To Tina Marie and other posters considering adoption due to a lack of time,
just my own .02...
 
I have a family of four ferrets of various ages.  Our geriatric lives in the
bedroom with us as he is a 'people' ferret--the other 3 are rescues and
while they are gentle and loving they are move 'ferret' ferrets, if you know
what I mean--they occupy what was supposed to be the guest room but is
really the ferret room.  All ferrets are caged when we are out of the house
and have the run of their room or sometimes the house when we are home.  My
husband and I both work full time, take music lessons, and my husband
attends classes at night.  I suffer from chronic fatigue and quite often
when I get home all I can do is lie on the couch and sleep or read.  Some
weekends I sleep for most of the weekend.
 
My husband and I do not spend a lot of time specifically with the ferrets,
but what we do is this:
 
TV time (a few hours a week) is spent with the ferrets.  When I nap or read,
it is generally in the ferret room.  When I pay bills, I sit in the ferret
room.  They play with each other very well (multiple ferrets are a great
cure for 'ferret guilt') but also seem very happy that we are in the room
with them.  Elie (the geriatric ferret) sleeps at our feet at night or in a
blanket in a drawer nearby.  I clean the ferret room and the bedroom once a
week, thoroughly, and its catch as catch can the rest of the time (food and
water changed every other day).
 
If by the end of the day we've had no ferret time, we throw them all into
our bedroom and close the door and have 15 minutes of 'ferret frenzy'.  By
then they're tired and ready to go back to sleep anyway, and back they go.
 
Our four are healthy, happy, and well adjusted.  I used to feel guilty about
not spending more time with them but I used to feel guilty about a lot of
things.  We all just do what we can.
 
My point is, while all of us would like to spend tons of time with our
ferrets, most people work and have lives.  Hardly any of us can be a perfect
ferret mom/dad.  If you have a single ferret, consider getting him or her a
companion.  Consider setting aside a room for free roaming and play and then
spending part of the day in that room with them (even if you are paying the
bills or studying for an exam).  If your ferrets have food, water, medical
care, some play time, and companionship, you should set aside your guilt and
just enjoy these wonderful creatures for what they are.  And if you still
feel you must part with them, if you find them a loving home, then you also
will have done the best that you can.  But make sure that you are not
falling into the trap of feeling that you have to be a perfect anything.
 
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*         Gail Snyder Shochet | INTERNET:    gshochet @ lightind.com    *
*         MCNE/MCSE           | COMPUSERVE:  gshochet @ light           *
*         Light Industries    | MHS:         gshochet @ light           *
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[Posted in FML issue 2135]