The first ferret than I ever saw was in 1978 or 79.  I lived in an older
apartment complex and had problems with field mice and bugs.  A couple of
doors down lived a guy in the Navy who happened to own a farm with his
brother in West Virginia.  Well, his brother came to visit and brought with
him this animal.  When I saw it, I thought it was a mink or martin.  They
brought it over to introduce me to it and told me that it was a ferret.
They used it back on the farm to help the cats take care of the mice in the
barn.  The hope was it would help take care of the mice in the apartments,
which it did, as well as it loved to play and kill the roachs.  I asked
lots of questions like what did they feed it...cat food, milk, bread, raw
hamburger or chicken and whatever it could steal from their plates.  They
also told me that it could and would get into everywhere and everything.  I
decided right there that I wanted one of those ferrets.  The problem was
finding one that I could afford.  Years passed and my oldest son was in
high school and asked if he could have a ferret.  Boy, was I surprised.  I
didn't even know that he knew what a ferret was!  The answer was, sure if
you can find one we can afford.  Almost a year later, he came home and told
me that a friend had two ferrets and could no longer afford to keep them.
They came home to us.  I was shocked.  The ferret that I remembered was
large with a beautiful coat of fur.  What my son brought home was two
small, long critters with rough coats of fur.  Thank goodness my job had
the Internet because I couldn't wait to surf and see what I could find.  I
found FAQ and FML.  I also found a terrific education on ferrets.
 
Terri Doughty
[Posted in FML issue 2927]