In close quarters, pet ferrets make fur a significant 'other'

Jan Smith at home with her ferrets Sonny and Jasper. "They are very beautiful pets," she says. "Their antics are incredible." Photo: Craig Sillitoe

WHEN she moved into her inner-city apartment, Jan Smith was in no doubt which type of pet would keep her company. Dogs and cats were a handful; goldfish and budgerigars lacked personality. Ferrets were the perfect choice.

The furry creatures sleep through most of the day, but are high on energy when their owners are willing to play, making them the ideal pet for people in small inner-city apartments.

For Ms Smith, now the secretary of the Victorian Ferret Society, it was an easy decision.

"They are very beautiful pets," she says. "Their antics are incredible. They play as soon as they wake up, and then they work themselves out and they drop and sleep for more than a few hours."

It's hard to know how many ferret owners there are in Australia, but numbers seem to be rising. Ferrets often get lumped in with "other" on surveys, although one American study found that ferrets were the third most popular "companion pet" behind cats and dogs.

The Canterbury Vet Clinic, one of Melbourne's leading ferret vets, says there has been a steady increase in the number of ferrets being presented for treatment. And the Ferret Society has had a surge of interest from people keen to adopt.

Like many ferret owners, Ms Smith had previously kept more traditional pets (she had a dog when she lived in Queensland) before falling for the charms of ferrets. Now she has three ferrets: Angel, aged four, and Jasper and Sonny, who are nearly one.

Despite their small size, ferrets are high maintenance and require devoted owners who are prepared to cope with the havoc the excitable creatures can wreak.

"Before you bring your ferret home you've got to ferret-proof your area of living," Ms Smith says. "Ferret-proofing involves closing every hole, every nook, every cranny … They're great escape artists. A lot of them are better named 'Houdini'."

Ferrets prefer a cooler climate, so in the heat of an Australian summer they are vulnerable to heat stroke and need to be kept indoors with plenty of water.

Females need to be desexed or run the risk of aplastic anemia, which can kill up to 90% of females in the first mating season. Desexing also curbs the ferret's distinctive smell, secreted from the anal gland, but it doesn't eliminate it completely. Owners insist the smell is not as bad as commonly believed.

Though the rush towards ferrets as pets is relatively recent, the animal has been domesticated for about 2500 years, with Queen Victoria the most famous ferret-keeper.

Ferrets were brought to Australia in the early days of European settlement to hunt rabbits.

They can be a handful for an owner. Beth Haywood, a welfare officer with the Ferret Society, is currently looking after a dozen ferrets discarded by their owners. But she is regularly contacted by people keen to adopt one.

"Some people don't get educated well enough when they buy their ferrets and they find they're a bit too much, so they get handed in," says Ms Haywood, who comes from a family of ferret owners.

"They need more interaction than cats and dogs, so you can't just leave them in the cage. You've got to have them out playing, and you have a couple of them because they're very social animals."

All about ferrets

■ Ferrets have been domesticated for at least 2500 years.

■ Ferret-like animals were mentioned in a play by Aristophanes in 425BC.

■ The Romans used ferrets to hunt rabbits. "Ferret" is from the Latin "furittus", meaning "little thief".

■ Ferrets were introduced to Australia in 1885 to control rabbit populations, but never established in the wild.

■ Ferrets were used to run cables for the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.