Bathroom accidents with older ferrets
Gary
happen. Just like old humans sometimes need "Depends" adult diapers
eventually. The few times I've actually been in the room when he has an
accident, I can see that it really upsets him.
He knows it was wrong and will even try to clean up by licking urine off of
a wrong place to go. If I'm there to catch him, I'll stop him from doing
the 'Bear Grylls' thing and I'll clean it up myself. Then I give him lots
of
hugs and reassurance that "it's ok, dude."
He really does freak out though and knows he did wrong. :-(
95% of the time he goes in the right place but sometimes he waits too long
and just can't make it there in time. The grip of his butt or penis (or
both) just lets go before he can get there.
This happened again last night. I was awake at 2:30am and heard him splat
so I looked over to see where he was. Wrong place! So I got up and cleaned
up his mess right away, then I gave him lovings then fed them both some warm
gravy meal. Then we all went back to sleep all happy. Everything was fine
once again! :-D
SasiOne
sad. I would just
cry for him, clean it up and him as well and all was well with the
world. He got so
old that his legs just would not hold him up any longer and he had to
drag himself
around. So we had to do the right thing and let him go. He hated for
us to give him a
bath, and towel cleaning was not doing the job.
I'm glad your your doing the good mommy/daddy thing and just loving
him and
letting him know its okay. hug and kisses to your lil boy.
Keep on Trucking
Becky
Gary
>
> I feel for you. Our lil Snowflake had the same issue and it was so
> sad. I would just
> cry for him, clean it up and him as well and all was well with the
> world. He got so
> old that his legs just would not hold him up any longer and he had to
> drag himself
> around.
Same thing with Fred now. His back legs have been weak for years and now he
basically lays down on papers to pee or poo... so naturally, it gets all
over him and it does bother him. I keep a damp cloth by the cage and if I
hear him going, I'll clean him up before he goes back to upper level
blankets. I'm not always around though and he "dirty's" the blankets on
upper level just with his dirty fur. So I have to change the blankets every
2 days or so.
It's very annoying and lots of work but I deal with it. He's been my
"buddy" for over 5.5 years now and I love him to death. As long as he's not
in any pain, I'll keep cleaning up after him.
Other than the bathroom issues and weak legs, he seems perfectly fine and
happy. We play a "chasing game" each day that he loves. I'll put him on the
top ridge of couch. Then he'll run to the end and climb down on floor.
Once on floor, I'll chase him 30 feet into the bedroom while saying, "I'm
going to get you! I'm going to get you!@" And he runs like crazy! Once in
bedroom, I'll "catch" him then take him back to the couch for another run.
I do this like 10 times a day. He loves the game, plus it exercises his
legs.
As far as him going to the bathroom in the upper levels of the cage
occasionally (which really creates a mess for me to clean up).... I don't
know if he just waits too long and can't make it to the bottom litter area?
Or maybe he prefers to relieve himself on an upper level since it's over
wire and won't get on his fur??? I can almost understand that theory.
> I'm glad your doing the good mommy/daddy thing and just loving
> him and
> letting him know its okay. hug and kisses to your lil boy.
Thanks for that! Like I said, Fred is my little long-time buddy, so very
loving, and I'd rather put up with cleaning up his annoying mess several
times a day than spending an hour burying him in the forest. Little Jackie
just adores him too.