Approximately three weeks ago I was persuaded by my two youngest
children to go to the pet shop to purchase an iguana.  Stephanie (my
youngest daughter) aimed her guilt gun and fired, stating that she was the
only child that had not been given responsibility for "her own animal" (I
have three girls and a boy).  Off to the Seahorses Pouch we went.
 
   To make a long story short, we now have a ferret - not an iguana.  We
never made it past the ferret section.
 
    I have to admit that I immediately fell in love with the creature and,
with much trepidation, purchased our first ferret.  I was not comfortable
with my decision for days and remembered other wild animals that I had
raised as a kid and animals I helped my oldest girls raise.  Being a
forester, I had many opportunities to bring home animals and won't go into
the problems we had.
 
    Back to this ferret...at first it looked and acted wild.  It was not
cheap!!!  I was leary of my feet being attacked on the carpet (carpet shark
is one of the most appropriate names for this animal I have read).  It drew
blood from my thumb the first day.  It lost it's collar in the worst places.
It would hide and immediately go to sleep.  We would hear and then find the
ferret at 2:00 AM.  WHY DID I BUY THIS ANIMAL....My wife was asking the same
thing.
 
    The kids took to the animal without anxiety and I reasoned that if they
could, I could.  My wife and I began to adjust, the ferret began to adjust
and now this furry animal is fun, delightful, and fast becoming a part of
the family.  Our dachshund Ziggy even adores and plays with Cassy as if she
were a puppy.  We just needed to stick it out and learn about how to
cope...which brings me to the net.
 
    I am a WWW user and wondered if, by some slim chance, there might be a
web page for ferrets.  I took my Webcrawler and entered the word f-e-r-r-e-t
and here I am.  I could never in my wildest imagination believe that there
is as much info about one animal as there is on the internet.  My thanks go
to Ferret Central, FML, the FAQ and quality conversation about a creature
like our Cassiopeia (Cassy).  It's comforting to know that there are others
that have been where we are.
 
****By the way...when you give ferretone by the "pump", what is a pump?  We
can buy a bottle of ferretone but we don't know how to get it to Cassy ( I
suspicion it is an eyedropper)****
 
The Steve Nix Family
[Posted in FML issue 1327]