Ferrets

[dinahsmum]

(Mainly for Het - but anyone else who was interested in Het's vid of Stinky)

Well, OH took Dinah for a walk in the woods yesterday and they met a lady taking her 3 ferrets for a walk. She takes one out first, on its harness and lead, then puts it back in the car and takes out the other two. She doesn't take the 3 together because she always picks them up when approaching or being approached by a dog and she can only sensible manage 2 at once. The ferrets are fine with dogs, as they have one at home, but she needs to be sure that the dogs in the woods are friendly.

Dinah was fascinated. OH made her sit to speak to the ferrets, and they were all over the place as it was the start of their walk and they were excited, snuffling up the leaves, snuffling Dinah etc. However, all were happy, Dinah lifted her paw and batted one on the head in a sort of 'what are you, are you a p^ssy, are you up for a game? sort of way, but didn't make any attempt to harm them.

So, there you are, unfascinating tale, about ferrets in the wood!

[Fran]

I'd never really thought much about ferrets until Het showed us Stinky. I was smitten with him! I didn't realise how sociable they were. I knew they went out for walks because I've seen the little lad next door taking his but I didn't realise you could litter train them and that they would get on with other animals so well.

I wouldn't rule out having a ferret in the future although hubby has different ideas

[Naomi]

Would have loved to have seen the expression on Dinah's face

[borderdawn]

I have a Ferret, called "Spanner" hes an old boy now and is the last of 4 I had, all rescues. He prefers it on his own though. They are wonderful little souls, so happy and playful, wouldnt want one in the house though, they do pong!
dawn.

[Het]

What a nice tale, I bet Dinahs face was a picture! they are very easily trained to harnesses and love going for walks, we take Stinky out in the Summer sometimes, although just in the field next to the house as he has had no vaccinations. They can pick up distemper and Parvo apparently.
It always amazes me how they manage outside because they are so short sighted, we have to be careful with our cat flap as Stinky will disappear out of it given half a chance.
Fran they do make fantastic pets and they are very easy to care for. There is no smell if you have them neutered and keep their bedding fresh, Stinky loves splashing about in the bottom of the bath which helps, though he goes like Cristal Tips when you dry him with the towel. Hes just such a friendly little fella and loves meeting people and showing off for them, people can't help but like him

[Luke]

i love ferrets, we had 2. The old dogs and cats loved them, as did Polly if i remember rightly. I will have f'urts again any day, but not at the minute. I think they are such characters, our 2 used to steal food and put it under the sofa. When Dilly died, Bernie came and lived in the house with the dogs and cats where he ended his days.
They are lovely pets as long as handled a lot, espec when they are titchums.
One of ours, Dilly would happily sit around your neck when walking around...i just love the furty chuckle they make, makes me giggle

[Het]

I love it when they chuckle as well Luke. Stinky gets on really well with the dogs and when they are playing he will sneak up behind them and just nudge them or give them a little nip, then he bounces about in a circle with his back all arched up doing his mad dance, chuckling away to himself

[Luke]

awww that sounds so sweet Het, when we had the furts (weve had 6 in total) we had breeds that people classed as devil dogs, they all did stop and stare at the sight of mad people being towed down the street by 3 dobies 4 staffies, a peke and a couple of ferrets. I think that really did wonders for our dogs street cred
i remember the first ferret we had, i was about 2, her name was Hiccory, she used to like to sleep in the veg rack, gavew the cabbage an odd odour but still looked sweet
all our ferrets have allways been characters, Hiccory got her name from getting stuck in a grandmother clock when she was little, her friend we got her was originally called Collette, but turned out she was a he and we called him Collin; he used to like to wrestle with Ebony one of our cats. From Colin and Hiccory's dwell together before Colin got the chop, came Hubbell and Bubble who would steal the post in the mornings, then after those 2 passed away we took on Bernie and Dilly who were both a little more than quirky. They passed away in 2001 and instead of getting any more ferrets we started off with rabbits and g.pigs, not quite the same though!
Talking of Stinky and the bath Het, one of our old ones, i think it was Hubbel, learnt how to get onto the counter top by copying the cat, once she was up she would tumble around in the sink, usually when full of dishes

[dinahsmum]

These are lovely ferret stories More! More!

[Luke]

ok i could tell the story of Hiccory's children, she was very happy with us for a few months, but then she started to become destructive of her hutch and run area, she was nipping aswell. So a ferret breeder friend of ours suggested a friend so we had a 7 month old 'jill' to live with Hiccory, enter 'Collette'. Well all was fine until the spring after we first had hiccory and Collette, as a ferret becomes fertile only after the first spring after they are born. Well one day i went down to hold the furts ( i couldnt say ferrets as i was quite little) and i opened the door and 'Collette' was playing with a ball, but Hiccory was nowhere to be seen, so i opened the 'bedroom' part, and there was Hiccory with 6 kits!!!!!
So mum and dad took 'Collette' away, and put him in a spare hutch. But that night the kits went downhill very fast, so they were whisked off to the vet. And the next day, sadly 4 had died. Hiccory had become increasinglly distressed at the loss of her kits, so we put her and her offspring in the kitchen, they lived under an upturned washing basket with a hole cut in. When the kits were older and their daddy, Collette now known as Collin had been re-introduced, the happy parents wanted to show off their babies to the dogs and cats, and dragged out the two tiny kits who were sniffed over by the other animal tenants of the house. Then the two kits grew, and we decided to keep them, both Jills and we named the Hubble and Bubble, they got fixed to and we had one BIG happy family who lived in a hutch next to the back door (it was huge i could sit in there) mainly they just slept out in it on summer night, if it was winter they slept in their washing basket in the kitchen, if it was a cold day they were messing around with the dogs and cats in the house, and if it was a warm one they would be in their enclosure playing with their toys.



More ferret stories if you want?