By the way, I was an only child growing up,

-- Hey now, that's a little interesting.  My sibs are decades older.  I
was raised as an only child too.

Anyway, so far it's looking like a lot of people were raised with
animals, and various kinds.  But not all.  I find Laura's situation
interesting.  Particularly since she was not groomed as a pet person, but
was born artistic and open minded.  Hmm.

I hope people keep answering.  I'm really curious to see if ferret/animal
people were raised that way or if those who just so happen to turn into
ferret/animal people later in life have a whole diff kind of personality
than the rest of the population.  In other words, are there any
ferret/animal people out there who had no exposure growing up and who
are very conventional today but turned into animal people?  Is "Susie"
the housekeeper here?

Lol.
Wolfy

[Moderator's note: I was not raised with animals at all.  My mother
was afraid of anything with 4 or more legs and most things with two.
Fortunately I didn't share her feelings, but unfortunately there is
not much one can do about it while growing up at home.  While I had
contact with animals outside the house whenever possible, I finally
worked weekends at an animal hospital years later, partly to help me
to understand animals' psyche -- I had some catching up to do.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 5269]