>From:    Especially Ferrets <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: See what some of us have to deal with!
>How long is the lifespan of a ferret & does it have saliva glands, or will
>it die without water?
>
>This is my answer to this persons question:
>I guess a smart ass question gets a smart ass answer....you need to >water
>the dirt in your brain cavity,
>Ferretguy
 
>Would any of you answered this different and how?
 
Well, I would have answered it differently, after beating my head against
the keyboard for a little while and howling and then calming down-- I run
the Problem Ferrets website, and I get a lot of bizarre mail through there.
There's probably three main types of emails I get: my favorite, ones from
people who have read the site and are making progress with their ferret :);
emails from people who haven't taken any time to read the site and want
me to give them a quick and easy answer; and emails from people who send
questions that have nothing to do with biting.  A lot of the type two and
three email has me shaking my head and thinking the best advice I could
possibly give these people is to get out of animal ownership, because they
don't sound like fit caretakers, generally because they sound unwilling
to accept an animal for what it is.  Also if I knew the secret to getting
ferrets to consistently use their litterboxes (the most popular question),
I'd be selling it and becoming wealthy ;-)
 
But, I try to answer every email calmly and non-judgementally, because I
try to keep in mind that there is an actual ferret involved.  Even if I
have a low opinion of the person writing me, helping the ferret is what's
important.  Sometimes people are bad at phrasing their questions-- maybe
there was a back story that the writer didn't tell you, like maybe they
found a dehydrated ferret and were wondering what kind of damage might have
been done to it.  Or the writer could certainly just be an idiot-- the
thing is, you don't know, you can't know, so I try to be straightforward
with people, and point them in the right direction for the type of
information they're seeking.  I do completely understand the frustration,
though-- as I said above, there's some people who just don't come across
as good owners, or even reasonable human beings :(
 
On a side rant, the type of email that I think bothers me the most is the
type that says "my ferret is evil and he hates me, how can I make him like
me?" When I read that, what it says to me is that the owner is not putting
thought into why the ferret behaves the way it does, or has unreasonable
expectations of the pet, and using language like that ("evil", "hate")
doesn't help my opinion of the owner.  It's pretty darn unlikely that a
ferret would hate a human being (or at least not without reason).  When
your 8-week old kit doesn't want to be held and cuddled, it doesn't mean
the ferret hates you, it means it's a normal baby ferret!  Anyway I believe
that taking an animal of any sort into your house requires an understanding
of how that animal behaves and interacts, and it bugs me that people don't
get this.  RTFM, as they say.
 
ok, rant over :)
 
Regina
 
Regina Harrison  [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/8096
 
           baby's insane, baby's insane
           baby's on a trip to the moon
           baby's insane, baby's insane
       hide all the razors, cause baby's insane
[Posted in FML issue 3391]