f distemper
coming on feed the ferret as little as possible. Give it as little to
eat as will just keep life in it, for in feeding the ferret you also feed
the disease. When you have kept the food from it is the time to start
curing if possible. Now, from experience the first thing I recommend is
to sweat the disease out of it, and I find the best way to do this is as
follows:--Get an old bucket with a few one-inch holes bored in the
bottom, and almost fill it with good new straw horse-droppings; put a
little hay on the top of the droppings, and then put the ferret on the
hay. Place or hang the bucket over a boiler or on the mantelpiece, and
let the kettle steam under the bucket, say for 30 minutes, and you will
find the steam and the ammonia from the droppings will together sweat the
disease out of the ferret; then you can start feeding it again. Feed it
with something substantial, such as the jelly from stewed cowheels; give
them the jelly only, not the meat; and you will have a good result. Also
give them a teaspoonful of cream. This is the one and only cure for
distemper.

Another disease in ferrets, especially young ones, is what I call "red
mange." This starts always under the belly, and you will find that the
skin becomes very red and speckled. This is easily remedied by the
simple process of washing in lukewarm water and rubbing with sweet oil
and black sulphur. The same mixture will answer for "foot rot" if rubbed
well into the paws. The general cause of this latter disease is neglect
of the ferrets and the hutches not being cleaned out regularly.

I think the best bedding for ferrets is good oat straw, fresh every
fortnight. Throw the straw in carelessly, and the ferrets will make
their own beds. When breeding ferrets, never go near them more than you
can help, as they are of a wild nature and liable to destroy their young.
When you know a Jill or bitch ferret has young, give her a little extra
good food, but don't interfere with the young ones on any account, and if
you want to give her a little extra bedding put the straw in the same
place as the food, and she will take it into the sleeping place herself.
It is advisable not to touch the young ones for five weeks, or better
still leave them until they come out to feed themselves; and when running
about, if there be a good number, say nine or ten, in the lot, it is a
good plan to remove them into a larger place for sleeping, as young
ferrets are