I'm writing in response to the question about kids and ferrets. I've been
lurking for awhile and have enjoyed the FML a lot. I think my family and I
have learned more here in the last month than we ever knew before, even
though we are now the proud owners of our third ferret. So, a little about
us. My husband and I have always been pet people. We always had a few pets
hanging around, so when the kids came along, more pets just sort of
followed. Our household now includes, 1 son age 11, 1 daughter age 7, 3
dogs, 2 cats, 1 parrot,and various creepy crawlies from the yard. Since we
live in one of those awful FFZ's we hadn't ever seen a ferret until a
friend asked if we could watch hers while they went on vacation. My son,
age 4 at the time, fell totally in love with her while she was with us. So
then it was a trip across the border to get one of our own. Homer was an
albino ferret who lived with us for 6 years. Felix came to live with us as
an adult, he came from a family who could not keep him anymore. My
daughter, Karissa, was born during this time and just grew up with bouncing
ferrets around her. We always kept an eye on the kids and the ferrets, but
not any more than we kept an eye on them and the other animals or all the
animals together or just the kids. I guess what I'm trying to say is that
ferrets aren't any more of a problem with kids than dogs or cats or any
other kind of pet. Sometimes the cat scratches or the bird nips, but life
goes on. My kids, I hope, have learned to respect all living creatures and
to understand that they have wants and needs too. Both Homer and Felix
passed away last year, so Santa brought us Rikki a little female this Dec.
My husband says every household needs a little comic relief and Rikki is
ours. I hope this helps answer your question a little.
      My question is about food. When Rikki came to live with us we were
concerned about getting the best food for her. Our other two ate IAMS cat
food and seemed to do fine on it, but we bought Marshall's Ferret Food for
Rikki. It is 38% protein. I was very surprised at how high the protein was.
My dogs and cats eat Wysong food. It is formulated with digestive enzymes
and probiotics and my animals are doing even better than when they ate
IAMS. The Wysong kitten food is 35% protein. Any comments? Thanks in
advance from Rikki and her household.
[Posted in FML issue 1126]