Seems to be a ferrets and ... sort of day.
 
>From:    "marie i. schatz" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Got a Rescue ferret in
>You know just a thought on the "pit" bull thing.  The only reason my
>eyebrows went up a little was not because I believe in the "vicious" thing
>but because the real name is American Staffordshire(?) Bull Terrier right?
 
Well the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Bull Terrier are both called
pit bulls.  "Spuds MacKenzie" the beer dog and Willie owned way back by
General G Patton were pit bulls of one the two types.  There might be other
breeds often lumped in as well.
 
http://www.akc.org/
 
But back to ferrets...
 
Ratting terriers were used WITH ferrets by rat exterminators in the early
part of this century.  Rats would live in the walls of old buildings.  Hard
to reach them.  So ferrets would be released at the tops of the buildings.
Like rabbits in European warrens the rats were naturally afraid of ferrets
(well polecats but ...) and would run away as fast as their little rat legs
would carry them.  When they "escaped" the doom of the ferrets in the walls
its was a out of the frying pan and into the fire situation as men with
clubs and rat terriers were waiting.  Gore description omitted.
 
A well bred and well trained terrier should recognize ferrets as roomies not
lunch.  We've had terrier mixes with ferrets and had absolutely no problems.
 
>From:    Linda Gaylord <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: A new play thing
>Some of the cats just ignore the ferrets, but they ignore them from on
>top of the counter or table.
 
Seems fairly common way for cats to watch ferrets.  My brothers cats were
like this as well as ours.
 
>From:    Nancy Farlow <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Dog breeds and ferrets
(Cadel not Nancy)
>>One cannot just pick any ol' breed of dog, or any strain of ferret, that
>>one wishes, and mold them to be exactly how we want them to be.
 
There aren't strains or breeds of ferrets.  Just ferrets.  The AFA and other
standards organizations are trying to keep it that way.  The cat and dog
breeders have doen some harm to dogs in perpetuating some aspects of some
breeds.  The pushed in nose dogs and cats for example have breathing
problems (we had a rescue exotic shorthair cat that died from this) and hope
ferret breeders don't go to far in perpetuating flaws as gimmicks.  The
pandas and blazes might be problem patterns for example.
 
>My sister's ex has a Pomeranian named Pee Wee that is an absolute terror
>with other animals.
 
As you might expect our Pom's aren't that bad.  We had one puppy that wasn't
so good with ferrets but our other two have been fine.  Not fond of the
ferrets but small enough that the ferrets don;t have much danger.
 
>I think little dogs are paranoid... ;=)
 
Most aren't so paranoid but too dumb to know just how small they are.
Little Napoleons...
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1837]