Hi all --
It's been a while since I posted but I feel the need to reply to some of
this...
>From: Sunny <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Broomie, please do ferrets a good deed and do NOT get any! Here's why.
>
>1. You have a four-year-old child. That child is too young to play with
>ferrets.
I have a daughter who is almost 5 and a 3 year old son, and four ferrets.
I find that if you take the time to teach the children (and the ferrets!)
how to get along this is not an issue. For the most part my kids ignore
the ferrets and vice versa. My daughter is now at the age when she wants
to hold them but she knows it's FORBIDDEN unless Daddy or I can help her.
>2. You think you can find a ferret that does not bite, that is impossible.
>All ferrets bite, it's their natural way of being; it's a form of play for
>them. Ferrets are not dogs nor even cats. They are 'true carnivores',
>meaning they are meat eaters. Therefore, they must 'practice game
>hunting' when they play, it is a normal, natural part of being a ferret.
Eek. I'm not even touching this one -- there are many others who can
explain why ferrets ARE domesticated (can't survive on their own out of
human's care) -- but I will tell you that I would rather have my ferrets
bite my kids than my dog. Not that either is an ideal situation.
>Yes, you can teach a ferret not to bite, even if they are hard, fierce
>biters who have plenty of reasons not to like humans. But you have a
>four-year-old child and that child WILL play with the ferrets (or attempt
>to play with them) and the ferrets WILL bite him, at which point the
>four-year-old could react to the bite and cause serious harm or even
>cause the death of the biting ferret. Don't underestimate the ability
>of a four-year-old to unintentionally hurt a small animal.
I agree very strongly with this statement, in the sense that ALL CHILDREN
AND ANIMAL INTERACTION MUST BE CONSTANTLY MONITORED until the children are
old enough to understand the responsibility of having a pet.
>Ferrets have very distinct waking/>sleeping patterns and if you attempt
>to force a ferret to adjust its instinctive patterns to YOUR patterns,
>you WILL SERIOUSLY SHORTEN ITS LIFE.
??? My ferrets (and I've had ferrets since 1989) have always adjusted to
my schedule of their OWN accord, and one died at 9+ and my oldest right
now will be 8 in a few weeks. Don't understand this comment.
>Ferrets are highly intelligent animals that have a very broad range of
>emotional responses to events in their lives, just like human beings.
>They hate, absolutely HATE!, being caged.
Then I wonder why sometimes my ferrets "put themselves away," when they
have free run of the whole house. I daresay my ferrets are quite happy
AND are caged when no one's at home.
>Get yourself a little dog or a cat... at least a cat can fight back, AND
>get out of the range of a four-year-old... a ferret cannot.
Yikes -- I don't want any animal who will "fight back." Parents should
teach their children to respect animal life and again -- CONSTANT
monitoring is key.
>People, please be honest about ferrets! They make good pets, but ONLY
>if they are neutered. This CLEARLY means they are not a domesticated
>carnivore, unlike cats.
I am once again confused by this thinking -- can someone who can
scientifically explain this clear it up for me. I know ferrets are
domesticated, but not scientifically why. Also unlike cats, ferrets
do not create feral colonies (at least not in the U.S.) and breed and
overpopulate.
The rest of this post seemed to border on the animal rights side, so I'm
not addressing that. However, I know plenty of people on this list, let
alone in the rest of the world, have had children and ferrets live
together peacefully. I would never trade the experience my children have
had with ferrets. I think perhaps Broomie should be educated about the
pros and cons of ferrets, but not told things that I believe are
incorrect.
Amy
Amy, Dave, Sarah and Paul (and their gaggle of giggling ferrets)
RIP Ian, Elektra, Claudia & Sidney
[Posted in FML issue 3754]
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