My Story

I'll start with sharing how it is that I am now owned by so many ferrets then we'll introduce the fuzzies in my life.

As long as I can remember I have had animals in my life, and have loved all animals. When I was in high school I first learned about ferret through a co-worker that owned a couple. Talking with her peaked my interest in ferrets, but this was back before ferrets had reached the popularity levels that we see today. Still I researched, and did what learning I could.

I asked, more like begged my Parents to be allowed to have a ferret. The answer was no, as painful as it seemed at the time I'm glad they said no back then. I continued to read and learn as well as occasionally beg for a ferret. After high school, I went off to college still obsessed with having ferrets someday. By now ferrets were becoming a little more mainstream and it was not unheard of to see them in local pet stores. I spent many hours just looking at the ferrets in the various stores in the area. I loved to hold them, but felt bad asking the employees to let me hold them knowing I wouldn't be bringing one home.

Then one day I met this guy and fell in love. It was pretty early in our relationship that I expressed to him I WOULD have ferrets someday. After much conversation we agreed that when the time was right we would get two little girls. It was somewhere in this time frame that I bought the book Ferrets For Dummies. I read it front to back, and was completely scared off and was certain I'd never get a ferret. It seems so intimidating all the work that went into properly caring for such a small animal.

We were together for almost 7 years before we got around to getting married, and it took us one more year after that to buy our first house. Prior to our house we lived in places that wouldn't even come close to being ferret proof no matter how hard we tried. After having our house for almost a year, my heart was yearning for the ferrets again. I re-read Ferrets for Dummies and felt I could take on a couple of these darling animals. I approached the subject with my husband, reminded him of our agreement years ago and asked for my ferrets. That was in February of 2004.

It was not long before we brought Puji and Bobo home and got them all settled in. We started with two so there was a companion available while we were at work. We started off with a room dedicated to them, and have always had a cage for while we are gone. We fell head over heals in love with these two little fluff balls. It was then that I started spending more time online being active in the ferret communities and I had learned about ferret math.

Then I got the idea in my head that I needed a 3rd ferret, I read over and over that 3 might just be the perfect number. If something were to happen to one of them, with 3 nobody was left alone. I explained this theory to my husband, who reluctantly stating he wanted a masked ferret this time. I found a wee little boy available, standard sable and brought Mojo home. I had my perfect number 3, in March 2004.

I spent hours each day in the ferret room interacting with my kiddos. I was completely happy, then it dawned on my the ferret typically played in twos. Everyone played with everyone, but at any one given time someone was left out since they wrestled in pairs. This would never do, an odd number would never do. I shared my finding with my husband, ferret math struck us once again and in July 2004 Moki joined the family.

That was supposed to be it, a happy family of 4 ferrets and their humans. By November, I was feeling the signs of ferret math coming on again. My Husband made the mistake of telling me there was a brown ferret under the leaf pile in the backyard. Not that there was really a ferret there, it was his way to getting me to help him with the yard work. Well once the leaves were cleared, I held him to the brown ferret statement. Little Luna came home around Thanksgiving of 2004.

My Husband drew the line at 5, flat out said no more and threatened divorce if I tried. I know he loves me. In February of 2006 Puji became ill, her health declined in a matter of days. I eventually made the decision to help her over the bridge because she was struggling to breathe. We had been told she had juvenile lymphoma, which is aggressive by the time we had caught it there wasn't much that could be done. We were given the option of chemo, but I felt that she was struggling to breathe now and chemo would not have an immediate impact on that coupled with the low success rate. I didn't want my baby to suffer, it was the hardest thing I have ever done but I know it was the right thing.

By now 4 ferrets seemed like an odd number to care for it wasn't long before I was asking my Husband for the cute little chocolate boy I had seen. On March 17th 2006 Cracker Jack joined the family and life was good. We still missed Puji but life seemed slightly better with Cracker Jack around. Again my Husband was saying NO MORE, 5 is enough!

He is convinced that I would bring home every ferret I saw if I thought I could get away with it. He is probably right if I was independently wealthy and could afford to take care of all of them. I heard time and time again every time I mentioned a cute ferret or one needing a new forever home that "5 was enough". To which I would agree and then say but 6 is perfect! Just about the time I resigned myself to only have 5 kiddos in the home I learned of a large albino who'd been at the pet store for 6 months. Now I knew he'd been there for awhile, but had never really paid attention to how long so one day I asked. I was mortified to learn it had been so long, that was no kind of life for a ferret.

I told my Husband about the needy albino boy, shared how he had been bought and returned a couple of times. The store employees said others said he was mean. I shared how he would snuggle up in my arms and give my ferrety kisses. He needed us! Again I heard no, but it only took a few weeks for my Husband to realize how serious I was about giving this poor fella a loving forever home. Reluctantly he said okay. In December 2006 we brought Ozzy home!

It's long, but that is my story I have chronic case of ferret math. Realistically, I know 6 is my limit. I want to ensure that I have the ability to properly take care of everyone, for our current situation I am able to do that comfortably.