Oh boy, that is a toughie...I have 3 ferrets and 2 siberian huskies...for
those of you who don't know much about siberians, they are notorious for
killing cats...sooo needless to say, they aren't in the house when the
ferrets are out and on the loose.  I wouldn't even attempt it even if I was
standing right over them.  I have heard the most awful stories.
 
Now my girls ( the huskies ) think of the ferrets as part of their pack, I
suppose.  Belle, the older sibe, sleeps next to the ferrets cage, and
tolerates them when they pull on her fur through the bars.  And she tries
to play along with them when they are going beserk, playing in their cage.
Now my sibe dont bark, they wooo.  So picture this, there are 3 ferrets in
a cage that is about 4 1/2 feet high, and five feet long.  They are
bouncing up and down, running up and down ramps, throwing balls at each
other and dooking and hissing.  Next to the cage sits a 60 lb female
siberian, who is wooing at them, bouncing up and down too, and throwing her
paws up in the air.  I know Belle is playing because she has that sibe grin
on her face...and the ferrets think this is hilarious!  Our other sibe was
a bit of a problem when we first got her.  She jumped on the cage and
continualy licked the bars...Like she really wanted to taste one...or was
thinking how considerate it was of me to keep these tasty chew toys in a
nice container for her to keep an eye on them.  I had to coat the entire
outer part of the cage with bitter apple lotion.  Once Sasha ( the younger
siberian ) was licking the cage in spite of the bitter apple, and Shandy,
our top female ferret, grabbed her tounge and proceeded to pull it through
the bars and tried to take it off and hide it.  Sasha never licked the cage
again.  One of the first commands Sasha was taught was "NO FERRET".  She
got that yelled at her every time she jumped on the cage.  I dont know why
she was so intent on it.  Belle has never layed one paw on their
cage...maybe Belle thinks they are just really little huskies?  (can you
picture ferrets pulling a sled through the snow???) But at any rate, Sasha
has learned that the cage is off limits.  She is now content to wait on the
floor to see if they kick food out of their dish...I tell you, nothing is
funnier that seeing a dog lick TF kibble off the floor.  But no matter how
well I think she understands that she cannot jump on the cage, I still
would never in a million years trust her with them out of the cage.
 
Shandy really hates Sasha too, because Shandy has worked very hard on her
stockpile of goodies that she hides under our living room chair, and Sasha
works really hard on cleaning it out when she can get to it.  Of course,
Shandy did try and hide Sashas 2 foot long raw hide bone.. .so what could
she expect?
 
Chelle
[Posted in FML issue 2408]