Hi.
 
I have always wondered if ferrets mark their territory.  I have never had
one that urinated in the same spot, so I guess I couldn't rule it out as
a territorial thing.  To the person whose ferret is doing this, I might
consider a trip to the vet also, just to be safe.  I have had several
ferrets that, when introduced to new ferrets, would poop several times
throughout the room.  Each "piece" would only be about 1/4 of an inch,
but they would somehow squeeze it out two, three, four times in different
spots in the room.  If anyone else has experienced anything like this,
I'd like to hear about it.
 
I have personally "blacklisted" only a couple people from my shelter in
the last eight years.  For the most part, people are willing to learn
about ferrets, will try to do their best to make sure they are fed well,
vaccinated, played with on a regular basis, ect., but I have come to
realize that not everyone views animals the same way that I (we at the
shelter) do.  I refused to adopt to a gentleman who told me on the phone
that when he had his previous ferret, his (the gentleman's) favorite
"game" was to go into the back yard, find a snake, and throw it and the
ferret in the bathroom to see "who would come out on top."  The snake was
always a non-venomous snake, so I am pretty sure the ferret always won
the "game", but that also meant that the snake always lost.  I tried to
explain this, but I got the feeling that this was just going in one of
the ears of the gentleman and out the other.  Therefore, I told him that
we did not have any ferrets to adopt.  I have't heard from him since.  If
I ever hear from him again, my gut reaction will not to adopt to him, but
I will ask sneeky questions to find out if he still gets a thrill from
this type of game.
 
I also refused to adopt to a couple when I found out that they traded
their previous ferrets for snakes.  Luckily, they live about 1.5 hours
south of me and all of our conversation was via email.  Judy and I have
never seen personal pets as things to be traded like baseball cards.
Maybe we are too strict.  I told the folks that we did not feel
comfortable adopting to them since they traded their previous ferrets
and that our hopes as a shelter was that the next home for any of our
ferrets would be their permanent one.  Well, the wife responded to my
email and basically called me every name under the sun.  She also
mentioned that she would tell everyone she met about my "stupid adoption
methods." I responded and told her that it would please me very much if
she told everyone about me and my adoption methods, because that would
actually make more people seek me out since they would be assured that
I only have the animals' best interests in mind.  I haven't heard from
either one of them since.
 
I did have one woman who, when I told her via email that I would like her
to purchase a book or two on ferret care and then complete an adoption
application, said that I obviously "care more about the adoption PROCESS
more than the adoption of the actual ferret."  I proceeded to write her
an email that was much longer than this post and told her why the PROCESS
was so important to us at the shelter and also told her several stories
(including the ones above) about how our PROCESS kept us from adopting to
people that, in our minds, didn't deserve to adopt from us.
 
Maybe Judy and I are too sensitive and protective, I'm not sure.
 
I have only been a shelter for eight years, but I *do* have a few stories
of weird, strange and down-right irresponsible people I've met.  However,
I'm not sure where I stand on a nation-wide list.  Since everyone has
different views of right, wrong, responsible, irresponsible, I guess that
unless hard evidence is available, then I think it should be up to the
individual shelter operator to decide to whom to adopt.  I'll sit and
think more about this, though.
 
-Mark Zmyewski
 Cloud Nine Ferrets, Inc.
 Huntsville, Alabama
[Posted in FML issue 4141]