# Pocket the Ferret



## greenbeansrabbitry (Sep 10, 2008)

This gorgeous little guy is Pocket and this is his story....

On Monday I was going through craigslist post as I usually do when I'm bored and saw a post about a ferret that had been found in Charlotte. I sent an email stating that I'd be interested in giving it a home if they were unable to find the owner (I'm a sucker for ferrets...........okay any animal really). Tuesday I had a reply from them asking me to call and I got busy cleaning and driving people everywhere, well the next day they sent me a picture to my cell phone and told me it was the ferret that had been found, I had completely forgot to call them so I did right then. This is then what I was told, the guy was taking his cat outside to have its supervised 'play/potty time' and he saw what he thought was a possum! So he grabbed the cat and ran back inside then came back out to see if that's what it was, nope! It was a ferret!! He said it ran right up to him and was the friendliest little thing, he gave it some water and offered it some dry cat food, it drank some water but didn't eat. They filed a report with animal control and made ads saying a ferret was found in that location, no one had tried contacting them. My guess is someone let him go, but then again maybe he escaped. So we talked for a while and set up a time for me to go meet them and bring the little bugger home. Yesterday me and my sister drove to Gastonia and when we got there, he brought the carrier over to my truck, what happened next surprised me.... He pulled out this adorable little ferret and started to hand it to me, the ferret came to me instantly, starting giving me kisses, and laid in my arms like a baby!! I fell in love right then. He was obviously someones pet at some point in time, the sweetest ferret I've ever met, and he's potty trained! I'm not sure how long he was in the 'wild' but his nails were super long and his ears were filthy. In the first few pictures you can see how long they were before I trimmed them. I missed a few but will get them tomorrow, he wanted to sleep.

The people that found him were great and screened homes, I'm so greatful they tried to find the owner and took this little guy in. They were incredibly friendly and cared for him a great deal. Unfortunately the little man has refused to eat anything but Premium ferret treats. I'm taking him to the vet today to get vaccinated and a checkup. I'm hoping the vet will have some advice on getting him to eat something other than treats.

As far as where I got the name from, I had taken him to my moms because I had to drop off my sister plus my mom wanted to see him (she totally fell in love with him and wants me to bring him back tomorrow after we leave the vets :lol: ) we were playing with him and he kept crawling into everything, pillow cases, covers, and tried to climb into my moms pocket and pants, so we named him Pocket!

Here are the pictures!


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## Kenzy (May 10, 2011)

I love all the pictures, he looks so cute and cuddly! Hehe, and his eyes are gorgeous!!!


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

He is adorable.


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## CritterHeaven (Feb 21, 2011)

Those sleeping pictures are awesome! I bet he is thrilled to be with you. Glad the people that found him were so careful with him and a new home.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Congratulations!! Pocket is adorable!! Such a sweet face.
I'm so glad that such caring people found him & that he has a happy home now.


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## kelybely (Oct 19, 2010)

Awe he's adorable, I also have a ferret but shes asble collored. How big is he? You could try 8 in 1 ultimate ferret food it has many good reviews. Ferret.com has the best pprices on anything you need for your ferret. Congrats! I'm thinking about getting one that color to keep my Maxwell company.


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## ReginasMommy (Apr 13, 2011)

Aww, he's so cute! And he sounds like a very sweet little guy!!! Congratulations!


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## Midevalmiss (Apr 6, 2011)

Oh I love ferrets!! my brothe has had them for as long as I can rember. They are fun little guys. and you have goten your self one hansome guy, love the color and he lookes like a sweethart


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## cylaura (Jan 13, 2011)

Awwww what a cutie! I love the sleeping pictures too.  How wonderful of you to take him in and give him a loving home.


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## greenbeansrabbitry (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks everyone! He's a doll, I love him :lol: 

kelybely - What color is he? I'm not familiar with all the different colors. I think it's adorable though  He isn't very big actually compared to most ferrets I've seen, he's about a foot long maybe, that's just a guess, I don't have a ruler or anything so I could be way off :lol: He weighs a couple pounds it feels like, but I'm not good at guessing weight haha. I'll try the 8 in 1 and see if he likes it  We are about to leave for the vet, wish us luck!


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## Hedgieonboard (Nov 15, 2009)

He's adorable and looks so peaceful in his sleeping pics


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## panda (May 23, 2011)

he really is an adorable ferret!!! those cuddle pictures are sooo cute! i really love ferrets but my family and fiance do not agree haha. so glad he is in a safe home.. let us know how the vet goes! i'm sure he's going to pass with flying colors ;]


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## kelybely (Oct 19, 2010)

My ferret is prob over 5lbs and over 18inches long. Is he a baby? Ill upload a picture soon. How did the vet visit go? A sable is a black collored ferret.


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

He's adorable!!! I'm a relatively new ferret owner myself and HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY reccommend the Holistic Ferret Forum (it's the ferret equivalent of this forum). They'll tell you what colour he is too 

As far as food goes (I've done hours and hours and I mean HOURS of food research on ferrets and talked to many sources) the best food out there for ferrets is actually a raw food diet. I know it seems a little hard to wrap your head around at first, especially after feeding kibble to hedgies, but ferret kibble is honestly just terrible for them and the undigestible grains and sugars lead to terrible diseases like Insuloma.

Plus raw-fed ferrets have gorgeous coats and PERFECT teeth 

Anyways don't take my word for it, go to http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/ 
and do some research 

If you do decide to stick with a kibble, 8in1 really isn't that great it's got corn and fillers and other nasty stuff that the ferrets not only can't digest but that will lead to cancers. Evo Ferret food is actually the higest quality ferret food out there right now (but the company has just been bought by a terrible pet food company so it might change ) or a mix of high quality grain-free cat foods (ferrets need way higher protein and fat levels than hedgehogs though so I'd check that out) is honestly better than most ferret foods.

Here's a helpful food chart:
http://moredooks.herobo.com/search.php?chart=ferret but even the best kibbles really come no where close to the nutritional value of raw food. Ferrets are obligate carnivores so the rest of the crap they put in food (grains, fruits, etc.) is just plain not good for them. They need meat, bone and organs and that's really it.

Anyways sorry for the info overload! Congrats on your new ferret! (Make sure you ferret proof - these guys can and will EAT anything and need blockage surgeries) and make sure you don't keep them in the same room as the hedgehogs - they get heat stroke REALLY easily and need to be kept at much lower temps.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

I could see how they thought he was a possum with that coloring,so cute congrats!


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## panda (May 23, 2011)

just a random fact... i just recently heard a few weeks ago you can have pet possums! i never knew that before but came across something about it on the web


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## hedgiegirl1214 (Jan 14, 2011)

He's so cute!


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## greenbeansrabbitry (Sep 10, 2008)

Thanks everyone!  He's eating some Royal Canin BabyCat 34 but I'm going to be switching him to this diet:

8 oz raw chicken thigh meat (including skin and fat)
1/2 tsp of crushed eggshell powder (take a raw eggshell. Rinse it out. Let it dry. Crush to powder)
1 raw chicken heart
1/2 raw chicken liver
Water or broth(use more to make it soupier, less to make it thicker)
Blend ingredients together. Some prefer it at room temp. Try putting a dollop of "soup" onto your ferret's nose and they probably will lick it off. I use my finger. Sometimes this takes a little bit trying to convince them that you're not trying to poison them I find within a very short time they're licking this off my finger. When I see that they're willing to eat freely off my finger then I use a small spoon to try and get them to eat from that. Try to get them eating the soupy on their own. It might pique their interest.

Read more: http://holisticferret60.proboards.com/i ... z1OzRU9zE3

Heather on there told me to try it so I'm going to make a run to the store in a minute. 

Unfortunately I didn't get to make it to the vet yesterday due to something that came up with the family. I'll be taking them first thing Monday morning 

He does appear to be a baby IMO, I'm going to take some pictures of his teeth and see what others think. He did that "dead ferret syndrome" thing or whatever it's called last night and scared me to death :lol: I thought he was dead until I saw him breathing, then I figured he was just sleeping really heavily, but asked my friend just in case and she told me about the dead ferret syndrome thing. Sure enough a few minutes later he was up running around, then back out like a light.


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## pammie (Aug 31, 2008)

he is lovely! i love ferrets they are dead cute!


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## kelybely (Oct 19, 2010)

Hmm I'll look into that thanks for the info


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## SnufflePuff (Apr 16, 2009)

Glad to see both you and kelybely at the holistic ferret forum    

And it's great to have hedgehog and ferret owners on here too!


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## Lisacyr (Jun 29, 2011)

Aww he is so cute, but this makes me so sad! I had two ferrets, a chubby sable named Meeko and a silver mitt named Pocket too! I loved them, they were my babies but I had to move back home due to financial circumstances and my parents made me find them a new home 
On a happier note though your fuzzbutt is adorable!


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## greenbeansrabbitry (Sep 10, 2008)

Thank you  And I'm sorry to hear that!


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