>I wish that I could give my ferrets three-four hours of play time
>every day of the week. Unfortunately, I cannot. I have a full time
>job, and I have other things in my life besides the ferrets, so some
>days they have to stay in their cage all day. I feel guilty, but that
>doesn't make me a bad ferret mom. They get to play in my bedroom,
>which (knock on wood) seems to be ferret proof, but I don't feel
>comfortable leaving them out when I'm not home.

I don't agree with this. If ferrets have to stay in their cage all day
once in a blue moon because the owner is, for example, very sick, then
that is understandable. But not because the owner has other things in
his or her life. I feel that animals are a commitment and owners have a
responsibility towards them. Part of that is sufficient time out of the
cage, obviously ideally morning and night. Not just when it suits the
owner, when life doesn't get in the way. I have 5 groups of ferrets at
the moment and every group comes out morning and night for as long as
they want to, once they go to sleep, I put them back in their cages.
They have run of almost the whole house and garden so they play hard
and wear themselves out. I would hate for them to be stuck in their
cages for a whole day. Once I had food poisoning for 3 weeks but all
ferrets came out as they usually do and I prepared meat for them as I
always do. I had sciatica for months and yet the ferrets came first, no
matter in how much pain I was. I rarely get to go out but one day we
had to take a day trip and were late coming back- but the ferrets still
came out that night which meant I got to bed late. But I couldn't have
left them in their cages even though they'd been out in the morning.

I guess having pets means different things to different people. To me
they come first, their needs are so very important to me. I wouldn't
want to be stuck in a cage all day so neither should they. They bring
me joy and so I want them to be happy. I bend over backwards for their
well-being. And I do not let life get in the way when it comes to their
care. They are part of my life, not something that ever gets in the way
of my life and interests.

Ulrike

[Posted in FML 5749]