There usually are several posts of people wanting to give up their ferrets
because they say they can't give them enough time any more for one reason
or another.  I would guess that most people work and away at least 9 hours
a day.  Many no doubt have young human children to take care of.  Then
there is the time needed to do ordinary household chores, attend to
personnel needs, not to mention needing time to sleep.
 
I know ferrets should be let out of their cages 2 to 3 times a day for at
the very least an hour at a time, and of course longer if possible.  So if
you have say 3 ferrets, & you may have to be in the bathroom for say half
an hour, couldn't they be brought in to spend that time with you?  They
would be out of the cage, provided that is where they are kept but can also
have a bit of time to be near their human.  If you have human children
couldn't there be a scheduled playtime that everyone could play together
for at least an hour?  The children would be shown how to relate to
fuzzbutts and play with them.  Think of all the fun everyone could have
and the exercise the fuzzies would have interacting with the humans and
visa versa.
 
Instead of people saying how much they love their little ones and don't
want to give them up, but have to because they can't give them enough time,
and think someone else can give them more I don't understand why they can't
think of ways to combine their (ferrets) out time.  But at any rate exactly
how much play time or human interaction time does a ferret need?  Because
for one thing, if people are asking other people to take in their ferrets
because they don't have time for them, what makes them think other people
can give them more time?  If they turn them over to a shelter, how much
time do they think a shelter can give them compared to what they have now?
In the long run wouldn't it be better for the fuzzbutts to stay in the home
they know, even if they don't have a lot of human interaction than to be
uprooted & have their lives go topsy turvy when they can't understand?
 
I'm home all the time and can still give my kids only so much time.  I feel
that what I do give them is enough.  After running around for awhile &
rough housing they start to wander away to their hidey holes for long
naps usually within an hour.  So are they not giving me enough time?  The
youngest of them is just over 1 year.  Now the kits are a different story,
they will go for hours, they are under 4 months old.  Maybe I should give
the older ones to someone who can't give them a lot of time and keep on
getting kits?  Just kidding folks.
 
Lynn & the Mixed Up 14
[Posted in FML issue 2789]