A Ferret's Life

So we all got on the carrier and they told us to pose for a...

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:30:05 -0600

So we all got on the carrier and they told us to pose for a Christmas picture!
But we were like, but it’s not Christmas anymore!

But we had to pose anyways. It was fun! I really liked the ornaments.

Tikki still has her Christmas ornaments up, haha! No, but my...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:30:06 -0600

Tikki still has her Christmas ornaments up, haha!

No, but my owner’s mom thought it’d be funny. Tikki doesn’t mind, I think she liked them.

So then Coco started doing it too! I think I started a...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:32:06 -0600

So then Coco started doing it too!

I think I started a trend…

I just like putting my head in things, to see if I’ll fit!...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:30:05 -0600

I just like putting my head in things, to see if I’ll fit! The problem is, sometimes my head will fit, but the rest of me won’t. I try and I try, but I can’t get in!

RAWR! hahahahahaaahahahaa

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:03:53 -0600

RAWR!

hahahahahaaahahahaa

Hi guys! It’s been a long time! I’ve been really...

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:49:53 -0600

Hi guys! It’s been a long time! I’ve been really busy helping my owner, who was really busy too, but I stopped by to show you all a picture of me! (of course)

My owner says I really am a bear this winter! She weighed me and says I’m 2.8 lbs, I guess that’s a lot because she was really surprised.

It's Detachable: The following was written as responses to an article about a four...

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:50:18 -0500

It's Detachable: The following was written as responses to an article about a four...:

itsdetachable:

The following was written as responses to an article about a four month old baby getting its fingers chewed off by a ferret while being left unattended by it’s parents.

Nobody with two brains to rub together lets a four month old child alone - for any reason… and certainly not with an animal in…

itsdetachable: Made originally to be used on DeviantArt (hence...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:21:51 -0500

itsdetachable:

Made originally to be used on DeviantArt (hence the stamp format).

Quote: craze_176 top two are a friends: kibble fed and 5-8...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:12:47 -0500

Quote:

craze_176

top two are a friends: kibble fed and 5-8 years old

bottom two are mine: raw fed

Look at the teeth! Look at the gums! :o

ps; munchie’s teeth used to look like the above!

Via Raw Dogs (and other pets) Community on Livejouranl. Please note, the post is locked so if you aren’t a member of the community (click join community if you want!) then you won’t see it.

My owner says I have EYE LAZERZ!! I don’t think I do but...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:37:40 -0500

My owner says I have EYE LAZERZ!!

I don’t think I do but that’d be fun if I did right? Haha! PEW PEW PEW!

Photo

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 17:52:57 -0500

Stuff Ferrets Shouldn't Be Eating (Even Though It's Really Yummy!)

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 21:16:00 -0500

* Raisins. Raisins are bad for us ferrets because they have a lot of sugar that makes us really hyper! But it makes it bad for this part of us that controls our sugar… stuff… and then we can get sick when we’re older, like Tikki is, and have to take icky medicine. And! Raisins also have this stuff in them that’s toxic, and if we have to much we can get sick in a different way too, and our tummies won’t work right!

* Bananas! I don’t like bananas, and that’s good, because they’re not good for us either! They’re really sweet, and they can do the same stuff to us that all sugary stuff does, messing around with that thing in us… uh… it’s called the pancreas? And then we get sick and have to take icky medicine so our body works right.

* Actually fruits just aren’t a good idea in general (that’s how my owner says it haha) because of all the sugars in them! Us ferrets just don’t eat that kind of stuff, our great-great-great-greatxWhatever-Grandparents didn’t eat fruits and stuff and their bodies weren’t capable of digesting them right! (Oh look big words!) So we aren’t either because we’re a lot like them!

* Vegetables aren’t really good for us! I mean, my owner gives us this mushy pumpkin, and I really like that even though Coco thinks is weird (I think she’s the most ferrety one out of all of us except for when we’re stealing stuff then I think Tikki is) but it’s just because it cleans us out well. Whatever that means. It comes out just like it how it goes in! It really does, I checked! It’s weird, and it makes us full but I don’t really feel like playing after eating it, like I do after meat and stuff.

And! Sometimes if the vegetables are not cooked and mushy, they can give us stomachaches! And blooockages and then we have to go to the vet and get shots and some other stuff and sleep a lot and that’s not fun.

* Foam and rubber! I don’t like this stuff too much myself, but Coco looooooves hard rubber she could just eat it all the time. She’ll chew and chew and chew and bite off pieces and that’s not good! It’s because rubber doesn’t di-gest and then we get stomachaches and blockages and don’t feel good and have to go to the vet. And foam too it’s just not fun! But it’s fun to chew on, haha!

* Chocolate! Chocolate can be really, really bad for ferrets! And dogs and cats too! It’s sugary and sweet and the cocoa stuff in it is bad for us. Tikki likes chocolate, she’ll steal it if she can, but it’s bad for her! And I say “Tikki, you shouldn’t be doing that!” and she bites me on the nose and steals it anyways. That’s not nice.
If we eat too much chocolate we can get really, really sick and go to the vet hospital! And maybe even not come back! I don’t know what happens when you don’t come back, but it can’t be good because if it was good then you’d come back. So we have to be really careful and make sure to take the chocolate out of it’s hidey holes in the drawers and show our owners so that they can take it from us and throw it away so we don’t get sick.

There’s probably more stuff too but I’ll write that some other time because I have a really busy schedule you know! Coco’s been trying to steal my owner’s shoes and I need to go remind her that that’s my job around here, and that just because she thinks she’s a princess she doesn’t get to sleep on my hammock and kick me out of it just because she wants to.

lambielovesyou: <3 Owner: I know exactly where this is,...

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 09:56:03 -0500

lambielovesyou:

<3

Owner: I know exactly where this is, and I’ve been trying to get a shot of it from the blue line for a while now. xD It’s so cool.

‘Sup Tikki?

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:35:03 -0500

‘Sup Tikki?

COCO’S SEEING RED OH NOE RUN RUN TO THE HILLS SHE’S...

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 22:34:11 -0500

COCO’S SEEING RED OH NOE

RUN RUN TO THE HILLS SHE’S AFTER US AHHH!

Photo

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:38:28 -0500

ZZzzzzzzz….

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:29:02 -0500

ZZzzzzzzz….

theweaselbees: Poor Cyrano is having some kind of allergic...

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:24:34 -0500

theweaselbees:

Poor Cyrano is having some kind of allergic reaction (maybe a bug bite or food allergy)

Look at that face :(

Awww I’m sorry Cyrano I hope you feel better soon!

Tikki found this plastic pony thingy and she tried to hide it...

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:23:34 -0500

Tikki found this plastic pony thingy and she tried to hide it behind the couch! But then Coco took it back out, and then I put it under the coffee table, and then Tikki said “Forget it!” and started chasing us around the room. It was lots of fun.

I like that pony thing. It reminds me of my giant magic pony.

Owner post: Carnivorous Pets and the Morality of Their Feeding

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:03:00 -0500

There’s Humane Choice Dog Food. There’s Evolution Vegan Diets for Dogs and Cats. There’s an entire site called VeganCats.com with both vegan cat and dog foods.

And then there’s the recent article in the Toronto Sun about Peta claiming that Cats can thrive on a Vegan diet.

The problem isn’t whether the foods are nutritionally complete for our pets - generic brand dog and cat foods made with corn and chicken feet can be nutritionally complete as well, once the food has artificial supplements and additives added to it to up it’s nutritional value.

The problem is, morally, if it is right. Is it morally right to give animals who are carnivores by definition (dogs can be considered either hypercarnivores or mesocarnivores and cats and ferrets being obligate carnivores) a diet that diverges completely from what their body has evolved to eat on a regular basis.

Dogs can, due to not being obligate carnivores and being quite adaptable, live on and in many cases thrive on a vegetarian diet. Some dogs can even live quite well on vegan diets, when properly supplemented.

Cats, however, are obligate carnivores whose bodies aren’t equipped to handle plant matter. Ferrets are similar in that aspect. Give a ferret a spoonful of cooked pumpkin, and it’ll be coming out in much the same form as it went in.

To get to the matter (and to keep from rambling), as the Toronto Sun article wrote, many vegetarians and vegans are changing their dogs and cats to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Why is this a problem? These people are placing their own moral ideals onto the animals in their care. The cat or dog has no choice, after all. It must eat what its owner gives it, or go hungry.

There is the argument that animals shouldn’t suffer to feed pets - but is that enough of an argument to constitute feeding them a food their bodies are not designed to eat? What if doing so causes eventual suffering in the pet? Unnatural diets, full of grains and corns and artificial flavors and substandard ingredients, have helped to worsen the overall condition of pets. Is feeding a different, though just as unnatural (though organic!) diet to our pets still morally right, when faced with the facts of what unnatural diets do to our pets?

Do the needs of unnamed animals over weigh those of our own pets? Pets are dependent wholly on their owners for everything, especially for making the best decision when it comes to their health and well-being. It isn’t hard to imagine that the same people who would feed a vegeterian/vegan diet to their dog/cat/ferret would refuse to feed an all-meat diet to their rabbit or guinea pig. On one level, it would support animal suffering in their view. On another, it would be unnatural, and some would say cruel, to feed herbivorous animals a meat diet. That was one of the reasons there was such an outcry when it was discovered that cows in some places were being fed meat meal as part of their diet - herbivores shouldn’t be eating meat!

I’ve been faced with this argument personally: Corn and soy have been in cat and dog foods for a long time now, so they’re probably used to it by now. It’s unfortunately an extremely ignorant point of view, one used without any basis at all. Physiological changes, the kind needed to shift a carnivore’s body towards omnivorousness, take hundreds of thousands of years, and necessary conditions, to happen. Dogs have shown this trend, although they are still firmly rooted in carnivore-land, with dentition and most of their inner-workings still extremely similar to their wild cousins and ancestors, the gray wolves. Cats and ferrets, however, have been domesticated for a minuscule amount of time in comparison. While their size has changed, their physiology has been relatively unchanged. Add to that that kibble has only been around for a couple centuries, and you get animals whose physiology for a major part has been mostly unchanged. Neither cats nor ferrets are ‘used to’ eating corn and soy, and corn is actually one of the leading allergic factors for dogs!

There are plenty of sides in this debate. Some will outright decry vegetarian and vegan foods for dogs and cats and ferrets without bothering to hear any arguments for them. Some of the same people who would say we shouldn’t claim ‘ownership’ of animals will say that no one should dictate how they feed ‘their’ pets. Some people just don’t care about either side of the debate and continue to feed their animals the same brand they always have without giving it much thought.

When it all comes down to it, we should do our best to study up on what our pets are, why they feed the way they do, and what is essential for their health. We should look at the process of feeding our pets as a moral issue - do we or do we not feel comfortable feeding them what we are currently? If we don’t, we have an obligation to them to do better.