Housing and Environmental Enrichment of the Domestic Ferret: A Multi-Sector Survey

Abstract

Ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) are kept and used in multiple sectors of society, but little is known about how they are housed and what environmental enrichment (EE) they may benefit from. We aimed to help guide caretakers about what housing and EE can be provided for ferrets. Through an online questionnaire of ferret caretakers, including pet, laboratory, zoological collection, rescue and working animal sectors internationally, we described ferret housing, opportunities for exploration, EE provision and caretaker opinions on ferrets' preferred EE types, and problematic EE. In total, 754 valid responses from 17 countries were analysed, with most (82.4%) coming from pet owners. Most ferrets were housed socially, with housing varying across sectors from single-level cages to free-range housing in a room or outdoor enclosure; pet owners mostly used multi-level cages. The most commonly reported EE included hammocks, tunnels and tactile interaction with caretakers. Respondents reported that ferrets particularly enjoyed digging substrates, tunnels, human interaction and exploration. The most frequently reported problems were that ingestion of unsuitable chew toys and rubber items could cause internal blockages, narrow tunnels could trap ferrets, and certain fabrics that could catch claws. This suggests a need for increased awareness of the risks of these EE types and for more commercially available safety-tested ferret EE. Scent trails were relatively rarely provided but were reported to be enjoyed and harmless, so we recommend that these should be provided more commonly. Our results suggest that there is scope to improve ferret housing and EE provision to benefit ferret welfare across all sectors.

Keywords: animal welfare; environmental enrichment; ferrets; housing; injury; questionnaire; veterinary.

Figure 1

Percentage of housing types and sub-types by ferret caretaker sector. Housing types include cages (yellows), hutches (blues), and free-ranging (greens). Respondents could select all housing types which applied to them, resulting in a higher number of responses than the number of respondents.

Figure 2

Number of enrichment types reported by caretakers to be provided inside (a) and outside of ferret housing (b) by sector. Boxes show median and first and third quartiles.

Figure 3

Frequency that respondents from different caretaker sectors reported changing EE items provided to their ferrets.

Figure 4

Caretakers’ opinions of ferrets’ most enjoyed EE types. In (a), the data are organised in decreasing order of the raw percentage of respondents suggesting the EE most enjoyed by their ferrets. Only the EE types that were reported by ≥5% of respondents are shown. In (b), caretakers’ opinions of ferrets’ most enjoyed EE types when corrected for commonness of provision of EE type are shown. Only EE types listed in the multiple-choice list for question ‘which EE types do you offer your ferret’ could be corrected for commonness. For both (a,b), the purple to yellow colour gradation indicates most to fewer absolute numbers of respondents reporting the EE to be enjoyed. EE types suggested by fewer than 5% of respondents as ferrets most enjoyed EE types, and therefore not shown, were water (4.9%), soft toys (4.8%), toys on a string/stick (4.5%), dog toys (2.5%), scent-based EE (1.8%), shoes (1.8%), socks (1.5%), grass (1.4%), chew toys (1.4%) and rocks/logs (0.5%).