Ferrets and Salt?

[lapin2008 1,587]

Hi all,

 

As a kid I was told that ferrets were not able to handle eating salt and that even a small amount would cause the ferret to die almost instantly, was told that (in the old days) gamekeepers would sometimes put salted sardenes down rabbit holes in order the effectively poison poachers ferrets.

 

I appreiciate that salt will not be good for any animals but I have not seen any information since that would suggest that salt has a particularly bad effect on ferrets. Has anybody else heard anything similar to this or was the old timer who told me this just chatting rubbish?

atb

Edited May 7, 2009 by lapin2008

[micky 3,325]

Hi all,

 

As a kid I was told that ferrets were not able to handle eating salt and that even a small amount would cause the ferret to die almost instantly, was told that (in the old days) gamekeepers would sometimes put salted sardenes down rabbit holes in order the effectively poison poachers ferrets.

 

I appreiciate that salt will not be good for any animals but I have not seen any information since that would suggest that salt has a particularly bad effect on ferrets. Has anybody else heard anything similar to this or was the old timer who told me this just chatting rubbish?

atb

Years ago when the shooting times was a good read, the editor Tim Sedgewick [Tower Bird]wrote some good articles on rabbiting,i remember one where he recounted a vicar telling him ,never give a ferret anything with butter on it , as the salt would kill it, this was about 1965, idont know if its true or not ,but he believed it to be ,so that was good enough for me

[lapin2008 1,587]

Hi all,

 

As a kid I was told that ferrets were not able to handle eating salt and that even a small amount would cause the ferret to die almost instantly, was told that (in the old days) gamekeepers would sometimes put salted sardenes down rabbit holes in order the effectively poison poachers ferrets.

 

I appreiciate that salt will not be good for any animals but I have not seen any information since that would suggest that salt has a particularly bad effect on ferrets. Has anybody else heard anything similar to this or was the old timer who told me this just chatting rubbish?

atb

Years ago when the shooting times was a good read, the editor Tim Sedgewick [Tower Bird]wrote some good articles on rabbiting,i remember one where he recounted a vicar telling him ,never give a ferret anything with butter on it , as the salt would kill it, this was about 1965, idont know if its true or not ,but he believed it to be ,so that was good enough for me

cheers for that, have looked it up but don't seem to find much written on it

thanks again

[ferret15 0]

i have read somewhere that to much salt can kill a ferret,but i have no idea how much salt it would take to kill a ferret. i will have a look and see if i can find what i read before.

[ferret15 0]

found it

 

Salt poisoning – Salt poisoning can occur when regularly feeding your ferret on a diet that contains naturally high salt levels, fish in brime, ham, bacon, cured meats and many human foods such as crisps and chips.

 

Clinical signs include the animal becoming, depressed and developing spasms within 24 hours to 96 hours of having eaten the salty diet. Death usually follows shortly after.

 

If your ferret is showing signs of salt poisoning remove all traces of the salty food and provide plenty of fresh clean water.

 

Think before giving your ferret any treats that may contain a lot of salt. It may be enjoyed y the animal but will cause more harm than good.

[stubby 175]

confussing as most farmers I know use salt blocks with their livestock, I too have small animal salt blocks hanging in the court, which Is used, and never had a fert die on me

[ferret15 0]

confussing as most farmers I know use salt blocks with their livestock, I too have small animal salt blocks hanging in the court, which Is used, and never had a fert die on me

i too use salt blocks with my horses and ferrets i think the danger of a salt overdose is with hidden salt, IE you don't taste it. i don't think its common never heard of anyone with a ferret that had this.

 

i could see how the fish thing would work because the smell/taste of fish would over power the salt.

 

 

small amounts wont do any harm in fact i think if they didn't have any natural salt in there diet they would suffer cramps much the same as we do.

 

i am interested to see if there is any truth behind the sardine story ?

if it didn't kill them it might fill them up so they go to sleep ?

[RaiderBoy 19]

ferrets + lots of salt = bad but i dont know about small amounts of salt but i was told by the rspca when i had my ferret from them that feeding them pork was really bad for their health.about the salt lick thing i think that they dont die because they only lick it when they need it and they know how much they are having

[rabbit tourmentor 29]

james wellbeloveed is full of salt

[lapin2008 1,587]

confussing as most farmers I know use salt blocks with their livestock, I too have small animal salt blocks hanging in the court, which Is used, and never had a fert die on me

i too use salt blocks with my horses and ferrets i think the danger of a salt overdose is with hidden salt, IE you don't taste it. i don't think its common never heard of anyone with a ferret that had this.

 

i could see how the fish thing would work because the smell/taste of fish would over power the salt.

 

 

small amounts wont do any harm in fact i think if they didn't have any natural salt in there diet they would suffer cramps much the same as we do.

 

i am interested to see if there is any truth behind the sardine story ?

if it didn't kill them it might fill them up so they go to sleep ?

Not sure about the sardine thing, like i said was told to me years ago and took it on face value at the time as true. It has certainly not cropped up in the years i have kept ferrets but then i have not strayed from the raw rabbit/ferret biscuits diet too much

If ferts did die this quickly as a result of eating salt I would expect a lot of posts on sites like this saying. whats going on my ferret has died after giving it some butter or similar. Ferret15 cheers for finding that info, from what I have understood it suggests that the ferrets will die if subjected to salt on an ongoing basis as apposed to dieing immediatly as if they were poisoned. I suppose they may be a bit more susceptable then other animals but all animals and humans will die if they take on too much salt

 

If the salt did kill them more slowly then the effect of the keepers putting sardines down rabbit warrens would not be great as the days ferrteing would have been done and dusted before the ferret croaked.

 

cheers for looking into this

Edited May 7, 2009 by lapin2008

[pencoed hunter 7]

is chocolate poison to ferrets?

[Kay 3,709]

is chocolate poison to ferrets?

 

Yes & raisons are & onion

[ferret15 0]

is chocolate poison to ferrets?

apparently so if enough is feed

 

http://www.weaselwords.com/page/ferret_art006.php

[pencoed hunter 7]

I gave a ferret to a friend and I told him to read up [bANNED TEXT] I gave it to him and he did but not enoghf. Anyway on the 3rd day he gave it a chocolate chip off a muffin. what an idiot then sprayed the cage with lynx. If anything led goes wrong I'm going to get my ferret back

[Kay 3,709]

I gave a ferret to a friend and I told him to read up [bANNED TEXT] I gave it to him and he did but not enoghf. Anyway on the 3rd day he gave it a chocolate chip off a muffin. what an idiot then sprayed the cage with lynx. If anything led goes wrong I'm going to get my ferret back

 

Well i would get the ferret back if he is doing stupid things like spraying lynx in the cage