Hello Carrie,
They are addicting little buggers, aren't they?!  You only have 2?  Well,
what's 2 more?  Double the fun!  Or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6.....
 
I started with 2 ferts 2 years ago and I now have 5.  I had read somewhere
that 3 is the perfect number because if something (God forbid) happened to
one, the other one could die of a broken heart due to missing the other so
bad.  It's also good to have a family of ferts that are staggered in ages
due to the possible chance of age related illness all at the same time.
Make perfect sense to me.
 
And I would like to have one more, just to even things out a little.  I
only have 5 you know.  Six is such a good number, much better than five.
And I only have ONE boy.  He MUST feel out numbered with all those
sisters, I'm sure another brother would perfectly complete the family.
There are so many ferrets looking for good homes at all of the shelters.
I can feel the old familiar overwhelming urge come over me to get "just
one more" I fight it all the time.  But I remind myself, do I have the
time and money to devote myself to the responsibility of another ferret
or two?  It is a decision not to take lightly.
 
I find that the best time to contemplate adding to the family is when I'm
cleaning the litter boxes, scraping the "misses" off the floor, (how do
they completely miss the box, the newspaper, the Pooch-Pad and the piece
of linoleum?  & do I need more poop in my life?) cleaning the cage and
pulling Ms. Cheech off the top of the cage and or the forbidden shelf for
the 4th time in a half hour.  Even though last week I was so proud of my
ferret-proofing skills and I thought for sure this will stop 'em from
getting to the one and last forbidden shelf with the remote, candles,
silk flowers, ceramic figurines and other assorted contraband.  Ha!
 
Also good to remember is when Chongie ate a foam ear plug and was so sick.
(luckily she pooped it out at the vets many $'s later)
 
How bout the time I came home after work and found that dumb me did not
latch the bottom door of the cage completely and found a package of 12
Benadryl caplets chewed open and gone with the scattered remains strewed
in various places.  After many expensive and stressful calls to various
poison control hotline and a pricey visit to the vet for "decontaminating"
treatments (charcoal sludge treats for everyone, yummy!) everything was
fine.
 
Or the time Chongie somehow pulled out her back toe nail out and blood was
everywhere!  And me who is a registered nurse, panicked and ran around
like a fool not knowing what to do!  Blood never panics me when it's one
of my patients, but if it's coming from one of my babies, forget it!  All
clear and logical thought process departs!
 
All these little stories have happy endings luckily so far, but what about
the next time?  I don't even want to think about how much money this has
cost along with all the food, vaccines and meds, ect.  So if you have
thought about this carefully and have the time, money, patience and love
to spare, GO FOR IT!  Please try to adopt from a shelter if you can.
There are so many lonely babies looking for a good home such as yours.
Nothing can compare to having a family of fuzzies to love and cherish.
They all have such different personalities and interact in such fun and
comical ways!  I would never regret getting any of my fuzz-butts!
 
Take care,
Suzi and da ferts- Cheech, Chong, Goose, Mookie and Ruby
P.S 2 ferrets really aren't enough, 4 does sound much better!! "Grin"
[Posted in FML issue 3675]