Thinking about a Ferrett

Question
Hiya,

I am your typical household menagerie keeper.  I have a base set of cats (4), and I have kept various small animals.  Over the past few months, my small animal population has dropped significantly, sad to say.  It started w/ the loss of my beloved Galahad, a hooded rat that I saved about 4 years ago.  Then recently my pair of Spiny mice both passed on the same day, reason unknown.  However they did live a long healthy life.

After all that, I am down to my base four cats, and a pair of Degus.  I've always been interested in Ferrets because of playfulness and character.  I understand that they have an odour (but what doesn't have and odour w/ a bunch of cats)  And I have read up on the feeding habits, and exercise needs, etc.  This is typical for me when deciding on a new pet.  What I really need to know is...is it a good ideal to introduce a Ferret into a household of cats.  There are 3 male cats, and one female.  The older male (12) and female (10) are the dominant animals.  The two younger cats (both 3) are playful, and well...BAD.  I love animals, and don't want to cause stress on a new addition unnecessarily, and to keep the current family calm.

After that long drawn out description, I guess I'm basically looking for an opinion on integrating a Ferret into my family.

I look forward to your knowledge,

Thanks,  Elspeth


Answer
Hello Elspeth,

Ferrets are such sociable animals that they think dogs/cats are one of their own!! They are just like a puppy or kitten, and very sociable, but i dont know how your cats will react to the fuzzy. If i were you before you bring home the ferret i would take your two dominant cats with you to get the ferret, those would probably the the problem if their was one...just to make sure when you bring them home they wont fight!



                   Thanks, Desiree