Hi All,

I'm going to start with the back story and finish with the questions. Jump to the end if you get tired of reading.

We purchased a ferret and the Ferret Nation 182 double cage 2 months ago. While originally we planned to give the ferret run of the house, we found it difficult with all our family coming over so much and all our kids, nephews, and nieces sharing the space. 4 nights a week you can expect 6 kids ages 3-9 and 1 infant learning to crawl here. We located the cage in the "play room", a room in the furnished basement next to the family room. He would get to run around a 10'x10' room and people were always visiting him. We often have company that will sleep in the family room and we started to feel really bad about the slight odor that they could smell and the noise he would made every 2 hours of the night. So we moved him into the next room over, the laundry room. We knew pretty quickly he hated being so far away from the action of the house.. Being tucked away like a pet we're ashamed of... So the only rooms left would be our small dining room or the bedroom. Not wanting people to smell ferret while they ate.. this left the bedroom... A 15'x12' bedroom with 2 windows (It is winter here, so we can't always leave windows open...).

We thought about getting a 2nd ferret but I'm now ruling this out because of the living situation. Quick math of 2 ferrets is double the poop, pee, odor, oils on the rug... It seems like it would really hard to share space with that much 'ferret'.

So my questions are:
What advice can you give for my situation?

What products best rid the ferret smell and make it smell fresh? Before vinegar and water 50/50 mix was fine but the bedroom is smelling very pickled..

The room is mostly area rug. Which is great because if he misses the litter box it only goes on hardwood that is easy to clean. But the ferret oils get into the rug fabric. Any advice on how to keep the rug smelling fresh?

I'm feeding him 8in1 premium ferret food. Is there something better that is affordable? I tried Orijen kitten food but it STUNK. I keep reading diet is a huge importance in smell control.

I wash all the beddings weekly. But even if I washed it more, that isn't the issue. It is that oil making its way onto the rest of the room I think. Sleeping schedule... Will Khaos (my ferret) ever adjust to when I have to sleep for work?!

Any other advice is more than welcome.
Thank you.