AAP News Vol. 14 No. 8 August 1998, p. 2
© 1998 American Academy of Pediatrics
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Ferrets pose risk to children

Carla Kemp and Luann Zanzola

Physicians need to recognize ferrets are a risk to children and should counsel parents against keeping the animals as pets, suggested the authors of an article reviewing three cases of ferret attacks.

In the first case, a 4-month-old girl was riding in the back seat of a car, restrained in a safety seat, when a ferret escaped from its cage and attacked her. She suffered a 2-inch laceration about the right orbit, a small puncture wound below the right eye and a laceration above the left eye. She required plastic surgery.

The second case involved a 5-year-old boy whose hand was bitten by a ferret while he was asleep. Family members had to pry open the animal's jaws to release the boy's hand. The child presented with multiple punctures and lacerations ranging up to 1.5 cm over the dorsum of the hand with marked soft tissue swelling. No surgical repair was required.