I have new four-legged house guests, but they're not kittens and they're not fosters. Jakobo (white) and Bonnie (brown) are two super-cute ferrets that belong to a friend here in Las Vegas. I'm taking care of them for a few days while their family is out of town.
Even though this blog is normally about foster kittens who will soon be available for adoption, I decided to make a post about the ferrets because my time with them so far (all two days of it) has been rather educational. First off, they are far more sociable than I expected. In some ways, they're like really long kittens with short stubby legs! Both of them will crawl up into my lap and enjoy being petted. They aren't even a little bit shy, not even when they first got here. They also play with the feather teasers.
Second, I don't know if these two are typical of all ferrets (my quick Google search says "yes"), but they are definitely not consistent users of their litterbox. They've pretty much been going wherever they please since they got here. A couple of times they've actually done their business in the box, but they seem to prefer going straight on the floor in a corner or, worse, right in front of the door! This morning, I finally gave up on trying to get them going in the box and just put down pads all over the room for them to go on. So far, they've been good about at least using those. (I put them in the places they had been going on the floor). I'm told they're really good about using their litterbox at home, though, so it may just be all the past "accidents" from the various foster kittens I've had in that room the past two years that's inspiring them to go outside the box. Hopefully they're not picking up bad habits at my house that they're going to continue when they get back home.
In any case, despite the mess they're making of my foster room, I'm glad I took them in. It's a nice chance to learn about a different type of pet I wasn't all that familiar with. Plus, as I mentioned, they're really cute.
