Interesting how your experience is both similar and somewhat different. I only had one ferret but she basically hung out with me whenever I was home which was a fair bit as I’m a homebody. She would sleep in the bed with me at night and shadow around/help in whatever I was doing. I had my apartment well secured so I just gave her run of the place and she never got in too much trouble. Granted this was after she was an adult, as a kit nothing was safe and she had to be in her cage unless I was there. It was a dual level with lots of space and toys. I agree that ferrets get into more stuff in general and thieve too. With my current cat it’s more that she constantly wants to be within 1 foot of me and ideally sitting on me at all times. It’s relentless lol. Since she’s awake a fair bit more than my ferret was it feels like more work overall but I’d consider it pretty comparable in general. Please give your ferrets a pet for me :) I miss mine, I had her seven good years.
Jessicat
I’ve had both cats and ferrets and find them comparable generally with ferrets needing slightly less maintenance. I agree that with proper care they don’t smell. What aspect of caring for a ferret is much more intensive than caring for a cat?
I found having a ferret was slightly easier than having a cat in terms of maintenance. I don’t understand why they would be any less sanitary, they can be litterbox trained.
That’s fair, they should be using the proper term in the headline.
Prevention definitely makes sense. So do snap traps, I just didn’t know if the old school method was considered as painless as possible. I don’t like poisons because of trophic concentration. Not currently dealing with rats but I do want chickens again someday so I’m sure I’ll face this question eventually.
Oh my god that explanation is somehow worse. Thank you for explaining though. Childhood as a license 😱?!
That is pretty funny that after your thorough and extensive comparison the result is blocking. Thanks for taking the time to do that though. I’m new and recently transitioned from Reddit. It definitely feels very different here but I didn’t know how to describe it. The end really is much less hostility in general. I feel like there are more constructive conversations happening despite occasional breakdowns.
I’m curious about what the humane euthanasia guidelines are in this scenario. It’s all just so weird.
I don’t know if this is part of the reasoning but ferrets actually have an immune system that is very similar to humans and are used in medical research for that very reason. When I had one I always had to be careful with her when I was sick because she would catch it otherwise. Ferret sneezes are surprising and adorable.
I mean I don’t have a spare $500k lying around (checks under couch cushions too) so it’s not targeted to me lol. I’m content seeing dinosaur skeletons at museums for my paleontological needs.
That little face! Thank you for spoiling them for me :) Yes breeding practices are horrible with Marshall farms. They’ve made it a monopoly so it’s almost impossible to get a ferret from another organization in the US.