John Paul Grooming Products

Ok, first let me set the stage for this.

I was at the Backer show in Chicago last weekend, and being the good shelter operator, looking for bargains that can be used for fund raising, and begging for people to donate one or two items. Nothing expensive, just something, people like door prizes, and winning things, I like saving money on prizes so it can go to vet care and the such. Ok, so you get the idea.

I walk up to the John Paul (Paul Mitchell's partner) booth, they have this adorable gift basket, galvanized bucket, puppy shampoo, spray detangler, rope toy, and a John Paul stuffed toy. Really cute, and it is all black and white, looks really smart.

So I go and ask how much, and snap it up, one gentlemen asks me if I had ever heard of their products, I reply, and cannot stop myself before I say it. "Yes, I have heard of your crap. A friends aunt sent some to her and she gave it to me."

Now first and foremost, THESE PRODUCTS ARE NOT CRAP. I tend to suffer from foot in mouth when I try to keep too many thoughts going at one time.

One thing that I always do before I use anything on the ferrets here is to use it on myself. Yes, every shampoo that was ever used on the ferrets was used in my hair first. If it made my hair awful, well, there is no way it would be used on them.

I have used John Paul on my hair, and it is a great product, left the hair nice and clean, not overly perfumed, in good condition, and shiny. The conditioners work wonderfully.

Now, after I use it on my hair, I decided to use it on the dog, much to her disdain. The results were excellent. Shiny, soft, and clean. Lathers up very nicely and rinses clean.

The second test, I used it on one of the shelter ferrets, again, they really weren't thrilled with the bath, but it worked very well on him.

I used the Oatmeal on an older adrenal boy waiting for surgery. Adrenal ferrets tend to have that dry, rough feeling to the fur. I used the Oatmeal Shampoo and Conditioner. I was very pleased with the result.

The fur was softer, and he seemed less itchy from the dry skin that adrenal ferrets seem to develop.

The final test was using it on my mink (no not coat). I hand raised a ranch mink so that we can show people what a mink looks like BEFORE it becomes a coat. (In 9 years Trouble has changed many a person's mind about wearing fur), we also do wild mink rehab and release, and give sacturary to ranch mink who escaped.

Now normally, mink are extremely clean, but for some reason Trouble decided that digging in the cat box was a good idea. AFTER the cats had used it.

In Trouble's 9 years he has gotten four baths, mink like to swim, so I don't see the need unless he swims in the toilet, or digs in the cat box. When a mink gets a bath with shampoo, once they are dried, their fur looks, well, rather funny because the natural oils is striped out.

Once he dried off, Trouble looked like his old self, no funny "fluffy", "poufy" looking fur. He looked perfectly normal, soft and shiny. That is what sold me.

One of the things that I really like about this product is the fact they use it on humans first.

Will I ever use it on myself again, sure without hesitation. Would I recommend it for use on your dogs, cats, horses, or ferrets? Yes. Will I use it on the shelter kids? Absolutely.

Ferret Nation versus Ferret Frenzy Cages

Every one knows how much I love the Ferret Nation Cage by Mid West. Prevue came out with their version, and I decided to purchase it while at the pet industry trade show and compare the two. Both cages have their good and bad points, and I will be honest with both.

Most people will look at the picture and think that they are about the same, which is not true. The Ferret Nation is larger, both in height and width.

Both doors on the Ferret Nation open, only the right door on the Ferret frenzy opens. The Ferret Nation has a squeeze spring loaded locking mechanism, the Ferret Frenzy has a latch.

The wire gauge in the Ferret Frenzy is thinner, and there is a small space at the top that just bothers me. It is attached to the top of the frame work at one spot.




The shelves in the Ferret Nation are heavy gauge wire with a plastic insert. The Ferret Frenzy has clip on plastic shelves that have a hole in them. No, I don't know what they were thinking when they put the hole in it. The ramp attaches only where the hole is, and is plastic with ridges for traction.

The ramps in the Ferret Nation are heavy gauge wire, which has it's good and bad points. Toes can get caught, but they are easy to cover with a tube sock.

Both cages the ramps attach fairly securely, so they stay put, but there always is that ferret that can figure a way to move them.

The Ferret Frenzy cage floors are wire, something that I really don't like at all. If I have a wire floor in a cage, it gets covered to protect little feet.

The Ferret Nation cage has a molded plastic tray that serves as the floor. Which is nice when you have water diggers, keeps the floor below dry. Down side is the fact that it is thin, and can break with ease. A design flaw that should be corrected by now.

The picture to the left shows the wire floor with the molded plastic tray in place. The molded plastic tray is a good thickness, and hopefully will take a couple of bumps and lumps. It slides under the wire floor with ease.

The wire floors themselves are just put in place, they lay there.

With the Ferret Nation, you can convert the double cage into two separate cages by lifting the ramp and hooking it to the "S" hook that is provided for that purpose.


The Ferret Frenzy takes some imagination to convert into two cages, (like on the right) but it can be done, just remember, there is no tray under the wire floor, and if you have a ferret that digs water, or has accidents, it will drip down onto the residents below.

I used the one ramp to cover the opening in the floor and black floor runner that has ridges to cover the wire. I double layered the runner on the shelves to cover the hole so that the entire shelf would be useful.

Both cages have a storage shelf on the bottom, but I find it most useful for putting bedding on so that the ferrets can crawl into it when they are done playing. Both cage makes storage shelves are wire, and I would recommend covering them to protect little feet.

Ferret Nation and Ferret Frenzy come on wheels. Wheels are my best friend. Makes cleaning under the cages much easier.

Unfortunately, this is where the Ferret Nation is weak. The plastic inserts that are used to hold the wheels in place can shatter and you end up with the wheel falling out. Something that can be disastrous, potentially hurting your ferret and you.

I keep an eye on the wheels and take care when moving the cages, when they fall out, I clean out the opening and cut a small piece of heater hose to replace the plastic. I then reinsert the wheel. When that is necessary, they do not rotate as well as needed. On the Ferret Nation cage only the two front wheels swivel. The wheels are plastic in construction, and fall short of what I would expect from Ferret Nation cages.

On the Ferret Frenzy all four swivel, which makes it easier to move, and the wheels roll much better on both carpet and hard floors. They are made of a hard rubber (not sure the material) and have ball bearing bases that allow for an easier smoother turn. All in all the wheels on the Ferret Frenzy are top notch, and just a better wheel to have on a cage.

Both are good cages, which would I recommend? Depends on what you need. If you have a ferret that hates it's cage, and will rattle it to no end, and have no desire to be creative to cover the wire floors, and want a cage that is easy to clean, get the Ferret Nation. It is a heavier gauge metal throughout. But again, you need to think of the trays, some ferrets can get themselves under them and enjoy making them bounce up and down. I haven't found a way to hold them in place so they can't doo that.

If you have a couple of well behaved ferrets, and can deal with being creative to cover the wire floors, and don't mind only one door opening, the Ferret Frenzy may work for you, keep in mind that it is smaller than the Ferret Nation.

Here at the shelter the Ferret Nation wins hands down for ease of cleaning and such, the Ferret Frenzy cage I bought to do this will is going to be used as our sick cages and recovery cages. If a few items were tweaked in them, they would make good cages for the eldery population who don't have as much energy.

If you could put the wheels from the Ferret Frenzy cage on the Ferret Nation, and get a thicker, slightly more flexible floor, it would almost be perfect.

Oh, I forgot, the assembly of the Ferret Frenzy is very easy, and since it is lighter, one person can do it with no problem. The Ferret Nation is heavier, and has more parts, it is easier to asseble with two people, although I have done it by myself with the use of a bungee cord.

The Ferret Frenzy uses screws that need an allen wrench (Ok for those who don't know - those "L" shape tools). Which can be really frustrating if it isn't with the cage, and if you get a Ferret Frenzy, go buy yourself an allen wrench to fit, it will be a better quality than what is with the cage (very soft metal that the edges rounded out quickly). The Ferret Nation comes with philip head screws (crosses in the head of the screw) and lock nuts. I used a power drill to assemble the cages, what can I say I like power tools, move over Tim Taylor, here I come!!

And that my friends is my two cents for the day. I will work on getting some pics of the Ferret Nation up.