White ferret: features of albinos, pros and cons of keeping, care

The hair of common domestically raised ferrets is dyed in different shades of brown. The color of white ferrets is completely white, without markings. Such animals are considered albinos. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of animals, the rules for keeping and caring for at home, how to equip a home, what to feed, how to treat and prevent diseases.

Features of white ferrets

White ferrets have 2 colors - sable and albino. Regardless of the coat color of an adult animal, puppies are born white. Then, after 2-3 weeks of life, in some, the tail and legs, muzzle darken, the undercoat acquires a yellowish-gray tint.

In albinos, the coat color does not change, they can be identified by red eyes - a characteristic feature of albinos. Not only real, but also partial albinos are born in the population, they have dark eyes.

Pros and cons

Cattle breeders note the following virtues of white ferrets:

original color;
do not need special care, eat standard food.

Disadvantages of white ferrets:

poorer he alth than colored specimens;
albino offspring can be colored, since the gene responsible for the lack of pigment in the coat is recessive.

It is precisely because of the unusual coloration of white ferrets that livestock breeders are happy to breed at home as pets. With good care, animals can live 5-7 years.

Maintenance and Care

The general rules for keeping white-colored ferrets are similar to those for animals with dark hair. For a pet, you need to prepare a place where he will live, calculate and make a diet, take care of the animal.

Housing

A ferret gets used to a person quickly, it is a quick-witted and intelligent animal that quickly learns everything that is required. But other pets can be a problem. Ferrets are carnivores and will prey on guinea pigs, poultry, and reptiles. Therefore, you can keep animals of these species only separately, in different rooms. Ferrets are friendly with cats, you can keep them with dogs, but not a hunting breed.

For a ferret, you need to purchase a cage with metal bars, in which he will feed and sleep.The cage should not be small, ferrets are mobile animals, they do not like tight spaces. You can not keep the animal in a cage all the time, every day you need to let him walk around the room.

There should be a place in the cage where to put a feeder, a drinking bowl, in the opposite place - a tray, because ferrets are clean animals and will not defecate where they eat. In the cage, you also need to hang a hammock-bed, in which the pet will rest. When walking around the room, care must be taken that the animal does not rummage through flower pots and does not turn them over, which ferrets readily do.

Food

The basis of the diet of ferrets is animal food - meat and internal organs of animals and birds. They also eat raw eggs, which can be given, but not often - no more than 2 times a week. They drink milk, eat cottage cheese and cheese, raw and boiled vegetables and fruits, but in small quantities.You can give fish of good varieties. You need to feed the animal 2 times a day. Water should be in the drinkers constantly.

Instead of natural food, you can feed ferrets with ready-made food designed for ferrets and ferrets. Food for dogs and cats is not suitable. Feed should be professional and premium. Cheap prepared foods are bad for ferrets' digestion and development and should not be used.

Hygiene

The white coat of ferrets requires constant care. This is all the more necessary, because during a walk animals like to climb into all sorts of hidden corners where they collect dust. Therefore, the animals need to be combed and bathed with special shampoos. You can buy hygiene products at pet stores.Bathing will help solve another problem: an unpleasant odor from uncastrated males. Animals are not afraid to swim, they even like to swim, but it is necessary to teach them to swim from an early age. The water should be warm, and the coat should be thoroughly rinsed so that no product remains on the coat.

The cardinal solution to the problem of smell is castration, if you sterilize animals, they will not stink, and the coat will remain snow-white. Sterilize only those males that are not planned to be used in breeding. Neutering is not required for females, but it is also carried out so that the animals become calmer and more docile.

Enhanced coat care is required during the molting period, which takes place in domestic ferrets 2 times a year: in early March and in October-December. At this time, you need to comb out the falling hair with a frequent comb so that it falls out faster.

Disease prevention

Ferrets can suffer from infectious diseases, eating disorders, metabolic diseases. The reasons, in most cases, are malnutrition and insufficient care.

Disease prevention is to monitor the diet of the animal, include only he althy foods in it. Clean the cage and equipment in time, bathe and comb the animal's hair. Bathing and combing has another purpose - the destruction of parasites that can be found in the fur of ferrets and in the ears. They usually appear on pets from cats and dogs. If bathing does not help, you need to purchase special preparations for fleas and lice to destroy them.

The white domestic ferret does not need special care, special feeding. The maintenance and diet do not differ from what is required for ferrets with colored hair. You can keep pets in a cage in an ordinary room of an apartment or at home, next to familiar cats and dogs.