Hey Ferret Lovers! Summer's here! No one hates hot humid weather more than I do -- except maybe the ferrets. If you need some tips on keeping your ferrets cool and avoiding heatstroke, check Newsletter #21 in the Archive section at FerretNews.com. Help keep your ferrets healthy by making sure they get plenty of exercise. In this newsletter we offer a few ways you can get your ferrets physically fit. If you're looking for a neat new tee shirt, look no further than FerretDesigns.com -- and see below for a coupon!
--Mary & The Fuzzies Important Newsletter Delivery Notice:
After we sent out the previous newsletter, we sent out a small follow-up notice asking people if they were getting the newsletter. Although many people responded they were getting the newsletter just fine, we also got several replies from people who had not gotten the newsletter. To make matters worse, we also received a few complaints that we were sending spam! This is absurd! The complaints were from people who had completely filled out the join form - including name, address, and number of ferrets owned! They had all submitted their information and then also clicked the confirm link in the confirmation email they received. I don't know why people would do this. Spam complaints make it more likely that companies like AOL will just filter this newsletter as spam so that even more people won't ever receive it. That's just not fair. So if you want to stop receiving the newsletter for whatever reason, please don't report it as spam, instead you can be removed from the mailing list by using the link at the bottom of every newsletter or at the FerretNews.com web site. Spam filters are making it more and more difficult to get the newsletter to those who want to receive it. So don't ruin it for others if you decide to stop getting the newsletter. It takes time to write and edit this newsletter and it costs us money to email it. We don't have a lot of either of those things. I don't know what the solution to this is. But I know that things may get worse before they get better. After we mail this newsletter, we will mail another reminder notice. If you receive the reminder notice, but not this newsletter then you MUST complain to whoever your email provider is and tell them that you want to be receiving this newsletter and that you don't want them to filter it or consider it spam. Thanks! -- Eric
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In this Newsletter- Exercise Can Help Your Ferrets Live Longer
- Save $4.00 at FerretDesigns.com!
- Update on Modern Ferret Magazine
The Modern Ferret Magazine Super Monster Pack The Modern Ferret Magazine Super Monster Pack contains all 28 available back issues of Modern Ferret -- That's over 1000 pages of ferret information! You can't find a deal like this anywhere else! From articles on ferret illnesses and training techniques, to poignant stories of ferrets overcoming the odds and how-to articles on ferret proofing -- the Modern Ferret Magazine Super Monster Pack has it all. Click the link for current pricing. The Ferret Trading Post - http://www.ferrettradingpost.com |
Exercise Can Help Your Ferrets Live Longer
By Mary R. Shefferman I grew up with Jack LaLanne doing calisthenics on morning TV and Wonderama's "Exercise! Exercise! Come on everybody do your exercise!" Like virtually everyone reading this, I know that exercise makes people healthier and can help us live longer. Well, guess what? It can do the same for our ferrets. One of the saddest laments I hear from other ferret owners is that ferrets lives are too short. In reality, a ferret's life is generally longer by several years than that of his or her wild cousins (e.g., the European polecat). Still, we'd all like for our ferrets to stay with us -- and stay healthy -- for as long as possible. Although we can't affect the genetics of the ferrets in our homes (unless we are breeding those ferrets), there are several ways we can help to influence how long our ferrets will live. One very important and relatively simple way we can help our ferrets live longer is to make sure they get plenty of good exercise so their bodies are in top physical shape. Overall good health can help a ferret have better defense against disease or be better able to come out of surgery well if he or she should require it. Simply having time out of the cage to explore is not enough. Ferrets need to have mental stimulation to keep them interested and moving around. But more, ferrets need physical challenges to keep them fit. By their nature, ferrets are active animals. They are carnivores and, therefore, hunters; hunting is what they are physically built to do. By removing the need to find food (or hunt for survival), we remove the main motivation ferrets have to physically exert themselves. Kibble set out in a dish can make an agile hunter into a couch potato. For their bodies to function at their best, our ferrets need to do the things they were designed to do. Or we, as caring owners, need to provide activities that are equally as physically challenging as what our ferrets were designed to do. We all know that ferrets like to play well into their geriatric years; thus, play becomes an ideal way to keep our ferrets active. We can help our ferrets attain and maintain their best physical form by facilitating and encouraging vigorous exercise. Digging in a box filled with rice or dirt, running, wrestling, and climbing are all excellent ways to keep our ferrets healthy. Remember, ferrets want to exercise, so it's easy to get them involved in physical activity (unlike some of us humans). Below are several ideas for keeping your ferrets active. You will certainly come up with more of your own based on what your ferrets like to do. Don't forget to get on the floor and play with your ferrets yourself to make sure they are getting a good work-out. Play is enjoyable not only for our ferrets, but for us as well. Good physical activities for ferrets:
Jumping. Dangle a toy or a towel above them and swing it around so they try to leap to grab it. Work to keep them interested and try not to tire before they do. Leaping from one couch to the other is a big game in our house. The gap between the two couches isn't very wide, but it does require the ferrets to use their muscles. Climbing. We have a big plastic "house" designed for cats that the ferrets can climb. It's a bit of a challenge for them to get all the way up to the top. We try to give them an incentive to climb up (show them a raisin or put a toy up there). Gabby likes to climb up on my back if I'm crouched on the floor. Climbing up onto a chair or onto a couch can also be good exercise. Be sure to supervise climbing activities. Running. Drag something along the floor so your ferrets can chase it. Or roll a ball or other toy that they can run after. Again, keep at it so they get a good work-out. Take your ferrets out for a walk (get a good "H" harness and lead) and run with them. Run them up and down a long hallway in your home. Wrestling. Encourage your ferrets to wrestle with each other. You can also wrestle with them yourself. Remember that ferrets grab each other with their teeth when they are wrestling, so an inadvertent nip could occur. If you initiate rough play, know that your ferret will respond roughly. Our friend Bob Church uses an oven mitt and glues a little face on it (using felt cutouts) and then wrestles with the ferrets using the oven mitt. By doing this, the ferrets never have to figure out when it's OK to be rough with a hand -- they play roughly only with the mitt. This article originally appeared in Modern Ferret Magazine Issue #28.
You can get issue #28 as part of our special Monster Pack of back issues - a whole lot of pet ferret care information in one specially priced package.
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Update on Modern Ferret Things
Thanks for reading the Ferret News Newsletter! Remember to let your friends know that they can join the newsletter at: http://www.ferretnews.com If you've missed any newsletters, check out our Archive section. If you're having difficulty receiving the newsletter, you can always read the current issue at our website. Stay cool -- and keep your ferrets cool, too. Enjoy the 4th! --Mary & Eric Shefferman and Trixie, Koosh and Gabby (the ferrets, of course!)
Stay tuned for more. You can always get updates by reading my blog (a blog is an online journal). I keep it sporadically and it usually runs to the more personal stuff. But you might like it. It's at http://www.modernferretblog.com/mary
Ferret NewsPlease let your ferret friends know about this newsletter and encourage them to join. http://www.ferretnews.com Shopping at these web sites helps support this newsletter so we can continue to send it for free to all who want it: http://www.ferretdesigns.com http://www.ferrettradingpost.com You can provide feedback about this issue at: http://ferretnews.com/feedback.html or by sending email to:
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