Shron, before I had human kids, Scott and I had a ferret (later two
ferrets).  And he (they) were our kids.  Adam (our ferret) was sooooooo
spoiled, we actually were able to take him to a pool hall-arcade in an
open purse (that was his bag), hang it on the coat rack...... and play
pool.  I kid you not.  He would stay in that bag hanging there among the
coats, with his head peeping out now and then.  We'd walk by and pick
him up, talk to him, etc.  He'd nap and play with his toys in the bag.
Others were used to him and would walk by and pat him on the head.  Now
can you imagine that?  Because even though it's true and it happened to
me, its hard for me to imagine it now.  No way would any of my current
ferrets be able to do any such thing.  Adam also rode with us on our
motor scooter in a sack that was on our backs everywhere without trying
to break free.  He just enjoyed the ride.  He walked the mall with us as
well (back then the mall was lax in letting us put him down with a leash
occasionally).  It was all about "him".  He never dug the at the rug, he
never chewed a wire, he never even unearthed a plant.  I think this was
because he had our total, undivided attention and had so much free roam
(I know part of it was just luck in that he was unusual).
 
He was our everything.  Now did that change when we owned other ferrets
after kids?  Somewhat.  The free roaming and the taking our ferret
everywhere changed somewhat due to the demands of babies.  But we still
spoiled them just as much as kids.  So freedom and activities were
altered, but not our attitude or love.  And now that we have older kids
we have some of that back and its fun to see the ferrets spoiled by four
of us now instead of one or two of us.
 
What changes my feelings/actions towards ferrets has never been the
addition of human children, but the addition of fuzzy children.  Single
ferret vs multiple ferrets.  For me, I feel like having a single (or duo)
ferret is the most intimate thing in the world.  As soon as you have
mulitples (four +) it's a different ferret world.  Not just for you, but
for them.  They act like totally different animals.  How many times have
I gone into a single or double ferret home and they are hopping about
leisurely and doing fine with their liter pans, and behaving themselves,
etc?  Many.  But when I go into a mutiple ferret home and my word.  LOL.
it has to be all ferret proofed to the hill, carpet runners, newspapers
every where, and the little fuzzbutts have this glimmer in their eye like
they are up to no good 24/7.  I think they share their bad habbits.  So
instead of one animal with one bad habit.... you have for, example, four
ferrets each with four bad habits (from learning off of each other and
all the stimulation).  And its tough.  They are so mischivious, so smart,
so social, and such clowns.  One clown is fun at a party.  But a car full
of clowns can be overwhelming for some people. :D
 
Some people love that sort of party and wild ride with ferrets though.
My husband loves the home full of hyper little insane clowns romping
about.  He craves it.  He likes the whole tone of it all.  He likes how
happy they act, how they are stimulated, and how their personalities
appear.  I much prefer the intimacy of having a single or just two
ferrets.  They just act like totally different animals.  How, I cannot
explain ... but they do.  So to each their own.  Maybe Bob C has lots of
insight into this (why it seems to me owning just one or two ferrets
results in them acting slightly differently than when you own the same
ferret or ferrets in a large group).  I just love spoiling the one or two
like they are the apple of my eyes.  No matter how hard you try, you are
just one person, and no way can you give the same way to multiple ferrets
as you would with just one.
 
Wolfy
[Posted in FML issue 4429]