I really want a ferret!

by Elspeth
(U.K.)

Hi, I’m a 15 year old girl from the UK and for years I have wanted a ferret. I have loved all animals all my life and ferrets are an animal that I have for some reason always liked. I have always wanted a ferret and always been disappointed to hear my parents say no, I can’t have a ferret. Every time I ask.

When I was 11 I was finally allowed my first pet. I got four gerbils. They where the next thing I wanted if I couldn’t have ferrets. I did a lot of research and did not approve of my friends who had got their pets without knowing how to properly care for them. My gerbils lived a long life and were a brilliant first pet for me. They taught me a great deal and I will always treasure them. When they died I became lonely without my little rodent friends and decided after some time that I wanted another pet. Of course, I wanted ferrets. But again, no matter what I tried, the answer from my parents was always no.

In the end I got two rats. Again months of research and convincing parents but after a while I got my rats from a breeder. they had a pedigree and where very healthy. They lived a long time for rats and everyone said how well I cared for them despite being young. That is how I got my reputation for being an animal lover; Due to my dedication to my ratties. I loved them dearly and created a real bond, but rats do not live long and after a few short years they died.

Now, once again I am lonely, and more so than before. I want a creature that will bond with me and become my friend. I love looking after things and I like the idea of the extra care involved in ferret ownership as I always did everything I could for my pets, including mixing their food for them out of various animal feeds to create the correct values of different things. Rat food often contains cheap procced meat which causes tumours and I wanted to avoid that! That is just one of the many things I did for my rats but I won’t go into detail. I also want my companion(s) to live longer than the couple of years a rat does.

I have been researching ferrets for years. I know I can take care of a ferret but my parents just won’t let me! They are worried about the commitment, costs and how much time they take up. They are confident that I would look after them well but they are scared that somehow they may end up looking after them which they are not prepared to do. I understand their worry and have talked about it a lot, trying to come to a conclusion but it just seems like a too big an ask for my parents.

I really don’t want to have to wait until i get my own place because even when I do, I don’t know how long it will be until I would be financially stable enough to responsibly get ferrets. Not to mention other things. I really want ferrets and have really tried my best.

What can I do? 🙁 Help me please!

 

Comments for I really want a ferret!
Oct 21, 2012 WOO HOO!!! o/o
by: Anonymous So glad to hear that you got your ferrets, Elspeth!

I know you’ll be a fantastic “ferrent” and that your two will have a wonderful life under your care.

 

Once again, many congratulations – I am so happy for you!

Big hugs to your babies from their new friends down under!
Oct 19, 2012 Ferrets at long last!
by: Anonymous Just came on to say thank you to everyone that encouraged and supported me in my quest for ferrets.

Four weeks ago I adopted two rescue ferrets from a shelter and they are gorgeous! I’m sixteen now, done my GCSE’s and am at college doing an animal management course. My parents finally decided that they could take on ferrets. I am over the moon with my two ferret girls, Delly and Meeka!
They were found dumped in a cardboard box so the shelter didn’t know much about their background and when they first came they bit a lot. After three days my mum was ready to take them back but I begged her to let me give them a chance, and she very kindly did. I’ve been working on the biting and it has massively decreased. Hopefully with time and patience it will disappear almost completely. I don’t think I’ll ever get my mum to really like them but they are accepted and she has no involvement in their care, I do it all except for my brother and sister who take them out sometimes while I’m at college in the day.

It seems to be working pretty well and I am happy as can be, still not believing that I finally have them in my life. I enjoy every second of being owned by my fuzzbutts!

Thank you once again to everyone who helped me out and for all the great info on this website.

Elspeth 🙂
Dec 02, 2011 Glad you found a club nearby 🙂
by: Anonymous Hope you manage to contact them and get to talk to them. I’m sure once your parents meet a ferret, they’ll fall in love with it like all of us crazy people who are owned by one (or two, or three, etc …)!! LOL!

Good luck! 😀
Nov 30, 2011 Thank you for the suggestions!!
by: Elspeth I looked at the links you kindly gave and there it was, before my very eyes: BRISTOL FERRET CLUB! That is excellent thank you! (I happen to live in Brisol!)The website is not very good and the link leads to a non-existent page but there is an email address so I will definitely get in touch.

I do have facebook and have liked your page, loving all the lol ferrets! and other pics too…

I will see if I can find someone willing to give me and my parents a taster session with ferrets. Fingers crossed…

Thank you so much again I am very grateful for all your help!
Nov 30, 2011 Another thought …
by: Anonymous Elspeth, is there a ferret club/society near to where you live?

https://www.all-about-ferrets.com/english-ferret-associations.html

Perhaps you could go and talk to the people there for more information? Perhaps they might even be happy for you to be a foster “mother” to a ferret to find out what it’s like.

If there isn’t a club nearby, another suggestion … are you on Facebook? If you are, please come to my Furquin’s Ferrets page

http://www.facebook.com/Furquins.Ferrets

I have some lovely English people who are there and I know they’d be more than happy to give you as much information you need and who knows, you might find they’re close to where you live and you’ll be able to introduce your parents to a ferret for a day! LOL! 😀
Nov 29, 2011 Still no ferrets!
by: Elspeth Hiya, thanks for commenting! I sent a reply soon after this comment but it appears not to have gone on to the website, maybe I didn’t actually send it!

Thanks for all the suggestions. My parents are worried about their long lifespan and amount of time that goes into caring for them. It’s not that they aren’t confident that I will look after the ferrets well, it’s just that they think I won’t dedicate enough time to my GCSE’s if I have ferrets to look after.

Another thing is the cost. A worry is that when a ferret gets older it is more than likely that it will have some sort of health problem which could cost a lot in vet bills and medication. I know that insurance is a good option but even then you have to pay monthly and you still have to pay out a fair amount of money before the insurance company pays the rest.
I have been considering getting a part time job so that whatever money I earn could be put towards insurance but it is difficult to find somewhere that will take a 15 year old on, especially as so many people are looking for jobs at the moment.

In terms of a ferret shelter; there are none near where I live. There is a general animal rescue place and they always have ferrets there. The only thing is that the people are not very friendly at all and only let you see the animals if you want to adopt one. I understand that they are very busy looking after all the animals but they won’t even reply to my many letters and emails asking if I could volunteer there.

It would be great if I could find somewhere to take my parents to meet some nice ferrets and let them do the convincing but I don’t know anyone with ferrets and I can’t find anywhere that will let us go and meet them.

Oh well, I suppose I have to just carry on in the hope that one day my parents will allow me to get ferrets and do all I can to help convince them until then. Thank you again for coming up with all the ideas.
Nov 28, 2011 Hi
by: Anonymous I want to ask if you are still searching for ferrets? If you are, get back to me for more information.
Sep 25, 2011 For Elspeth
by: Anonymous Hi Elspeth

I can understand your frustration at not being allowed to get a ferret as a pet.

Do you know why your parents are against the idea? Is it because they think the ferret is a smelly, vicious animal? Or are they worried about the cost if the ferret gets sick?

Is there a ferret rescue near to where you live? I was thinking that if you could make friends with the person who runs the rescue and then take your parents there, to hold and interact with the ferrets. It might change their minds about what ferrets are really like.

Quite often people have preconceived ideas about ferrets and when they actually mix with them, they’re surprised to find that they’re captivated by the ferret’s personality.

You can get pet insurance for ferrets in the UK so if you can research the cost of the insurance, you could reassure your folks that there won’t be huge vet bills for your ferret if it gets sick.

https://www.exoticdirect.co.uk/

I guess you could also write a letter promising to look after your ferret for the length of its life, that you wouldn’t get sick of it so that your parents end up looking after it – maybe even get a friend to witness your signature so that it can be taken for an official document so that your parents know that you’re serious.

That’s about all I can think of for now but if any other ideas pop into my head, I’ll post them for you to consider.

Good luck – I really hope you manage to change your parents’ minds as I know you’d be a very responsible ferret owner and would give it a very happy forever home!

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