IT IS not every day a family of ferrets lands on your doorstep, but that's exactly what happened at Hammersmith's animal hospital.

The team at Blue Cross hospital, just off King Street, took in a group of six of the furry critters after they found them abandoned in a hutch outside the hospital, joining more than 800 stray, dumped and abandoned pets taken in by the charity nation-wide in just six months.

The ferrets, known collectively as a business, included two adults and four young ferrets and were given a full check-up to make sure they were healthy before being vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.

Nicknamed Ada, Betty, Margot, Norris, Sally and Vera, they have all now been transferred to a specialist rescue organisation which finds homes for unwanted ferrets.

A spokesperson from Blue Cross confirmed the charity has seen an increasing amount of ferrets being brought to their hospitals for treatment by people keeping them as pets.