From:
Melissa
Date: 2003-02-25 16:09:32 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] new baby Paisley
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20030225160932.1012.qmail@web14406.mail.yahoo.com>
--- d.dunkin6@verizon.net wrote:
> His problem is more physical. At this Pet Store they
> keep their ferrets in little containers that you
> usally see hampsters in. . . .> The ferret has been
feet in this container for at
> least 2 months..... I am finding he seems to have
very little muscles developement. He can not pull
himself up or maybe he just does not know how. His
back feet slip all over the bottom of the cage when he
trys to get himself up on the shelve. ..
The best thing you can do is to let him be out of his
cage as much as possible. I adopted a ferret that was
apparently also kept in a cage all the time - at one
year of age, she couldn't climb at all and didn't seem
to understand the world was more than the floor. It
took about a year for her to develop enough muscle to
climb up onto the bed, or scale the dresser drawers,
but she is fine now. Hopefully it will take your
little guy less time than mine since he's younger.
Just try to encourage him to play with the others as
much as possible and he will develop muscle tone
naturally.
If you want to help further, I know that one game you
can play that seems to help is "ride the towel" where
you take a bath towel and pull them -- they will often
grab the towel with their paws and yank it around, or
try to bite it as they ride it. This should help to
develop muscle.
Best of luck
Meliss
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