>From:    "A. C. Vitale" <[log in to unmask]>
>We're thinking about expanding our family and bringing home a kitten.  Do
>any of you have experience mixing ferrets & kittens?  Any words of advice
>and/or caution?  Health risks for either?  Will a female kitten get along
>better with a female ferret?  Or should I mix?  Any words of wisdom from
>you seasoned FML'ers will be more than welcome.  Thanks!!
 
As far as I know, the gender of the animals won't matter.  It's more to do
with personalities.  I originally had one cat and several ferrets.  That
cat was already an adult when I got her and she didn't like to play with
the ferrets, so she sat up high to watch them.  Then I got a kitten.  The
kitten was male but I'm not sure that had much to do with him liking the
ferrets.  He thought they were great fun.  He would chase them and wrestle
with them, and even go in their cage.  Of course he also chased my female
cat, who is basically a wimp.  Nice, but a wimp.  It's only in the past
year that she finally decided enough was enough and began to get into the
spirit of play-fighting.  I used to tell her "you know, 'turn the other
cheek' doesn't apply to you.  Bite him really hard and he'll learn he
can't just bully you whenever he wants to."  She can beat him up now if
she feels he needs it (he often does :-) even though he now outweighs her
by a couple pounds.  And she will now let ferrets crawl on her when she's
on the futon, until they get too "personal" at which point she takes off
and gets up on the kitchen table or something.
 
The ferrets can also beat up the cat.  One of my females is under two
pounds yet.  She figured out within 10 minutes of meeting the cat that
she could make him run.  She goes for the toes.
 
My only advice for getting a kitten is get one that's a little older, not
just weaned.  My cat was 9-10 weeks old when I got him.  And if you can
observe several kittens and their personalities, pick one that is a little
bolder and doesn't mind getting into a tumble with the other kittens.
 
Karen
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Come and fill my heart with hope
Come and fill my life with love
Come and fill my soul with strength to carry on
     because from here the climb is steep, the road is long
Come and fill my days with dreams
Empty me of all the empty things that I hold on to
Come and fill my heart with You.
 
                                        -- Avalon
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If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.ferretwise.org
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[Posted in FML issue 3777]