Hi Everyone... There I was! ... My fingers inches from the open mouth of a vicious Swedish ferret jill with kits... she froze...I froze... and then she reached out and with all fangs showing...very very gently took the yogurt covered raisin from my fingers and merrily munched munched and munched while I scrathed her ears and admired her four beautiful tiny babies just two weeks old. She had never seen me before and after finishing off her yogurt covered raisin, she licked all the crumbs from my fingers, scooted her little ones aside and shamlessly begged for another treat. THIS was the NOTORIOUS VICIOUS SWEDISH FERRET!!! This is one of the sweetest, most charming, soft petite little mommies with the most adorable babies I've ever seen. If this jill has a vicious bone in her body I invite anybody to trot themselves over here and show it to me. As I write, I am snuggled up to another vicious maneating Swede. Let it be known here "WATCH OUT FOR THIS FUZZY" This 7 lb whole hob by the name of 'Wholelottaferret" aka 'Softy the Fuzzbutt' who has to be one of the strongest most beautifully coated magnificantly colored ferrets I haved ever had the pleasure to see and one of the most smoochingest little charmers it has ever been my delight to party with. There are a bunch of Swedes here all of the four footed variety and they are as charming and sweet tempered and well mannered as any American ferret I have encountered and considerably more pleasant to deal with a vast majority of the two legged variety of mammels it has been my misfortune to encounter in my nearly t wenty years as a shelter operaor. If this is what I have been hearing endlessly from a few individuals is the vicious and dangerous Swedish genetic breeding line that is destroying the wonderful reputation of the American ferret thank you anyway I'll take the Swedes. Anyone who has a problem with such a swseet tempered little animal... perhaps we should be looking to the people as the source of the problem, not the ferrets. It has been my experience that rarely is it the nature of the domestic ferret that causes that fuzzy to behave in an unacceptable manner... invariably the root cause of the inappropriate response in the ferret could be found to be based in inappropriate behavior by a human being toward the ferret. This is commonly referred to as ABUSE. Mistreat a ferret and you will reap what you sow. Treat a ferret kindly and with love and gentleness and you will have a gentle and loyal companion. You can bet your bottom dollar that I've got my name on the list and my raisins in hand for the next available Swede that comes along... and no guys, there probably isn't a teeny chance that I could get one of these 4 little ones as there is a long list for one of these precious darlings. But take it from me they're well wrorth waiting for and that's exactly what I'm going to do. FWIW... IMHO... Dayna of the Mom Shelter yep that's me Foggy's Mom... DOOKS!! writing from... zen and the art of ferrets http://www.zenferret.com/ mailto:[log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2050]