someone asked about affectionate ferrets...I'll tell you about the three
we've had and I guess you can extrapolate from there.
 
Our first, Honey, was very cuddly, but we think that was for two main
reasons.  1.  He slept with us every night, and often woke me up chewing on
my toes of course.  2.  He was very ill his whole life, although we didn't
know it until he died.  He had cancer and died of it at age five months,
even thought he didn't show any signs until the last week of his life.  I
even wonder now if his wrestling with Taz hurt him more than normal,
because he would often climb into my lap to be snuggled during the fights.
 
Our second (and still with us) is Taz, our rescue ferret.  He is about a
year old now, and although isn't really cuddly, he is affectionate when he
chooses to be.  He likes to sleep NEAR us rather than WITH us, he will
follow us around dogging our heels (especially after one of us just has
come home from work), will consent to be lifted up and kissed for a minute
or two, will sometimes kiss back, and will sometimes give us thorough
baths when he's feeling really friendly.
 
Our third is our obnoxious kit Coffee.  She is much more interested in
playing at the moment than with cuddling.  When she follows us around,
it's usually to leap at our knees or ankles to entice us to play with her.
 Or to give her something to eat. :)  We know she loves us because she
will cling to us tightly when she is frightened (as when we take her to
pet stores and such places for socialization) or hurt (when we accidently
set the end of our bed on her head...she's fine though, no bruises even).
Sometimes she whimpers in her sleep at night and I'll go get her from her
cage and cuddle her, and if she doesn't want to me to leave her, I'll take
her to bed with me until she's feeling better.  So, she'll probably be a
real lover when she gets a little older.  We're also hoping that when our
landlord gets the doors on the bedrooms and we can let the ferrets loose
at night that sleeping with us will calm her down.
 
Michelle
 
--
[log in to unmask]
I planned to list my pets here for fun, but discovered I didn't have enough
space.  So I'll do it this way.  Say hello to my ferrets (Taz and Coffee),
my gerbils (lots), my zebra mice (Racer and Dancer), and my fish (various).
[Posted in FML issue 1128]