Ferrets are notorious for being "itchy animals" but how do we know when to intervene? What does it mean if our ferrets have a constant scratch? Let's talk about it! Do your ferrets bolt out of bed just to scratch? Do they ever drop anything they're doing to itch? Many times a day? While "itchiness" (also called, pruritus) is a typical characteristic of the species itself, I find that many shrug off potential issues as just normal ferret behavior because of that. Let's look at the ferret's wild counterpart- the European Polecat, and understand how they efficiently use the largest organ of their bodies, to get a glimpse of why ferrets are the way they are. The Viscous (but Stinky) PredatorPolecats are a Mustelid commonly found in rural Wales and areas of England and Scotland. They prefer woods, marshes or pretty much anywhere they can be safe from harm. Polecats can be seen dining on rabbits and rodents, and may have one litter per year. Unlike the domesticated ferret, polecats are solitary animals and will use their skin oils to mark their territory. They do this by rubbing themselves, and dragging their bum (something you may see domestic ferrets doing!). These oils appear to increase during mating season. Ferrets and polecats have numerous scent glands all over their bodies to help keep them smelly and oily. Unfortunately, the perianal glands are often removed from ferrets to help with sales. This way, people can advertise them as "de-scented" misleading pet parents and widely contributing to ferret rehoming all over the globe. This practice has been made illegal in various places, and dubbed a cruel practice. A ferret's oil is essentially it's first line of defense. If you don't want oily and stinky animals, don't get ferrets! Reasons for the Itch...There are many potential reasons why your ferrets could be itchy. Keep in mind as discussed before, ferrets produce a lot of oil! If that production is interrupted or altered in any way, it can cause some distress in your ferrets. #1 Ear Mites / Fleas Ear mites, also called Otodectes cynotis are pretty common in ferrets of any origin, and are easily spread between each other. There are many types of mites, but this species resides in, you guessed it, the ears! If left untreated, ear mites can cause infections and temporary or permanent hearing damage. This is why it's so crucial you vet any new ferret you add to your family. Even if they've already been to the vet, many pet parents (and vets!) don't think to test for mites, especially if ferrets aren't showing signs. I can tell you as someone who's experienced this a few times, ferrets don't always show obvious signs! We do ear mite testing annually. Signs of ear mites:
I haven't personally experienced fleas in my animals, but have seen them affect pets while working in the industry. The symptoms are fairly similar to ear mites.
I believe in treating ear mites and fleas in ferrets with veterinary intervention, but I do not recommend monthly preventatives, that's just my personal opinion. Your ferrets can catch ear mites and fleas by simply playing outside, if you suspect your ferrets have ear mites or fleas, get them to the vet! #2 Shedding All ferrets go through it, generally twice a year in Spring and Fall. Ferrets kept in cooler climates and conditions may lose more hair and grow thicker coats. Ferrets kept in central heating and artificial lighting may have a sparser coat. Shedding should only be some loose hairs every now and then, not entire clumps. This may indicate a health issue. Shedding can also create hairballs. As you can imagine, constantly losing hairs can be uncomfortable for ferrets. Make sure to wash their bedding every few days during these times in hypoallergenic, scent-free detergent, and use lint rollers to remove extra loose hairs. #3 Poor Diet With any pruritus, the diet should be scrutinized for any issues. I strongly believe the cause of many ferrets' itchiness is due to an inappropriate diet, but because it can have so many causes, the diet is often overlooked. Commercial pet foods have many problems, especially for little ferrets. I suggest looking through my playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4nS75jW58uI502wlI7PoWmRmmZB9u8Kg And blog posts labeled "Raw Feeding": https://pazuandfriends.weebly.com/blog-posts/category/raw-feeding Itchiness due to a poor diet can be connected to improper protein and / or fat sources in the food. If the food consists of non-meat proteins (pea protein, soy, corn meal, etc.) chance of allergies and pruritus is much higher, especially in a hyper carnivore. Not only that, plant proteins are linked to urolithis (bladder stones) in ferrets and a large quantity of other problems. "They have a very short gastrointestinal tract with minimal gut flora and few brush border enzymes, so they cannot use carbohydrates efficiently or digest fiber." If a ferret can't digest and absorb the nutrients in their food, they will suffer in all aspects of their health. Even if the food contains meat-based proteins, the heating process pet food endures is enough to render it practically useless. Poor sources and balance of fats in their diet can also create or exasperate pruritus. Among other benefits, fat supplies your ferrets with healthful omega fatty acids. Due to the processed nature of pet foods, these fats are often denatured far beyond what could be considered useful, same with the protein sources. Hence the various preservatives and synthetic nutrients added back into the foods to meet AAFCO's standards. Fats will be touched on more after our next potential cause. #4 Bathing Ferrets have a large number of stereotypes that will always follow them and one of the biggest ones is they require baths. In fact, if they don't get bathed, they will stink your homes and make your life terrible!! ...Not. What if I told you, you never need to bathe your ferrets? That's right. Go return the bottles of ferret shampoo, creme rinse, and coat sprays sold at your local pet shop. Save your money and don't even bother. The handful of drawbacks to bathing far outweighs any potential benefit you may get when bathing your ferrets.
Some claim their ferrets receive relief after a bath, but fail to realize it's only temporary. The body needs time to react and overproduce that oil all over again, but at a wider scale. Leaving you with oilier ferrets. "But doesn't the "oatmeal sock" method work wonders on their skin?" Oatmeal is a band aid solution for a bigger problem. If you feel your ferrets need multiple oatmeal baths to soothe "the itchies" you need to investigate any underlying problems. Same can be said for human skin! #5 Say No to Fish Oil... To follow with #3, I wanted to give fish oil its own category due to the misconceptions in the ferret community. Viewed as a "cure all", salmon oil is added to many diets to soften coats and boost overall health with omega fatty acids. I've discussed fish oil in previous blogs but to sum it up:
Okay, now you know my stance on fish oils...how can it make ferrets itchy? Fish oil is an incomplete source of fats. As mentioned, it's very high in PUFA's, and really shouldn't be added to a diet already higher in Omega-6 (chicken, pork). Most ferrets are fed a commercial chicken diet of some sort. To balance this, you would supplement with something low in saturated fats, average PUFA & Omega-6, and high in Omega-3. Fish oils are high in PUFA, Omega-6 and Omega-3, a better alternative would be feeding the fish itself. Double dosing Omega-6 in particular can contribute to chronic inflammation = itchy ferrets. "Then how can kibble fed ferrets get their omega fatty acids? Isn't fish oil better than nothing?" Easy, feed a quality food. No, you don't have to feed raw even though I strongly recommend it, but Feline Natural's FDR line is great and contains the necessary omega fatty acids in the species-appropriate forms of green lipped mussel, fish, and organ meat. Alternatively, Ziwipeak Cat air dried raw formulas can be fed. This brand contains the same stuff, but is more processed and contains synthetics. If you feed raw, I strongly suggest you feed at least one meal of fish each week, and incorporate some blue or green lipped mussels. I do 1-2 large mussels for my entire crew / week to balance fats in their diet. #6 House Dust Ferrets don't need to be allergic to dust to be bothered by it in their living spaces, same for humans! Make sure to have a cleaning schedule consisting of sweeping, mopping, vacuuming and dusting. On nice days, crack a window open to encourage air flow. Dust free litter is also crucial. We like recycled paper pellets and pee pads. Air purifiers have been used around ferrets with success. It's suggested to find one with both HEPA and charcoal air filters. #7 Adrenal Disease It's believed that a common symptom of adrenal disease is itching. Of course, I don't approve of adrenal disease diagnosis based only on this symptom, as we're exploring in this post: pruritus has many causes. That being said, it makes it onto my list because many veterinarians appear to be in agreement that it's a common symptom. The itching may be followed by hair loss, almost always a sign of an underlying health issue in ferrets (usually adrenal disease). Treatment includes hormonal implants. I also suggest adjusting the diet to be more "hormone friendly." #8 Bacterial or Fungal Infections Not super common in ferrets, but can be a cause of the "itchies." These infections can develop following any trauma or wounds made during rough play with other ferrets. Or, from playing outside. Ferrets are generally well equipped with a strong immune system to fight it off, but may require some help by a veterinarian. #9 Skin Tumors / MCT Mast cell tumors are the most common skin tumors ferrets experience. They may look like raised scabs and will be itchy. In most cases, MCTs are benign, and will disappear (and sometimes reappear) on their own. My favorite treatment for MCT are medicinal mushrooms. Dosing may be different depending on the issue / using it as a preventative, so contact a trusted holistic veterinarian to learn more. We personally feed medicinal mushrooms as a preventative. Check out the studies here. Malignant and tumors large in size should be surgically removed. #10 Food Allergy / Intolerance Contrary to popular belief, allergies and intolerances are not supposed to be common occurrences. Because only one type of kibble food is fed to many ferrets for their entire lives, there's a very high risk of allergy or intolerance overtime. It's difficult to determine an allergy when feeding processed pet food due to the massive list of ingredients. They could be allergic to the binders in the food, the synthetic vitamin D, a food dye, etc. It's near impossible, so many pet health professionals will often blame the main protein of the food. Generally that's chicken! Many ferrets experiencing a "chicken allergy" are perfectly fine when switched to a fresh diet. Posing the question of other allergies or an issue with the quality of ingredients. Please save prescription drugs as a last case treatment plan for allergies. Many allergies can be linked to the diet and poor gut health, we know this for humans. Drugs treat only the symptoms, not the condition itself, and your ferret will most likely need these meds for their entire life if the allergy isn't fixed = chronically suppressed immune system! There are many tests you can try (e.g. elimination diet) to nail down any allergies before resorting to long-term use drugs. #11 Too Much Calcium This one is more relevant to the raw fed ferret, but even kibble can have an imbalance of nutrients. If only one nutrient is off, it can affect absorption of others. The kidneys are tasked with ridding the body of excess calcium. When those levels are too high, the kidneys simply can't do it all! Forcing the excess to be deposited elsewhere, contributing to inflammation. Ferrets are naturally itchy creatures, but many things we do might be harming more than helping them. It's important not to shrug it off as, "they're just being a ferret!" You know your animals best, if something seems wrong, it probably is. Understand the common causes of itchiness and know when to act.
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