>4.7> Can I teach my ferret tricks?  How?
   >One idea for getting your ferret's
   >attention is to take away her food at night, then teach the
   >trick first thing in the morning, using breakfast as a reward.
   >Don't take away the water, though; with their fast
   >metabolisms, ferrets can get dehydrated quickly.
 
Hi, all. I have 10 ferrets of my own. This is my first opportunity to
write here, and I don't want to come off on the wrong foot. I REALLY
needed to step forward and take notice on this one. It is my
understanding, that due to ferrets high metabolism, that what goes in
one end comes out the other in about three hours. This is the reason
for the need for a CONSTANT supply of food and water. We recently had
our youngest spayed, and the vet we had do the spay did NOT want the
ferret starved for the surgery-he said in his mind, it could be adding
a risk to the surgery. The thought of needing to have surgery on my
companions, even necessary like spay/neuter, has always caused me
discomfort. To consider starving (ie: denying access through two or
three normal 'grazings' by the ferret) as a means of 'teaching it
tricks', and using 'breakfast as a reward', seems to me to be uncalled
for, and in my opinion, SHOULD NOT BE DONE. Sure, they have their own
attention spans, but if YOU had missed two or three meals, YOU would
be VERY anxious to eat-willing to do tricks maybe?
On a lighter note, I catch hint of some familiar faces here. I've always
enjoyed ferret folk and our 'kids' can REALLY run amok. We have a 5#
Platinum that tries to play 'flat ferret' (his name is 'Touch of Gold'),
but usually winds up looking more like a 'double size speed bump'! What
is really amazing, besides the usual 'buddies' that will hang out
together, is having the couple that like to 'pick on' certain others,
but on many occasions, they can be ALL found cuddled up together
sleeping in a big pile in the 'ferret drawer'!!!! Have you ever
noticed how at times they 'sleep in formation'?? Their choreography
skills would be envied in the entertainment field!!
 
Best, and for now, Paul in MI
Ferret dictionary-Gravity: "What's that???"
 
[Posted in FML issue 0734]