From:
Vicki Montgomery
Date: 2008-01-18 14:22:23 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] so many ferrets
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I would think the quality of life for ferrets who live in a multiple ferret home is better than for a single ferret. They have both human mom/dad and anyone else who lives in the house and will interact with them and they have what a single does not - each other.
I find my ferrets sleeping in a jumbled pile at X time, then I find this or that one sleeping alone, then the lone ferret is right back in the the sleeping pile. Sometimes they play together, sometimes to are off alone - playing or wandering.
Humans do the same thing - they need their alone time, but they also need contact with other humans - more importantly they need contact with humans with whom they feel a positive bond. However on a less scale of survival, even negative interaction has a correlation on survival.
I don't see ferrets or dogs or horses, or many social/pack animals as any different than human children. It has been shown through lab studies on Rhesus monkey infants and human child studies the need for physical touch is evident and that lack of touch is life-threatening, even to a celluar level. Joseph Chilton Pearce did studies on isolated cells that died if left alone, although they were sustained nutritionally. But two or more cells thrived if placed in a certain proximity to another cell. They would actually resonate in synchronization and live - cells - not whole individuals. So it seems animal life needs touch and physical closeness to others even to a celluar level.
I believe that this is not only for humans but non-human animals as well. Studies have shown that also; two I can think of off hand are the Rhesus monkey studies and the bird song studies.
I also do not believe other lifeforms, different from the subject lifeform, give complete feelings of security/comfort. Lack of one's own species deprives one of fully experiencing being that species. In birds when one is deprived of others of it's species it does not learn the songs of that speices. Other species of birds do not replace the same species fully and in some cases not at all.
So for developmental needs we each need our own species, for comfort we take what we can get, but having another just like us provides species specific learning, basis for identification of self, and I think joy on many levels.
For learning an infant needs an adult from whom to learn. For comfort I think two infants can keep each other emotionally balanced - this is shown in twin studies. They learn to communicate with each other and interact - positively and negatively.
How scary it must be to be taken from your family (litter) and put in a cage all alone, no mother milk, no siblings with whom to cuddle, no communication. Yes single animals do learn to bond to their humans, but is their's a life of acceptance or living fully as their own kind?
You do make a good point about physical quality of life. If any of us take on more than we can support with basic needs of food, water, shelter, then you are right - that quality of life is greatly diminished. Becoming a horder rather than provider has struck down the lives of people and many of the animals they hord.
Even if one can provide basics there is the question of interaction time outside of a cage. Ferrets are quite intelligent and I would imagine that being in a cage most of the day is boring, depressing, and even detrimental to their total health. There are flip-sides of this issue - supervision, safety... well does one have enough time to give all of the furries attention as well as nutrition?
If the basics for survival are provided, and the emotional comfort needs are met then I would think that a multiple ferret home is a happy ferret home and a single ferret home is one of contentment.
Vicki
weasleluv <weasleluv@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hey folks-
Now I'm really curious now that I have read 2 posts from people who
own 19 and 27 ferrets! Wow.
Knowing how much time, work and love it takes to have 1 in our
family I am wondering what the quality of life is for so many animals
at once? Is this common?
Thanks,
Jillian & Noodle
---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/