>Why is 100% in-cage so hard to believe?  I purchased my first four ferrets
>as kits and trained them from Day One to put their poops in the litter pan.
>I worked hard at being consistent.  You've heard all the suggestions before
>-- put them in the box when they wake up, don't let them out of their cage
>before they use the pan, etc.
>
>And do not assume that my ferrets are 60%-80% out of the cage.  Of my
>current ferrets the two I raised from kits are 100% out of the cage.  In
>two years they have collectively missed the box once.  The third ferret,
>purchased at eight months of age, is usually 100% in the cage although he
>will occasionally lapse into going under the ramp for a few days.  A little
>positive reinforcement and cage rearranging fixes the problem.  He also
>still has problems remembering to use the box by the front door.
>
>Even Brickbat the Rotund is close to 100% outside of the cage.  In the
>mornings she will occasionally miss the box by the front door.
 
Some of ours are wonderful too--but not all of them.  And most of the good
ones went downhill rapidly as soon as we started taking in rescues.  Once
one ferret decides to use the wrong corner, the rest do too.
 
>We've moved twice in the last couple of years -- there were no fossils
>until Bricky showed up.  I firmly believe that normal, healthy ferrets
>trained from kithood should be 99%-100% accurate, especially in the cage.
 
Your implication (and if I'm wrong about this, please let me know) is that
any ferret owners who don't succeed in litterbox training their ferrets are
not only incompetent but also mistreating their critters.  I would like to
point out that although having ferret poop all over your house (worst case
scenario) is incredibly unpleasant and not entirely sanitary, it doesn't
hurt the ferrets at all.  It inconveniences the owners.
 
Also, I stand by my assertation that some ferrets, no matter how hard you
work with them, simply cannot remember to find a litterbox every single
time they need to go.  Most are fine in cages; most are easily distracted
out of cages.  No matter how wonderful the owners are--and how much time
they put in--every ferret is an individual, and not all can be litterbox
trained as easily as others.
 
ME
>We also want them to poop somewhere near the litterboxes, in them if
>possible.  Hard for a critter who's lived his whole life in a fishtank on
>its side with newspaper on the bottom of it.  Which, by your definition,
>means that particular ferret wouldn't make a good pet, right?
 
<I didn't feel the need to clarify my statement with the words "normal and
healthy" but I suppose I should have known someone would point this out.>
 
I'm honestly not trying to be antagonistic, but the tone of your original
post is quite accusatory, and I felt I needed to fill in some gaps.
Handsome (the ferret mentioned above) is going to his new home soon (maybe
even tonight!), and he's absolutely wonderful.  He's also perfectly normal
and healthy, and not quite a year old... he was just neglected somewhat by
his previous owner, and has absolutely no idea what a litterbox is.  He's
slowly getting it....
 
>I'll admit right now, if Brickbat had been my first ferret I never would
>have gotten another.
 
Funny--he sounds better than most of ours, the shelter kids anyway. :-)
Still, I have no problem accepting that you have your own personal
standards.  I think the conflict arose when people (including myself) were
under the impression that you felt everyone should have those standards.
I think it was the bit you actually quoted yourself:
 
>My exact words were, "If my first ferret had been 60%, as you say yours
>are, I never would have adopted a second.  An animal that craps all over
>your house with no hope of being trained otherwise isn't the kind of
>animal one should have as a pet."
 
I responded with rodents and birds, and you said you don't own any.  My
point was that the above statement referred to animals OTHER PEOPLE
shouldn't own as pets.  I agree completely that animals that can't be
litter trained are animals that YOU shouldn't own as pets--you have a low
tolerance for such behavior.  This is a personal thing.  There are many of
us who really don't mind bird poop on our clothes or occasionally our
hair--it washes out, and doesn't smell--or cleaning the occasional ferret
lump out of the wrong corner.  There's nothing wrong with that--it doesn't
make us bad people, and it doesn't mean we mistreat our animals.  And
ferrets, rats, and parrots are all perfectly wonderful pets for the right
people.  If your statement had been personal rather than general, I think
many people (including myself) wouldn't have reacted the way we did.  You
know the indignation you feel when someone says ferrets are awful pets
because they attack babies?  That's the way I felt when you said that
animals that can't be littertrained shouldn't be kept as pets.  I wouldn't
give up my cockatiels for the world, even if they do forget that mommy
prefers them to poop somewhere other than on her.  Which is as close to
trained as most birds get.  :-)
 
Please, if you didn't intend to assume that your personal standards should
apply to all right-thinking people, could you let me know?  Sometimes tone
of voice simply doesn't come through at all well in email.  I use lots of
smilies in hopes that folks will understand that I'm not accusatory or
angry (generally, anyway!).
 
Jen and the Crazy Business
[Posted in FML issue 2752]