While reading the posting about the sexes of ferrets, and how they get
along, avoiding mating, etc., I couldn't help reminising about my last
trip to the vet for shots.
 
A woman came in with a ferret for the vet to look at.  "He" had lost some
weight, and she was concerned.  I will give her credit for checking this
out, but I had to cringe at the misinformation that she had been given.
 
1. She fed the ferret twice a day.  I told her that they really should
   be free fed all day long.
 
2. She let me hold and look at her ferret.  She said that she was thinking
   about getting a female and maybe letting them have babies.  I told her
   that there were two problems with that.
 
   a. She had a female, not a male.  (I showed her one of my males, and
      let her see the "outie bellybutton" that male ferrets have.)
   b. It was a Marshall farms ferret (bought from a pet store, with
      tattoos and paperwork), and therefore had already been neutered.
 
3. She complained about its smell.  She bathed "him" once a week.  I
   explained that the frequent bathing made things worse, and let her
   sniff one of my seven there for her shots, and after she exclaimed over
   the mild smell, I told her that Angel's last bath had been over three
   months ago.
 
As far as getting along is concerned, boys and girls usually get along
with each other, and with the opposite sex.  I've found it more a matter
of individual personality than of sex.  Towards humans, I've found that
the boys usually enjoy being cuddled more, although I've had cuddly females
too, and also some not so cuddly males.  The girls usually give me the
message, "OK, I've had enough cuddles now, Mom, and I'm REALLY busy.  Put
me down now." Females always strike me as having "far too much to do" to be
very cuddly.
 
Melodyt and the nifty nine
(missing Frisky and Ginger)
[Posted in FML issue 3158]