Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two ferrets- Sally and Buddy who were cage mates. Just this past weekend my female ferret, Sally, passed away from old age. For the past 5 days, ever since her passing, Buddy's health and demeanor has been declining. He is not eating his food. He is not eating his vitamins (which he normally loves). He is more lethargic. Is it possible that Buddy misses his life long cagemate and is suffering from depression? Has this happened to anyone? Any suggestions/sharing of experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Yes it is actually very likely that your ferret is grieving over the loss of his friend. Ferrets bond very closely with each other and their human companions as well. I used to volunteer with the ferret rescue in my city and we would tell people if you are going to have 2 ferrets, then maybe consider getting one more. That way when one does pass away or something happens there are still at least 2 left to comfort one another. I just lost my oldest boy about 2 months ago, and my little girl took it very hard looking for him eveywhere, but I was lucky cuz she had my other boy to keep her company. Keep the smell of the old girl around if you can. Like maybe a blanket or a favorite toy that smells like her. My vet says it helps them grieve, and maybe try offering him some chicken soup and see if he will eat that. Also, it might be a good idea to spend some extra time with him and try to play and such to bring his spirits up. If he stays off food for too long you may have to drop into the vet and see if they can help with anything.

Thank you for the great info. We let Buddy smell Sally a few times before we had her cremated to allow for the closure, but now I don't know if that was a great idea. We have taken him to a vet who is running a number of test to rule out illness. Once the test come back and if all is well we will be having a play date with another fert. We are currently feeding him with a syringe every four hours . We are also thinking about getting two babies but are not sure this would be a good idea since Buddy is 6 1/2 years old and I don't know if they would run him ragged. If anybody has introduced two young ferts with an older one please let me know what the best way to do this would be and anything I should be looking out for. Thank you!

Do you have anything at home that still smells of her? If you do give it to your boy to cuddle with. I hope the tests come back okay!
As far as introing 2 babies to the older boy I would say it is an alright idea providing that he is still active and playful. I know alot of people that have older ferrets at home and bring babies home with no ill effects. As long as he is still active and has some play left in him I do not see it being a problem. Plus the 2 babies will help keep each other entertained so if he wants to creep away for a bit he can do that.

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Unfortunetly I don't think I have anything left of Sally's with her smell. I washed everything, as I always do on Saturday,and she passed on Friday night. I will be looking to see if there is anything left. He did have a lot of energy before he stopped eating although he too was showing signs of aging before he stopped eating. He is getting some spunk back in him and I can't wait to get him with another fert to see how he does.

Even if all you can find of Sallys is a toy she used to play with that may still have her scent on it. I would not base everything on how the playdate with the other ferret goes though. Sometimes ferrets do not get along and they could fight...so even if things do not go too well with the playdate you still may want to consider getting another ferret or two. After my boy passed I got a baby ferret for my other 2...one is 4 and the other is 3 and they took alot of time to get used to the new baby. But they are slowly all starting to get used to one another and getting long. Good Luck!!

I lost one of my adopted/rescued ferrets back in december, lucky just a few months before the local pet shop had had another set of abandoned/drop-off ferrets come in and the owner immediately thought of me. I ended up with the approx. 1 y/o female to go with my first ferret who will be 3 in december and my first adopted man, age unknown. I was glad when FatMan died that we had the female around for Dax ... a couple months ago we introduced another female in ... she was born in January so she was still little. I kept her in the playpen and only put them together when I was around, just incase. Babies like to pick and play and even if they don't mean to be, some adult ferrets can be too rough. My baby is now almost the size of my adults and very well bonded to the other female, not so much to Dax cuz he likes to pick on her. Keep in mind like said before, just because the play date might not go well doesn't mean your man doesn't want company, just maybe not the babies!

If the babies don't go over well try to find and older (but still younger!!) ferret. Sometimes that will go over better, since they're over there highly highly rambunctious stage!

Hope all goes well!!