Oh, there are plenty of downfalls to owning ferrets...
 
Down falls the potted plant
 
Down falls the treat container
 
Down falls the bag of food and spills everywhere
 
Down falls the full pop can, the drinking glass, all the books off the
bookshelf, the computer mouse, the remote control, and last, but most
important...
 
Down falls the wardancing ferret as she bounces blindly off the edge of
the bed, the couch, the chair...
 
But seriously, those really ARE downfalls to owning a ferret.  Everything
has to be either nailed down or floating in midair out of their reach.
Its very time consuming to constantly ferret-proof a room.  Plug or cover
any escape routes, remove anything the ferrets could reach which might
hurt them, or the thing, etc.
 
Other downfalls include: Basically giving up on ever having clean carpet
in the room with ferrets, to the point where I'm actually considering
having a linolium-floored bedroom.  Between missing the litter box, (Or
just pretending they don't exist,) to knocking any number of various
things over, to just rolling about in a ferret like way, carpet is
downright unrealistic.
 
Vacation?  What vacation?  No one I know besides myself has ferrets, and
no one really knows how to take care of them.  Best I can do for vacation
is put a bag of food in various dishes, etc., and a gallon of water in
various bowls or bottles, and make sure the litter and newspaper are
fresh when I leave, then ask someone to go take a head count once every
day or two, and just double-check that they have food and water.
 
Dooking, chasing, running, water-bottle licking, food crunching,
skittering, rustling, being crawled on, being bounced on, being licked,
bit, dug, having whiskers in your ear, snuffling, hissing, and phantom
toe-nibbling, all at 2:00am.  Its the Ferret Shuffle.
 
Those of us who still live with ferrets despite are just crazy enough to
find all these things endearing, but they are not for the weak-hearted,
or for the weak-scheduled.  As long as you don't mind giving constant
attention, spending hours cleaning, organizing and ferret-proofing, and
all on poor if not very little rest, due to ferrety interruptions, then
ferrets are just the pet for you!
 
Melissa Barnes
Mira, Tasha, Robin, Nietzsche, Samurai and O'Dell
Missing Cael and Booboo always
[Posted in FML issue 3700]