I am almost done replying to everyone.  My thanks to all who wrote on and
off the FML concerning cats and ferret problems.  I was surprised at how
many of you have species other than ferrets, and delighted to know that
others face the same problems that I do.
 
Unlike a number of you, my home is small, and there is no basement.  My
furniture has been made by my specifications or consists of armoires: big
heavy tall furniture to hold as much as possible.  Almost everything I
own is child or animal related.  There is no counter space to speak of.
Medications, syringes, prescription cat foods, garbage bag holder,
disinfectants, the ferrets China, and the microwave steal up most of what
I have.
 
I did try setting something up.  Sunny got to it with a wild leap and
tipped over the bowl, kibble, and grass for the cats to the new tile floor.
My flying squirrel looked very happy.  (He is immensely funny and wild and
lovable.)
 
I have between 500 to 1000 pounds of kitty litters, bird foods, usually a
dozen sacks of corn, salt blocks, deer blocks, large containers of fish
food, food for all the carnivores, food for the cats, food for the ferrets,
stacks of paper, and large containers of water along with over half a room
of cages.
 
My new home was never meant to entertain anyone but children and animals
and me.  But I did not know I would ever have a cat when I purchased my
little home.
 
I could not hold a fancy dinner here.  Nor do I miss not being able to do
so.  In fact, I just sold my Thomasville dinning room set for 6 that had
been the table and chairs of my dreams.  My dreams have changed.  And so
has my life.
 
It all started by grabbing one homely looking ferret out of a pig trough at
a pet store because I was being attacked and did not know what else to do
to avoid a scene.  That one homely ferret became just about everything to
me, and opened my eyes to the struggles and desperate needs of all animals
living in the world man destroys.
 
I did buy a hamster cage to put the ferret food in that the cat cannot get
to.  I had to put a sick cage in my car for enough room on the floor.  So
now the feral cat is waiting for me to open the ferret cages.  He jumps
inside the minute I open the door to the largest cage to wolf down
fattening ferret food while the ferrets wiggling, desperate to go potty,
are stuck on the next level looking down on his royal hissing highnesses'
20 pound body...
 
Life is certainly never dull.
And my dreams have meaning now.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 3108]