The joy of Potty Training!

Potty Training is either easy or difficult, it all depends on the ferret. Regardless, most ferrets are always going to have the occasional accidents. Sometimes the silly critters get so absorbed in their games and mischief that when the sudden need hits them they just back their rears up in the nearest corner and go! Be that as it may, with consistency and understanding, you can help cut down on these accidents and set your ferret up for success!

So where to start?

Let me start by saying, do not strike your ferret in any way if he has an accident. Do not rub his nose in it. Do not scruff the ferret and scold him. All of the above are abusive and ineffective.

 Make sure you use a safe litter for your ferret. They make a pellet litter just for ferrets, though I find they make this ridiculously expensive. A perfume free cat pellet litter is the same thing. The brand I use is called Good Mews. Do not ever use the sand type litter. This is unhealthy for ferrets in several ways.The litter box must be large. If a ferret feels that his litter box is too small, he will use it less or simply not use it at all.

A baby ferret is actually not that hard to litter train, they take to it with surprising ease! Now the first thing I must advise is not to fill your cage with rodent bedding (pine/aspin/carefresh). For a baby ferret, it can be hard to tell the difference between bedding and litter. ): You might find that the baby chooses to sleep in the litter box and poop in the corner of his cage. Solution? Line your cage with fleece blankets, or towels or something of the like. I choose fleece because my furkids like the softness. Now they'll be able to tell that the pellets in their litter pan are for potty and the blankets are for sleeping!

Now if you have a two-story or larger cage you'll want to make sure you have a litter box on both levels. Baby ferrets might be intimidated by using ramps so they may stay on one level for the first few nights. You can try and guess what corner of the cage your baby will want but ultimately the ferret picks his corner. Once he has, move the litter box there. Now if he uses more than one corner move a water bowl, food bowl or large toy into that corner. If he can't back his little booty into the corner he is likely not to try. Try not give them to much roaming space while they're still learning, you want to help them succeed. Keep a little poop in their box at all times. The smell helps encourage them to use it.

When you go to let your ferret out of his cage, try to get him to potty first. Ferrets typically go to the bathroom after waking up. Keep a close eye on your new ferret while he is playing, make sure you have a litter box outside the cage as well and let the baby know where it is. If the ferret tries to potty outside the litter box be quick to pick him up and gently place him in the litter box, be sure to praise him even if only a little bit actually makes it into the litter. If the baby goes straight to the box on his own to potty give him a lot of praise, and even treats if they like them. Make it a big deal so your ferret knows he did good. Keep this up until your ferret is seeking out the litter boxes. Don't hesitate to buy more litter boxes! I only have one in my three story cage but outside the cage I have at least four boxes spread out around the room. Pretty much one box per wall.

And if you line your cage with blankets, you're conditioning your ferret to not want to dirty this type of bedding. Why is that good? For some of us, no matter how hard we try our ferrets keep backing up in front of or beside the litter box and pooping on the carpet! Here is what I've found that helps. Toss a blanket in your ferrets cage for a few days. Most ferrets will burrow in this and sleep all over it. Once it smells like them take it out and lay it on the carpet and place the litter box on this. For my ferrets they didn't want to potty on their blanket so they'd make sure to get inside the litter box before going.

Make sure you clean up any accidents with a product made to eliminate the ferret urine smell. This will help keep the ferret from wanting to go there again. If they can smell their own potty they'll want to go there. For older ferrets these tips can also be applied, its just going to take more vigilance. An older ferret is set in its ways and that can be hard to break.