>It's unsanitary, even if the ferrets don't touch the food.  If you have a
>big cage in the car and it's cool or the A/C is on, there is no need to
>bring a ferret into a restaurant if you'll only be there a few minutes.
 
WAITAMINUTE.
 
I do not necessarily agree with hiding ferrets in bags and bringing them
into places they're not allowed, which is not to say Tess has never gone
unnoticed in my sleeve, but....
 
Are you saying that a ferret in a restaurant is "unsanitary"?  That
merely by being there, in a BAG no less, the ferret somehow contaminates
something?  Yet they can be in our homes and our kitchens without any
problems.
 
I would say that ferrets are just as sanitary as babies are, possibly more
so if they're litterbox trained.  They're less likely to carry any kind of
virus, bacteria, or parasite that we can contract than our fellow humans
are.  They groom themselves regularly and most of them don't like being
dirty; they'll often go to great lengths to get something sticky out of
their fur.  The idea that all non-human animals are somehow "unclean" while
all humans are "clean" isn't one I expected to find on this list, somehow.
Humans are incredibly unsanitary in many, many ways.
 
The allergy argument has a bit more validity, but only if it applies to
everyone.  I'm allergic to cigarette smoke.  Luckily for me, Maine recently
passed a restaurant smoking ban (yay!), so I can go out to eat.  Before
that, I couldn't go anywhere with a smoking section, even if I sat a good
distance from it.  Even now, people smoke next to me all the time.  They
walk into places wafting a cloud behind them.  This makes me sick, although
the reaction isn't life-threatening.  I'm also (mildly) allergic to latex,
and someone I work with will go into anaphylactic shock if you even think
the word "balloon" in her presence... which doesn't mean that someone who
tries to hand her one is being intentionally malicious, or even
inconsiderate!  There are allergies that are potentially dangerous that are
just as common as pet hair/dander allergies, but that are almost completely
ignored by the general public.  Most college dorms forbid animals of any
kind, but not latex rubber.  :-)
 
Wordy as usual!  Forgive me.
 
Jen and the Crazy Business
http://home.maine.rr.com/tesseract
[Posted in FML issue 3035]