I bought my first ferret, Maggie, my 4th year in college.  It was a great
opportunity since I was moving off campus into an apartment and had a part
time job that could pay for food, vet.  services, and lots of toys.  It was
so exciting!  Maggie and I went everywhere together.  After classes during
the week, I would go back to my apartment to get Maggie for our daily
hikes.  She became a very good trail hiker and followed me everywhere.  She
even went camping with me on the weekends and slept at the bottom of my
sleeping bag (had an extra long bag).  When she had to go to the bathroom,
she would climb out of the sleeping bag and rub her face on mine.  I
attached her leash to her harness and set her outside of the tent until she
was finished.  She would climb back into the sleeping bag and snooze until
morning.  She had the life and was a very special little girl.  When I
graduated from undergrad., I adopted a cinnamon male (Gizmo) for her to
hang-out with once I started graduate school.  They had a blast together
and when I came back to my apartment after classes, they were ready for our
daily trail hiking.  About a year after that I adopted another ferret,
Norman.  Maggie passed away about 2 years ago, but she holds a special
place in my heart.  Gizmo, Norman, and Moser (adopted little girl) are
currently with me and are spoiled rotten ferrets.  They have taught me how
to be more patient, how to laugh just about everything, and basically how
to take life less seriously.  Wow, who knew that you could get all that
from a ferret.
 
I don't think that I would have subjected my ferrets to the dorm life
however.  There are just too many people going in and out of everyones room
all of the time.  And ferret proofing a dorm room may be a challege in
itself although it probably could be done.  Pets weren't allowed anyway, so
it was clear that I was going to be pet-free for atleast 2 years.  And that
was fine because college life was such a new experience and I wanted to
experience it fully.  I am not sure what I would do if I had ferrets and it
was time to start college.  I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving them with
my parents, so I suppose that I would try to find an apartment so that I
could bring them along.  I would be missing out on the dorm life, but I
guess that I would have to sacrifice that for my fuzzballs.
 
Melanie and the gang (Giz, Normie, and Moser)
[Posted in FML issue 2676]