When we got our most recent ferret addition to the family a friend said to
me, "You got another ferret?  I thought you would've moved up to a dog or
something." He didn't say it maliciously but obviously without an
understanding of the joy of ferrets.
 
See, this is the order of our pets:
 
First just me: 2 ferrets, lose 1 ferret to illness, 2 parakeets, 1 more
ferret, lose 1 parakeet to illness
 
Meet and marry my husband. Then: 2 cats, 1 more ferret.
 
This is over a period of 7 years.  I guess my friend figured we had moved
"up" from ferrets to cats and the next logical animal was a dog.  Of course,
I don't see this as moving up or down for that matter.  I love all animals
and have been fortunate to share my life with some of them.  Unfortunately,
some people do have this hierarchy in their minds of which animals are
"higher up" than others.
 
Ellen [log in to unmask]
Antony, Lexie & Babe (we may be low to the ground but we are not lower on
the pet scale!)
[Posted in FML issue 1882]