Hi everybody!  I am pretty new to fuzzies in general and the FML,
specifically.  (In fact, I hope I post this properly.)  My boyfriend and
I just got two little sable girls, Molly and Bonita.  (Our thanks to the
*wonderful* ladies at the NWA ferret shelter!)  Anyway, I thought that
Wolfy s survey would be a nice way to get my feet wet here, so:

I thought that my upbringing (as far as animals go) was pretty unusual,
but now that I've read the other posts on this subject, I see that it
wasn't at all!  My father is a veterinarian, so I have *always* been
around animals.  I first remember Sunny and Annie, a yellow lab and a
cocker spaniel respectively.  We lived on a farm, so they were both
outside dogs.  There was a fairly steady stream of outside cats: Spanky &
Buckwheat, Ruff, and Static (who was Emine since I brought him home from
the fair).  My mom got into raising birds as I got older; my brother had
a few as well.  It wasn't long before we had a house full of Amazons,
conures, greys, quakers, lovebirds, and cockatiels.  (Mowgli, Joey, Kiwi,
Jungle, Peaches, and They would cuddle with my mom and brother, but
usually had nothing but nips for me.

Anyway, there were also the inevitable guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, and
a rat.  Ooh!  I guess I can slip myself into the "unusual species"
category: I had two sea anemones for awhile in high school.  I was
involved in 4H from a young age; my dad's practice is small and large
animal, but he focuses more on the farm work.  (I think he can't stand
being cooped up inside.)  So along with showing cattle for 4H, I've
always been around horses, pigs, sheep, and goats.  I think you get the
idea: surrounded by animals.  I loved them all and was obsessed with
learning about them.

Horses were a favorite for a long time and still are: I had two (Babe
and Ace) until I moved to college and then Dad found homes for them.
My boyfriend in High School gave me a Great Dane puppy for my birthday.
She was such a big, beautiful, sweet girl.  Unfortunately, I was young
and irresponsible: I gave her no obedience training.  It doesn t take
much for a 150-lb dog to be too much to handle!

Plus, I moved to college.  I tried to keep her at my mom's house, but it
just wasn't fair for anybody.  A friend of my had two Danes already and
begged me for her, so off she went to a much happier, forever home.  (I
miss you, Gwen!)

I got my first ferret a little later.  I thought I d be able to keep him
in the dorm with me, but we got busted!  Poor Benjamin went to live with
my brother.  His roommate decided he couldn't "handle" the smell anymore
and took him to the shelter while no one else was home.  The roomie would
never tell us where he took him: I hope Ben found his way to one of the
local ferret shelters and on to a loving, knowledgeable home from there.
(Mom misses you too, Ben.)  For a long time after that, I wouldn't get
any pets since I couldn't deal with the guilt of not being able to
properly take care of them.  (Took me long enough to learn!)

Fast forwarding somewhat: my boyfriend and I now have L.B. (Little
Buddha Johnson) who is a greyhound/Great Dane/border collie/ Doberman/
lab/ pit bull/ bull terrier mix depending on who you ask.  (We know she's
really 100%, Grade-A, all-American mutt but don t tell her.)  We'd had
her for about a year when the ferret bug bit us both *bad.*  It bit me
first as I remembered what a sweet little, loving guy Ben had been.
Then I dragged the b/f in to Petco to watch the kits play he was hooked.
We decided immediately to adopt from a shelter (after all, Elbie is a
shelter baby), we did our research, and now we are *in love* with the
fuzzies!

Whew!  So the short answer is: I've always been an animal person.  My
boyfriend had kangaroo mice, gerbils, hamsters, fish, dogs, and cats
growing up.  He's definitely an animal lover at heart don't tell him I
said so, but I think he s got a softer heart than I do!

A question of my own: many people on here seem to be disabled (body, not
soul!) or "mentally ill" (by their own diagnosis).  I also personally
know some "ferret people" who are disabled.  Is there something about
ferrets that appeal to the "spirit is willing, but the body is weak"
crowd?  Do fuzzies have some kind of "healing vibe", more than other
animals?  Or is it that their little bodies are so fragile, but they
have such GIANT spirits and people connect with that?

Enjoying all the posts on this,
Laura and Ed and Elbie and Molly and Bonita
[Posted in FML issue 5272]