Ear Cleaning

[gto_cowgirl]

I was looking through one of the ferret stores online and happen to read through some grooming tips including ear cleaning. They mentioned not to stick qtips or anything of the sort in the ferrets ear because you could hurt it (I agree) but they also mentioned never worry about cleaning the ferrets ears.

I just got my ferrets about a couple of weeks ago and have since cleaned their ear twice using qtips and some of the Marshall Ear cleaning stuff because i read if you don't clean the ears then ear mites may occur and its stinky and unhealthy.

The Marshall Ear cleaner stuff says to just squirt it into the ferrets ear but i used qtips because i read thats what you should do in the Ferrets for Dummies book. So now i am confused as to what to do and how.

I dont want the ferrets to get ear mites but i so hate cleaning the ears because i'm scared every step of the way i'm going to accidently hurt the ferret or make matters worse if i push wax down its ear canal. I feel if i just squirt the ear cleaner into the ears that it doesn't really clean the ears.

So i'm wondering what do most people do and how? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[fstybrat]

I have always been under the impression that you should clean a ferts ears, although not sure how often... good question!!

I usually only clean them when I bathe them which is about every 6 months or so. As for qtips... I don't "dig" down in the ferrets ears... I just swab the outside & surrounding areas.

[gto_cowgirl]

I went in the vet Friday to get more vaccinations and i asked her how to clean the ferrets ears. I feel much better. I thought all of that that you see when you look in the ferrets ear was the inside and didn't realize the ear drum is way down in a hole at the bottom.

Yesterday i cleaned the ferrets ears because my dad came over and said how much the ferrets stink and i'm like what? So i check and their ears did smell a little so i got the ear cleaner and some qtips. Happy to say it went fantastic! I squirted a little of that ferret cleaner in their ears then went around the outside of their ears and got all the wax out. The ferrets were so great, i didn't even need help. I just held their head down on my lap without doing the scruff and they stayed very very still. Between each qtip i petted them and told them how great they were and then gave them ferretone afterwards. I felt so good about it the whole night that the ferrets did so well

[fstybrat]

gto that is awsome!!

How are things going with the babies otherwise???

[gto_cowgirl]

Well I have to admit a few weeks ago the kits were driving me crazy. They digged, pooped everywhere and had a few hard bites that hurt but no bleeding.

But everything seems to be coming into place now. The kits haven't had any accidents for at least a week (I put litter boxes everywhere, i rather clean litter boxes than the floor), no nipping seems to finally got through although there is the occasional mistake but thats when they get so excited from getting out of the cage and i bought one of those bowls you posted about from petco. The bowls works great even though they still digged a little out its nothing compared to what they use to do.

Now if i could only get Frenzy to stop attacking my Aquarium filter cords then it would be perfect. Finally had to go to time-out with him, i think its working. He did it a few times in a row then after being in time-out each time the last time he looked at the cords and ran off.