Volume 151, February 2014, Pages 94–101
Abstract
The domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo)
is becoming an increasingly popular companion animal in Australia and
overseas yet very little is currently known about the effects of
different management factors (such as housing and enrichment) on
domestic ferret behaviour and welfare. Hence, the aims of this study
were to investigate the relationship between housing and management and
the incidence of play and undesirable behaviours in order to ultimately
improve welfare in the domestic ferret. An online survey was constructed
which focused on different housing and management strategies utilised
by ferret owners and required owners to score the frequency of a range
of behaviours observed. Ferret owners were also able to report what
behavioural aspects they believed particular ferret behaviours were
associated with. There were 466 ferret owners who participated in this
survey study. Generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to
identify significant relationships between sex, de-sexing, housing,
enrichment, and the frequency of behaviours reported by owners. It was
found that the overall frequency of undesirable behaviours, on a scale
of 0 (never) to 4 (always), was quite low, with ferret owners reporting
that these behaviours ‘rarely’ to ‘never’ occurred (mean score
(MS) = 0.73). In contrast, the frequency of overall play behaviours was
reported as ‘frequently’ to ‘occasionally’ (MS = 2.35). It was also
found that male ferrets showed more play behaviour (weasel war dance)
than females (male MS = 2.66; female MS = 2.61; P = 0.04) and
that de-sexed ferrets had a lower incidence of repetitive behaviour
compared to entire ferrets (de-sexed MS = 0.54; entire MS = 0.79; P = 0.01).
Ferrets provided with a higher level of enrichment demonstrated a
higher occurrence of play behaviour such as dooking (MS for less than
two enrichment items = 1.47; MS for three to five enrichment
items = 1.96; MS for more than six enrichment items = 2.18; P = 0.01)
and weasel war dance (MS for less than two enrichment items = 2.34; MS
for three to five enrichment items = 2.59; MS for more than six
enrichment items = 2.70; P < 0.01). There was also a
significant interaction between number of hours ferrets spent confined
and number of enrichment items (GLMM, F4.329 = 10.2, P = 0.03)
on the incidence of bite-hurt (an undesirable behaviour) suggesting
that generally, higher levels of enrichment in conjunction with less
hours spent confined results in less bite-hurt behaviour. Surprisingly,
size of enclosure had no significant effect on any behaviour (all P > 0.1).
Although ferrets display a higher incidence of play behaviour than
undesirable behaviour, which may be seen as a positive sign, factors
such as the level of enrichment provided, amount of time ferrets are
confined and de-sexing should be carefully considered when implementing
management plans for this companion animal as they exert an influence on
ferret behaviour.
Keywords
- Domestic ferrets;
- Behaviour;
- Housing;
- Enrichment;
- Stereotypies
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
