Ferret Parents: 3 Tricks to De-Stink your Ferret and Your Home

What is the very first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Ferrets? In my experience it’s usually “Stinky”.  Ask any ferret owner about how they like owning a ferret, and usually their furry babies’ stinky, musky odor will come up. Ferrets have a very distinct smell and it pretty strong.  It can be known to inhabit an entire home in a few days, and once it’s there it likes to stay.  I’ve been known to desperately mask the smell by spraying Febreeze like mad before guests come over, but sometimes that isn’t enough!  After 3 years of ferret ownership and a lot of trial and error,  I have a few de-stinky tricks up my sleeve.

Trick #1: It’s all about the Litter

80% of that nasty smell you are getting is most likely from that litter box.  If you are lucky like me your ferrets are litter trained and that helps a lot, but lets be honest, their “potty” can generate a lot of smells. I started out using that rodent paper litter you get that is compacted in that plastic wrapping. That was terrible.  It would absorb all the pee and then become a sloppy stinky mess.  I tried sprinkling baking soda in their litter to see if that would help, but to no avail.

  I  became desperate and bought some clumping cat litter. It was AMAZING! No more smells. Everything clumped up perfectly for easy clean up. I could easily clean it out with a normal kitty litter scooper every day and life was beautiful. But then I discovered that the clay litter was very scatterable. The ferrets LOVED throwing that stuff everywhere, and there is nothing worse than walking around on your floors with pieces of dirty litter strewn about. Also, there are some health risks with the clay clumping litter. It can get stuck on your ferret and cause some irritation as well and leave dust in your air. I got sick of the clean up and washing my ferrets feet to keep the litter off all the time.

Finally one day I discovered the holy grail of litter. It is something called Smart Cat all natural Clumping litter. It’s essentially a grass based litter that acts like the clay litter but doesn’t release any dust and doesn’t stick to your ferret every time they go.  It is still very flingable, but It’s literally life changing for any ferret owner. As long as I scoop their litter boxes every day, they smell is non existent.

Trick #2: Don’t over wash your ferret:

What do you do for a stinky ferret? Give it a bath right? WRONG! Ferrets get that musky smell from their oil glands, and if you wash them too often it strips their coat of their oils and their glands go into overdrive. What does this mean? Your ferret may end up even more stinky than before! You should really only give your ferret a bath once every two months.

Trick #3: Regularly launder their bedding:

You would be amazed at how quickly their bedding can absorb their smells and make them linger.  I wash my ferret’s fleece liners and blankets once a week.  Plus my babies really love it when their bedding is fresh out of the dryer and still has that toasty warm temperature.

So there you have it! It’s really quite simple. It doesn’t take much more than the right litter and proper maintenance to keep your ferret’s smell in check. I’ve tried all of those products that claim to help with smell. There is stuff you put in their food, or sprays you can use. But honestly, I’ve tried them all and they weren’t really worth it. These three tips are really all you need!

Happy De-Stinking!!!