Hi, I Just joined this list today and I would like to introduce myself to
the list.  My name is Terry Quinn.  I am married and have nine children,
five ferrets and three cats.  Are any of you still with me??  We have five
adopted children and four birth children.  We had only two cats when one
day my daughter got this bright idea that she wanted a ferret for a pet.
We researched everything we could about ferrets (as in those days for us,
ferrets were considered and exotic animal....)  Lol.  Then my daughter
saved up all her babysitting money, which took months.
 
We went to a pet fair and there we saw a woman from a shelter who had
ferrets.  She let us hold some of hers and it was there for the first time
I found out what a ferret felt like or smelled like.  She had whole ferrets
so the latter wasn't much good to me.  I was not too thrilled but my
daughter was still in the ballgame.  The breeder said that if my daughter
got a ferret that she would help us any way she could.  That began a
relationship that continues to this day.
 
Then the big day came!  We went to the pet store with all the money that my
daughter had saved and armed with all the knowledge about ferrets that we
could have found, we picked out a baby ferret.  That was Romeo.  On the way
home, we had to stop at the grocery store and it was a bit cool in the car
but not cold.  It was April.  Well when we got back to the car that little
baby was actuallly crying.  It nearly broke my heart.  We took him out of
the cage to cuddle him and he quieted down.  At home he seemed fine.  Megan
was quite happy with her new pet.  Romeo began his charm on everyone.  He
was a tad bitey at first but did not take long to train.  The biggest
problem we had with him was his scratching at my daughters bedroom door to
get out.  It tore up our carpet.  He litter trained wonderful and remained
HYPER and loads of fun.
 
Well one day when we were visiting our breeder friend (we loved to go
there and just look at ferrets) , we got to see some new babies.  OH NO, I
exclaimed!!  They are so darling.  Megan turned to me and said " Well mom,
you will have to sell some of your drawings" .  I am an artist and did
graphic designs for Art stamps and sold them.  My friend, Scarlet, said
"You are and artist?" ....well that was all and we were off, brainstorming
an art design for her in exchange for a ferret.  That ended up being
Nikita...MY FIRST BABY ferret of my own.  What a doll she is.  SO sweet.
She was bite trained in two days and so calm and loving from day one.  Her
and Romeo got along so wonderful.  I think Romeo was happy to have a little
sister.  He was so rambunctious and she was a lady.  He dragged her around
and made her cry.  But they grew up together and were good together.
 
By now I am a bit by the ferret bug.  A year later, Next comes Cocobear....
a rescue from my friend Scarlet, and then a few months later.......Bubba a
rescue(from another shelter here in Ohio run by a wonderful and dear friend
of mine) and then a few WEEKS later Cotton Patch!  (same shelter)
 
My husband is putting his foot down......NO MORE FERRETS!!!!  (however when
ButterCup our third cat showed up at our door begging for a home, It was
HIS idea that we keep her, GO FIGURE!)  He does admitt,however, that they
ARE rather fun.  Bubba is a huge baby.  Only six months old and he won 6th
place in a ferret show in the shelter ferret specialty.  Cotton is a baby.
She is deaf.  She is learning not to nip and how to be settled in a home
with NINE KIDS!!!  All of our kids LOVE our ferrets.  They are all very
kind to them and enjoy playing with them.  Our ferrets all seem to enjoy
all our kids too.  They love mornings as that is play time.  Then they all
get feretone and back to their four foot by five foot cage.  POVERTY HUH??
They of course don't know how good they have it.  They don't realize that
some ferrets actually live in sad conditions.  All they know is they are
loved and that is what counts.
 
Terry Quinn
Warm Fuzzie Babies
 
Romeo.....The Conqeror (Romie) Black Sable
Niquita.....The teenie (under a lb.and a half) Nicknamed (Kita) Sable
CoCoBear.......The Hissie (Cokie) Chocolate
Bubba Jacob...The BEAR!  (Bubbie) Siamese...Maybe New Zealand
Cotton Patch...The Angel(so she thinks)She is deaf (Cotton) Dark Eyed White
 
                         Dalmation
[Posted in FML issue 2836]