When ferret proofing a room it is easy to overlook the doorstops. That is, for us humans. For ferrets, most doorstops are at eye level making them stand out to our fuzzy friends. The problem is traditional doorstop have a rubber tip. With the typical ferrets strong attraction to rubber, this is a big problem. Ferrets just love to chew rubber and this is not good! With their sharp teeth it is easy for them to chew the rubber doorstop tips into pieces. The swallowed pieces of rubber can result in a life threatening blockage, with the only solution being expensive emergency surgery.
Obviously, prevention is the only way to go! The simplest way to prevent the problem is to remove the rubber tips from the stoppers. The downside is that the door will likely get a bit dinged up when the un-cushioned doorstop makes contact with the door. Remove the doorstop and now the wall gets dinged up from the door handle.
There’s got to be a better way. Luckily, there is… Invest in baby safe doorstops. While, actually designed to prevent babies and very young children from chocking on the rubber stopper or getting pinched by the spring, they are perfect for ferrets. The ones I found are called “Soft Jamb” and are made by National Mfg., but there may be others. These childproof (and ferret proof!) doorstops are a made of a solid plastic. The material has a bit of give to it. It’s not a hard plastic, making it unbreakable when struck by the door. The one piece construction has no rubber tip to be chewed off, making it safe for ferrets as well as babies.
For just few dollars you can have piece of mind. Installation is real simple. Just unscrew the current doorstop and screw the new baby safe ones in. That’s it! The doorstops are available at home centers and at retailers specializing in items for baby proofing the home.