If you have a ferret, you should understand that toys are not a luxury but a necessity for them. This may have become apparent when seeing how much they love to play, or just how much they love to play with things you don’t want them to. Find ferret toys they like better than your own possessions, and hopefully you won’t spend a good chunk of every day trying to find your valuables. The question is then, “how do I choose ferret toys?”

Ferret toys should be safe, durable, and should attract the attention of your ferret. All of these qualities are important, but as the old adage goes, safety first.

Safe ferret toys are not sharp and have little give to them. Many soft toys are likely to be chewed up and swallowed. The original toy should also be big enough that the ferret can’t swallow it without chewing either. No one wants to try the Heimlich maneuver on a ferret.

Luckily enough, most safe toys are durable by nature, so you generally won’t have to go out of your way to satisfy this criterion. If you are in doubt, know that ferrets don’t know the concept of restraint and will not hold back anything on their toys.

As for attraction, simplicity is not to be overlooked. Some of the simplest toys provide the most fun for ferrets. Think of what kinds of things infants and toddlers are attracted to and you’ll be in the right mindset for choosing ferret toys. Shiny is attractive, so are certain noises. If the toy moves around or is able to move around quickly and freely (like balls) your ferret is likely to love it.

It’s up to you whether or not you want to consider them toys, but ferrets, like cats, love anything they can climb into. When I say this, I’m referring primarily to boxes and bags. In fact, when shopping for ferret toys, you may want to take a stroll down the cat toy section as they work well for both animals.

If you take a good look around your house or in storage, you may even find that you already have some ferret toys waiting to be named as such. If it would work for a cat or a baby, your ferret may thank you for it.