Too often we use the words love and hate without true meaning.  Such as "I
love ice cream".  I truly like ice cream but it doesn't hurt me or make me
sad if I can't have it.  I do love ferrets, and it does hurt me to hear
people verbally or see or hear of them physically abusing them (even if
this is leaving them in cages too long).  Love is gentle and kind.  Nancy
said she read on a site that Love never hurts, meaning if you really love
someone you don't say or do things to them to make them hurt.  I totally
agree.
 
Hate is difficult for me to understand.  This emotion is so foreign to
me I had to look it up in the dictionary (I kid you not) - an intense
hostility and aversion deriving from anger.  If you hate something it
wouldn't bother you that it is suffering or if it went away or in the
manner it did so, no matter how painful it is to who you hate.
 
Now in my book, when you truly love someone (ferrets are someones not
things), you accept their little ways and though they might be annoying
they don't cause bad feelings, only minor annoyances.  Ever wanted
something very much then when you got it it wasn't such a big deal?  When
I was little I REALLY wanted the game operation.  Well I got it and
played with it for a short time then put it on the shelf.  It just wasn't
as much fun as I thought it would be (or should I say it wasn't much of a
challenge) and I moved on to some other game.  These games didn't have
feelings and didn't depend on me.  But ferrets are breathing, feeling
beings.  They are filled with emotions, are very in-tune to our emotions
and they are very intelligent so not dealing with the issues is not the
answer.
 
Some think ferrets are cute and fun till... they are inconvenient or too
much work for their lifestyle, or too much of a challenge.
 
What some people don't realize is that they train them to be the way
they are.  If you don't keep their litter boxes clean, you are actually
training them to use the bathroom outside of the litter box because
ferrets are clean animals and many won't use a dirty litter box.  If you
don't give them a litter box in their cage, you can't expect them to use
one outside of the cage because you trained them not to use them.
 
When ferrets exhibit extreme behavior, there is always a reason.  For the
first 1 1/2 yrs Pumkin drove me nuts with his erratic aggressive behavior.
But I knew there was a trigger and I finally figured it out and from then
on it's been smooth sailing.  He wasn't a problem child, he had a problem
and once we solved it everything settled nicely into place.
 
There are also ferrets that react negatively to being passed around from
home to home.  Some become destructive from frustration, and others become
withdrawn thinking and feeling that they will never have a family of their
own to love them.  These types take a lot of tlc to bring them around and
it isn't a quick fix.  It took 9 months for one that came to me with the
withdrawn syndrome and about a year for two that had the frustration
syndrome.
 
The more problems they have, the more I love them.  I ache for them to be
happy and well adjusted and in time, they are.  Can you imagine my elation
when Maxim played with me the other morning after 1 1/2 yrs of sharing
my life and love?  Oh he'd cuddle and kiss me but never before had he
actually played with me though he had with others that would visit us.
It was a long wait but the reward was well worth it!
 
hugs to all. tle
Troy Lynn Eckart
Ferret Family Services
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/
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[Posted in FML issue 3588]