I must say that I was rather disturbed to find a reply to my post about
Mithril, our biting ferret, that implied that my husband and I physically
punish our ferrets when they misbehave.  This may not have been the
intention of the poster, but nonetheless, it was upsetting enough that I
am requesting Bob to post this message to clarify things a little.
 
My husband and I do not spank or hit our ferrets in any manner.  The most
extreme thing that we have done to try to discourage Mithril from biting was
to carefully spritz a SMALL amount of Bitter Apple into her mouth while
scruffing her when she bit especially hard and drew blood.  At all other
times she has bitten our fingers, she has encountered the dried Bitter Apple
we applied to our hands before handling her (gently), as well as a prompt
scruffing/hissing.
 
Unlike what was implied in the reply to our post, we do not punish Mithril
out of anger/spite because she bit us (in response to the "control your
emotions and take a deep breath before doing anything to your ferret" bit in
the reply).  We understand that she doesn't do it to be malicious, so why
should we get angry?  We certainly don't let our emotions carry us away into
unreason.
 
It makes me angry to see that a simple query on how long we should wait to
see if our ferret will stop biting was misread to mean that we are some kind
of monsters who abuse their ferrets.  I wish people would read messages more
carefully before they reply to them.
 
  Anna, who will think twice before posting again from now on.
  Martin, with the furry fabulous flock:
    Molly, Mithril, and Obelix
[Posted in FML issue 1481]