Ferrets are Not Vicious Animals!

As Iz reported on Friday there was a supposed ferret attack on a one month old child. The News stations and papers do not seem to have any more information than when they first reported the incident.

Iz did find out that the ferrets and two cats were euthanized. The article only said the ferrets were being tested for rabies. Iz can only hope that a nercrospy was performed on all the animals to see just which one had human flesh in their digestive track. There were also several other animals removed from the home. Unfortunately it is the ferrets that are the ones being blamed for the damage done to this child.

What the news reporters do not seem to understand is that it would take us ferrets a long time to do the damage the child sustained. In an interview the father stated that two of the ferrets were on the child and the third was still in the make shift cage, which again was made from cloth and was never intended to house any animal for an extended period of time. It is my opinion the ferrets were trying to comfort the child like they would do with a small kit, baby ferret, that was in distress. Again that is only MY OPINION.

Iz has the feeling that not all the facts have been discovered and unless there was a pet autopsy, Nercrospy< performed on ALL the euthanized animals wez may never know the real truth. Also living in that house were four other children under the age of five that were released into the custody of the grandparents and one article said there are criminal charges pending. Iz have to point out that this event was 100% preventable. If the parents had used a proper cage made from metal and not a cloth dog playpen, or had taken the child upstairs with them the child would not be in the ICU facing multiple surgeries to her face. The ferrets and cats would be alive and the other animals would not have been ripped from their home and the media would not have a sad story to report. But it also must be said that the living conditions were not ideal for the children or animals and both probably should have been removed or at the very least been monitored a lot closer than they were. This tragedy took place on the same day as the New York City Hearing to lift the ban on ferrets living in the city. It is our fear that those reconsidering the ban will leave it in place due to this incident and use it as the grounds for their decision when it is apparent that it was a preventable situation and that stories like this are not as prevalent as dog incidents in the news. Again leave a comment if you wish but Iz and Hooman reserve the right to delete any comment that is flaming towards other commenters or ourselves. Facts:

Ferrets ARE NOT rodents they were domesticated to hunt them and were used as rodent control until the earlier 30's in the United States

Most ferrets in the United States are fed kibble and have never tasted animal flesh but it also must be said there is a growing movement of raw fed ferrets but our stomachs are small.

Ferrets have claws like a cat and can climb.

Ferrets are curious creatures and will investigate any kind of squeaky noises.

Since the late 50's there have been less than 20 reported cases of rabies in ferrets and there are now vaccines against the disease.

Wez will continue to monitor the story and bring you the latest as wez find it out.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Manny

Ferrets in the News Again

this time it is not a happy story. It seems on the day that New York City Hygiene and Mental Health board was having a hearing on whether or not they will lift the ban on ferrets a month old girl was supposedly mauled by the families three pet ferrets.

The article is short and does not have a lot of facts to explain what happened but the one thing that is very clear is that the parents were not thinking when they strapped the little girl into her car seat and set in on the floor before going upstairs to be distracted.

Hooman has always said that ferrets and small children do not mix and like the case in Missouri we may never know the truth.

You can read the article here and draw your own thoughts but wez have some points to make.

1. Wez do not know many pet Hoomans that would leave a month old child unsupervised around their pets.

2. Said parents were not in another room but upstairs well away from the child.

3. The ferrets were not properly housed. Iz do not know what a cloth cage is.This is not a cage it is a playpen for doggies not to house ferrets

4. There is no mention of what happened to the ferrets but unfortunately our guess is that they were euthanized to be tested for rabies.

5. The couple’s other four children were put into child protective services with no explanation as to why.

 

Our fear is that this story will make New York decide not to lift the ban due to the injury to the child. We can only hope that News stories like this stay far and few between.

Please leave your thoughts but any flaming will be deleted. Wez are not blaming the child or the ferrets. The only ones truly responsible for this tragedy are the parents.

Have a chittering good day,

Manny

The Stylish Ferret

 

Hiyaz allz Iz finally talked my pet Hooman into letting me have my own column.

Hooman says I am a Fashionista. Iz had Hooman look that up for me and this is what it said.

fash-ion-is-ta: Noun

1. a designer of haute couture

2. a devoted follower of fashion.

I guess that means Hooman is number one and Iz is number two.

Iz do not know if you knew that we, ferrets, have our own Shoppe called Enlightened Ferret Fashions on Etsy and there we sell many of Hooman’s creation for the well dressed stylish ferret. We are also starting to add things for kittys and doggies.

Iz have been lucky enough to keep many of Hooman’s creations. Iz is just now learning all of the terms and started following some of the great designers of the Hooman world and of the pet fashion industry.

Because there are a lot of different categories that the Hooman fashions fall under Iz thought I would look some of them up. Some of them make sense to a tiny ferret like me but most of them make me shake my little head in disbelief as to why the Hoomans would want to wear such strange clothes.

The first one Iz is doing this week is called 70’s Mood. Iz tried to find a good definition of what it is but there were way too many different ideas out there. My definition is mismatched clashing.

Even my pet Hooman raised her eyebrow at some of these outfits. Stating that she grew up during the 70’s and does not remember anything quite like these.

photo from www.fashionising.com 

The other thing Iz noticed is none of da models are smiling.are they mad about something or are they not allowed to look like they might be having fun? Of these three me favorite is the brown coat with the green stripes on the arms.

Have a Chittering Good Day and stay styling,

Marylin

Jolly Awesome Pet Tags

 

Wez is still trying to get all of our sections figured out and since Iz is kind of shy Iz asked Hooman if Iz could just do reviews. This is mez first one.

Wez got a chance to try out some new tags for our harnesses from Jolly Awesome Pet Tags . What is cool about these tags is that they can have our pictures on them along with the important information on the back. Not all tags allow you to do dual sides.  

Jolly Awesome Pet Tags have a great sale going on so you can get three tags for a price lower than their normal $16.95. Yep Iz said three tags. You can put the same image on the tags or do like pet Hooman did and make one for each of your fuzzy friends.

The tags are made from a strong durable plastic substrate that makes them almost impossible to break and are nearly scratch proof something many fuzzy owners would love.

The site is easy to navigate and offers a walk through video on how to design your tags that Hooman would not watch. She can be a bit stubborn. So it took her a while to figure out how to design our tags.

Wez were surprised at how fast Jolly Awesome Pet Tags shipped the tags to us. The one thing wez were not too surprised at was that the tags are a bit big for our harnesses but Hooman says they will work well on our traveling carrier if Iz stop trying to put them in mez hidey hole.

Jolly Awesome Pet Tags are made here in the United States so our pet Hoomans will not have to worry about foreign toxic dyes being used on the tags that could be ingested.

For mez Iz give Jolly Awesome Pet Tags a four paw rating since I have taken them to my hidey hole.

Disclaimer: Wez were given one set of tags for free along with gift cards. The opinions stated are ours and do not necessarily concur with the product, website, or any other venue attached to Jolly Awesome Pet Tags.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Marcuz

“I Have a Dream…”

 

That line is from a famous speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in August of 1963. He was given a holiday by President Ronald Regan in 1983. It is to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday which is January 15th, but the holiday is celebrated on the third Monday of January.

Iz not a speech maker but Iz too have a dream.

Mez Dream is that all ferrets be free to bring their pet Hoomans out of the darkness of fear an into the light of encouragement.

That ferrets and pet Hoomans can live in harmony and not under the persecutions of misguided entities trying to squash the love between ferrets and their pet Hoomans.

It is mez hope that the dream starts tomorrow with the New York City Board of Health recognizing the good our small furry paws can do with the ban on us lifted.

It is also mez hope that the state of California will sit up and take notice of the movement and will take a long look at their prejudice  towards us ferrets and also remove their ban.

On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day Iz ask you to help bring this dream a paw step closer by signing this petition to Introduce Ferret Legalization to Legislation so at the very least the California Legislation will put the matter on the rolls to hear from the pet Hoomans and not just those that wish to oppress us ferrets.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Manny

Lift the Ban!

New York City’s Board of Health is going to have a hearing on January 21, 2014 with regards to lifting the ban on owning ferrets in NYC.

New York City has had a ban on ferrets since 1999 when then Mayor Giuliani and a ferret enthusiast got into a heated debate on the radio. Since that time ferret owners in New York City  have been considered criminals and could have their ferret(s) confiscated if found. 

Which means that many ferret owners are taking risks every time they take their beloved fur ball to the vet where they could be turned in to the authorities or worse the vets who look the other way are not fully trained in ferret care and often charge outrageous sums for the green papers hoomans give each other.

They have already had one hearing on December 9, 2013 which opened up many of the debates that California Wildlife and Game commission has used to keep ferrets illegal in that state.

Some of those debates include that we, ferrets, enjoy gnawing on little children and news stories have shown up where we have supposedly attacked children. One in particular that happened in Missouri has never been completely substantiated one way or the other as to if that ferret did indeed do what it was accused of doing be for being murdered in a horrific way.

We don’t gnaw on children. We might lick off any food residue on their tiny hands. Or if they are infants in a car seat on the floor and they are making squeaking noises we might think they are a kit (a baby ferret) and will try to take them to where we feel they will be safe. Or we might think they are our favorite toy and try to replace it back in our hide hole.  Hooman has often over the years said that ferrets and small children do not mix.

Like most animals we can be prone to certain viruses and rabies is one of the most common viruses out there. Depending on the research there hasn’t been more than 20 cases of ferrets having rabies  since 1954 in the United States that may because there are vaccinations for rabies. Responsible hoomans take us in for yearly vaccinations.

Our hooman would not be able to travel to different places or take us to ferret shows without us being vaccinated against rabies and distemper.

As for breeding. Many of us come from large chain pet stores and we have already been fixed and have had our anal glands removed. While not having our anal glands does help lessen our signature musky smell it does not eliminated it as the musky scent comes from the oils in our skin. That smell is what puts us in the category of mustelidae.

As for getting out of a building and setting up a colony of feral ferrets seems farfetched as we don’t tend to do well in temperatures over 70 degrees and with some of the below zero temps not many would survive. But one of the possible upsides to that scenario is that New York City might not have the rat problem as we were originally domesticated to hunt rodents.

Our hooman describes us as a kitten and a two year old rolled into one and we never grow up. I guess that means we are constantly looking for new things to play with when we are not sleeping.

We can be litter trained like a cat and walk in a harness on a lead like a dog. We are inquisitive to the world around us and have a short lifespan.  Why should the New York City Board of Health deny ferret owners the right to have their pet without worry. I am sure there is a larger cat and dog population in NY then there are ferrets but until the ban is lifted no one will ever know for sure.

Maybe, just maybe if New York does lift its ban California will take notice and start working towards legalizing ferrets there.

We at Enlightened Ferret would love to have some of our New York City friends attend this hearing and if you have met us let the board of health know just how unique and well mannered we were to you and your pet as we have met many of you through Blog Paws.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Manny

Wordless Wednesday

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Wordless Wednesday: Baby It’s Cold Out

 

 

I believe the fur kids have the right idea since it says it is 12 degrees out but with the wind chill it feels more like –4.

 

Manny in hooman’s sweatshirt

Marcuz snoozing in the hammock with his fleecey blanket.

 

Marylin was buried deep in the laundry basket I couldn’t get a good picture.

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Jo

Getting Older

 

 

So Saturday was my fifth birthday. Which means I am now on the threshold of becoming a senior pet. With that hooman has more concerns about my health.

I am already considered to have Adrenal Disease since I have an enlarged spleen but am not showing any other signs such as hair loss like Marcuz is.

Hooman has started doing weekly testing of my blood sugar to make sure I am not showing any signs of Insulinoma.

I am also starting to show some signs of tooth decay even though hooman does brush my teefs. It will be one of the many things we will discuss with my awesome vet Doctor Doverspike in March of April depending on when we can get an appointment with him. Hooman doesn’t want to take any chances with our healthcare  and I really don’t like the lady vet that did my ultra sound.

I will also have to start seeing Doctor Doverspike twice a year if not more depending on my age but then I won’t be going alone since Marcuz will be turning five in September.

Here are just a couple of pics of me getting my bifday treats. Yum! 

 

Have a Chittering Good Day,

Manny