>The bottom line is, "fitch" is a folk name, and as such, varies in its
>application depending on the local folk classification system, so what it
>means depends on where you hear it.
 
About 5 years ago I came into possession of a ferret that was described as a
fitch, or fur-ferret.  A ferret supposedly raised for its pelt rather than
raised as a pet.
 
This ferret was absolutely gorgeous and about the meanest darned thing you
could ever want to see.  Her fur reminded me of a silver fox ...  she was
white/gray with platinum white/silver guard hairs.  Her face was very
pointed.  I got her as a rescue (the people who owned her were going to have
her put to sleep) and I rehabilitated her to the point where she was 95%
reliable.  A friend of mine adopted her and kept her for a couple years, but
she was just not reliable enough around kids, and her little boy had gotten
nailed a few times and was terrified of her.  They couldn't leave her out to
play.  So she gave the ferret to an all-adult household and has lived
happily ever after.
 
Part of my friend's problem was that to convince this ferret not to bite,
you had to twack her on the nose *hard* ...  hard enough to make her sneeze.
THEN she would say, "oh, okay.  You mean NO bites.  Okay" and she'd behave
for about a week.  But she'd constantly test.  For 6 days she'd walk up to
you, climb in your lap and groom you.  On the 7th day she'd climb up in your
lap and attach herself to some portion of your anatomy and hiss and growl
and shake her head!  I handled her with gloves for the first 3 weeks I had
her.  But there was definitely something wild in her background.  Maybe
because she wasn't handled as a kit, I don't know.  But that ferret was the
prettiest and most alert I've seen.  If she was out (and you couldn't leave
her out with other ferrets, or she'd draw blood) and someone dropped
something, she was *gone* under the couch or elsewhere faster than your eye
could follow.  Reflexes maybe double my other fuzzies.  She could see much
better, too.  MUCH better.
 
--Barb--
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=-
Barbara Carlson                   Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
[log in to unmask]                                      (412) 481-5927
 http://www.gsia.cmu.edu/andrew/bcarlson/home.html (under construction)
Thought for the day:
    If "boring women have immaculate homes," I must be very interesting!
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=-
[Posted in FML issue 1480]