INTRODUCTION
Ferrets belong to the family Mustelidae, a diverse group of small to medium-size carnivores that includes weasels, stoats, polecats, mink, skunks, otters, and badgers. The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is a domesticated polecat.
The European polecat (M. putorius putorius) was probably the ancestor, but there is some argument about whether the domesticated ferret is derived from the European, Asiatic, Siberian or Ethiopian polecat.Domestic ferrets have been used since Roman times to control rabbits by “ferreting”, which continues today in Europe and Australia. While being working animals, used for controlling rabbits and rats, ferrets are also pets and kept as such in America, Britain, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Ferrets are also used as an experimental model for medical research and formerly for the fur trade. The study of ferret physiology was carried out initially in respect to ferrets' use for biomedical research (Whary & Andrews 1998). Evans and An (1998) have also extensively reviewed the complete anatomy of the ferret.
More on the topic INTRODUCTION:
- Introduction
- Introduction
- EPIDEMIOLOGY
- The Doe
- Vogelnest L., Portas T. (Eds.). Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals. CSIRO,2025. — 848 p., 2025
- NON-INFECTIOUS DISEASE
- Parenteral Nutrition in Ruminants
- Diseases Caused by Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV)
- Smith Bradford P., Van Metre David C., Pusterla Nicola (eds.). Large Animal Internal Medicine. Part 2. 6th edition. — Elsevier,2020. — 2279 p., 2020
- Other Problems Affecting the Buck