Thursday, February 28, 2008

Afraid or Not?

I get an occasional email from California ferret owners afraid of being discovered. Do you let your neighbors know you have ferrets? The advantage is if one gets out the neighbors will know where to return it. The disadvantage is if you have bad neighbors.

The tragedy here is part of the fun is sharing ferrets. Ferrets, unlike cats, love new things. Like dogs they love to go places, meet new people, explore...

Back in 2000 I had nine armed agents break down my door to confiscate my ferrets (three San Diego police, three Fish and Game wardens and three Animal Control Officers) so I am very careful now. If I had ferrets, and I am not saying I do, they would be something like these guys:















From left to right are:

Augie - five years old. Bought him in a pet store while in Las Vegas for a wedding. He is a calm soul who when exiting his ferret nation cage likes to chew on the carpet.

Fausto - wandered into the Lemon Grove Rehabilitation Center. Largest ferret I've ever had, eats everything. Loves the dogs and prefers to be with them. He has some very odd dog behavior such as lying in the middle of the floor while the other ferrets go into the cabinets.

Quito - He was found by a co-worker's brother and they kept him for 18 months. Finally they decided ferrets weren't for them and since they said this on my birthday, and it was a terrible birthday (including getting laid off the next day) I kept him. He reminds me so much of a past ferret Raleigh, (the one I went to jail for) it is kind of spooky. Do they get reincarnated?

But of course these are just pretend ferrets.

3 comments:

fzylvr said...

Never tell your neighbors! They will turn on you eventually. I never answer the front door or invite anyone in. I only leave the house via the garage. The neighbors all think I'm strange, but It's better than having them know what I'm really up to. They have already stated they hate animals. I live in a very small development where you can stare in each others windows, so laying low is difficult. I too worry about the babies getting loose, how would you even begin to retrieve them??? I am very careful, so hopefully it never happens.

Anonymous said...

I totally believe that ferrets could reincarnate. Why not? Reincarnation, in certain faiths extends to animals, and I also believe the people (even the four legged kind) we have in our lives are from all the lives we've had in one capacity or another. I love your blog. Thanks for sharing!!

Terri said...

IF I had ferrets, I would share their adorableness with the neighbors I know well. I would get them to love them and want to adopt some of their own. I would have, oh probably, 6 ferrents as neighbors and we would have a contingency plan. If any of us ever got that dreaded knock on the door, we would make the mean fuzz police go get a warrant and while they were gone, the hypothetical ferrets would be rushed over to a neighbor's house. It pays to make friends with the people you live near!!