As a former shelter mom, my gut instinct is to say "No". If she couldn't take proper care of the ferrets before (no time out, crappy cat food), I doubt she would have time to take care of them now. And if she couldn't manage to contact you for a month and you ended up having to pick them up, that's a bad sign. One thing you didn't mention - have these ferrets ever been to a vet? If they're not current on their shots, that makes for an automatic "no". Of course, you can't stop her from going to a pet store, but you can try to persuade her that she doesn't really want ferrets. Good luck. Sara [Posted in FML issue 4931]