Posted: May 30, 2008, 7 p.m. EDT
Q: I have a blind, 5-year-old female ferret. What can I do or not do to help her? She runs into things all the time — the doors, walls, furniture. I hate watching her do that.
A: The best thing to do for a blind ferret is to make its life as interesting as possible without causing stress or pain. Enrichment is very important to every ferret, whether or not it can see.
The first thing to do is to make sure you don’t move things around too much. If you need to clean your ferret’s room or cage, replace all of the toys and furniture in the same place when you are done. She needs to feel comfortable in her own space and that should minimize her bumping into things.
In order to enrich her, focus on her senses of smell and sound. Play music, talk to her, be a little noisy when you are coming to interact with her, and find toys that have bells or some other noisemaker in them. For her sense of smell, hide treats in her cage, give her a stinky shirt to play with, or bring in smells from outside.