[Rook]

First off, I do apologize for not answering sooner, I wasn't aware there was a question for me...

Curious. My adult daughter has two ferrets which are not really house trained. She claims they are, of course, but any available corner appears to be a "toilet" and she just places a kitty litter box in all four corners of their room. They miss it as often as hitting the spot. Just wondering if you've had a different experience and actually have house trained ferrets in tow. They've had ferrets forever and have actually had to always have an entire room adapted as "the ferret room" because they choose not to cage them. I enjoy playing with them -- at HER house.

Judith

I've had very different experience...
Ferrets are litterbox trainable, but..You have to be determined and patient.It's not that they don't grasp the concept, it's more on the "Well, since I'm here, and my potty spot's over there...", like a kid going thru potty-training {toilet's too far, and i have a diaper}
Your daughters mistake, no offense, is placing a litterbox in all those corners..
The moment they "miss", that spot is marked as 'toilet', I would recommend immediately cleaning, and a slight scrub with a good dish soap + apple cider vinegar.
My ferrets are "housetrained", but, from time to time when they're free-roaming, I have to catch 'em before they do their business, and park 'em in the Cage.
Healthy ferrets do give very visible signs that they're gonna poop/pee...
Pay attention, watch for the following
- Ferret finds random corner, sniffs corner, hangs around corner, gets skittish, walks briefly away + stops and walks backward, raises tail, takes position of a posing ballerina, semi-squat with tail out of way, all prim and proper-
I usually catch 'em when they start walking backward, yeah, they'll scowl, after all, they wanna poop and return to playing.
Once in the cage, after they get over the temporary pissed off mode, they run to their box..

On the food part, I do agree...
My ferrets are given a decent mix of premium Ferret food, and treats...And no, it's not just pat myself on the back..The food I give them meets their dietary needs of protein, fat, etc...
But, I have to shoo them away from the dogs bowl if it's still on the ground when they're free-roaming..
From time to time, I'll take 'em both back to their Cage while lecturing them
"I give u the best food on the market, and u want that greasy truck stop cheeseburger version of animal food..U hungry? Go eat your own food" and I leave them in until they finish pickin their food...
Doesn't work much...
They still hunt for the Pedigree....

I used to feed my dog Innova EVO RM, and Natural Balance Ultra Premium, my brother feeds his dog whatever he can grab that won't destroy his wallet that week.
Usually it's Pedigree...Sometimes it's Ol'Roy...
And it does baffle me...
-"You're telling me that dog gets "sick" from a food that is geared towards sensitive stomach canines....and he's fine with Ol'Roy?"
-"Yup"....

My cat also got the Feline version of Innova + Natural Balance...
But then, I suppose if the animal copes better with supermarket foods, then, by all means, give 'em their yummies.

I'm a Pescetarian, mostly because I do need animal protein...
Otherwise, I'd be Vegan for humanitarian reasons..
I don't eat "free-fallen" fruit mostly because when a Fruit falls, it's likely to be Rotten, or with bugs...
I *do* eat "Organic"...