The domestic ferret is currently the third most popular pet in America behind the cat and the dog. We believe that there are several factors behind this surge in popularity.

The major one is that there is more known about ferrets, both in a scientific/medical sense and in a personal experience sense. More research has been conducted in recent years to bring the veterinary understanding of ferrets to a level where they are no long viewed as an exotic or uncommon species. On a more personal level, several individuals have championed the cause of ferrets based upon their personal experiences with ferrets as breeders, shelter caretakers, and experienced ferret owners. Getting solid facts about and personal experiences with ferrets widely circulated has led to a greater acceptance of domestic ferrets as high quality companion animals.

The other big reason is the charming personalities ferrets have. Just spending some time around these little fuzzies draws you to them. They play hard, sleep hard, eat hard, love hard, and generally do everything with so much energy and gusto that sometimes we get tired just watching our ferrets!

Ferrets are not like a dog or a cat. It takes a special committment to properly raise and look after a ferret. Ferrets who are simply locked up in a cage and only looked at once in a while to change their water, give them food, or change their litterbox will most likely become socially withdrawn. Yes, ferrets are small, furry animals, but no, they cannot be treated like a mouse, rat, or hampster. Ferrets who recieve frequent and quality interaction from their human caretakers will return that love and committment in even greater strength as they bond closer to their people.

This is not to say that every ferret is the same as every other ferret. We have four of the little fuzzies and each one has a very different personality once you really get to know them. See the Life With Our Ferrets section that may help to explain our experiences.

Ferrets both young and old are extremely curious about everything: "What's under the dresser? What's behind that closed door? What's in your ear? What's burried in the litter in the litterbox? What's in your glass of cranberry juice? (Oops, there goes another stain on the carpet!) What's that you're eating? What's in the toe of your expensive leather shoes?", etc. The list goes on and on. Of course it goes without saying that it takes some patience to raise a young ferret. Folks with young ferrets need to think like a four-year old child in order to understand how ferrets think. Case in point: our oldest ferret, Squirt, figured out in a pretty short time how to unzip the zippers on duffle bags in order to explore the insides. Needless to say, we do not leave duffle bags on the floor anymore! Sometimes those ferrets of ours are so darn ood at training us!

We do not intend for this web site to be an exhaustive lecture on the care and feeding of the domestic ferrets. Rather, we want to share our personal experiences with our ferrets in order to provide real life examples of ferrets as pets. Read on for more references and for more on our lives with our fuzzies thus far.

Thank you for stopping by, and come again soon to see what's new. Feel free to write to us with any comments, problems, questions, suggestions, or whatever -- we'd love to hear from you!