SO has always wanted one, but iv never been to sure untill i did all this reading , but its deffently not the right time to even look after one let alone home one fully. maybe a few years down the line, will see what happens.