A great chuckle as I head for the last long weekend of the summer. "Disgusting hair-snake" is my new epithet of choice.

Better find it before the raccoons do.. they'd slurp that thing in like a wet noodle.

Lost pet posters are always inherently tragic and pathetic.

I have a friend who found a stray hamster that came running when she called for it. I don't know what she yelled...maybe "here little hamster..."

My son lost about three hamsters. Maybe it was one of them? Your friend can keep it.

I agree lost pet posters are tragic. But a friend lost her cat and they found it at the pound thanks to the posters and blog postings.

Ferret...tastes like chicken

If you take no pride from unnecessarily mocking this pet owner, I fail to see why you posted this useless and mean item at all. Unlike most lost pet fliers, this one is concise and informative, not to mention free from both misspellings and awful grammar. Ferrets and the "certain kind of person" (What kind of emptyheaded statement is that? If you have an insight to share about the common and defining trait shared by every ferret owner please enlighten the rest of us with that peice of armchair pychology/sociology.) who enjoys them are enough maligned without you endorsing the urge to beat harmless domesticated animals to death.

David, this is a pretty pathetic and mean-spirited grasp at humor. I'm disappointed in you.

I agree with the previous response that this is probably one of the BEST lost pet posters I've ever seen. The only reason that many people would be too intimidated (what a laugh!) to capture a domestic ferret is that ignorant people like you continue to unfairly malign ferrets, and the "certain kind" of people (interesting? intelligent?) who own them.

Let's consider the terrifying potential that a "stray" ferret poses:

It will most likely run from you, because it is scared out of its wits, which are few,
But it won't run far, because it is starving (it only takes a couple of days),
It will not be rabid because it is virtually impossible for a ferret to get rabies,
It will not attempt to hump your leg, because all pet ferrets are fixed,
It will not establish a feral colony in your back alley, for aforementioned reason,
It will not bite your face off, because its mouth is the size of a freaking thimble!
(Compare with the 1000 people sent to emergency rooms EVERY DAY after dog bites- http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html)

So what is your problem? I gather it is aesthetic? Does that deserve your sadistic advocating of death? I think that many dogs, cats - and people, for that matter - are hideous, but I would never get on a public blog and endorse beating them to death with a shovel. This isn't gentler, funny-mean- it is just I-ran-out-of-good-ideas, nasty-mean.

If you can't do better, than shut the f up. You are contributing to an unnecessary problem, and there are much better things to talk about.

Thank goodness there are not more people like you in this world where animal cruelty occurs every day to helpless victims of humanity.

In the past year, we have rescued over 150 ferrets, half of whom were found wandering the streets, after being dumped by a cruel and thoughtless owner.

The real heros are the people, who knowing nothing about ferrets, have taken them in their home, called us for information on how to care for them until we can pick them up, and purchased supplies for the lost ferret (cage, food, toys, bedding, etc.). Many of these hero's have even given us a donation to be used by the shelter to help other ferrets.

This ferret owner is doing everything within their power to make every effort to recover their pet ferret.

It is so sad that your ignorance of the domestic ferret and your insensitivety to a living creature puts you in a class below those of us who happen to love not only ferrets, but all God's creations, which (as hard as it is) includes a person who would beat a ferret to death with a shovel.

Dear David, FNarf, Rachel in Bellingham, Napoleon, Gidge, & Brad:

YOU ARE ALL EMBARRASSMENTS TO HUMANITY AND THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE HAD YOU ALL BEEN ABORTED RATHER THAN BIRTHED.

Wow. I thought we dog owners were rabid in our condemnation of those who opposed us, but apparently the ferret community takes it up a notch.

I agree that the "you deserve to have been aborted" post is a little extreme, but you've got to understand- ferret owners take a lot of crap from people who can;t fathom why they'd make good pets. What's so hard to understand? They're small, QUIET, indoor-only, and litter-trained. They're silly and playful like kittens for their whole lives, and add a lot of joy to a household. I've NEVER stepped in ferret crap on the sidewalk, I've NEVER been kept up at night by a loud ferret downstairs, there aren't packs of feral ferrets running the streets . . . the reasons they rock go on and on. Considerate pet-desiring people in cities should consider them rather than other domestic animals- it would solve a lot of problems!

There is a HUGE reason to not like Ferrets. It has to do with the oil that they produce which stinks to high heaven. Granted the smell of dog, let alone WET dog isn't pleasant either but comparing the 2 makes the Ferret the winner far and above the dog for stinkola.
The odor definately causes ones nose to want to plug up like a toilet in a exlax eating contest but doesn't warrant a shovel.

Spoken like a person who doesn't have a clue there Noseknows.

While yes, ferrets DO indeed have a unique smell, they do not smell nearly as bad as you make it out to be. They smell when they are not properly cared for ... just like any cat, dog, hampster or other pet.

Ferret organization everywhere try to educate the public before they purchase a ferret, and offer support for those that own them.

Yes, ferrets do indeed produce an oil. An uneducated ferret owner will try to scrub this off of them causing the ferret to produce more. Ferrets should be bathed very seldom.However, on the average well-cared for ferret, this musky smell is not very noticable until you actually hold the ferret up to your nose. It is usually the unkept bedding, litter pan, and cage flooring that "stinks". Good ferret owners change these things frequently. I personally own several ferrets and when you walk into my home you wouldn't notice I had them until you saw them. They cage is cleaned on a daily basis. There bedding is washed once or twice a week. Honestly, my pet rat produces more oder than both of my ferrets. FERRETS YOU PURCHASE IN PET STORES HAVE THEIR SCENT GLANDS REMOVED BEFORE THEY ARE SOLD TO THE STORE.

Just like your post, and the original poster of this blog, it is a complete lack of education about ferrets that give these wonderful creatures a bad name. Not everyone is meant to be a ferret owner. Only those who can be responsible and educate themselves about the proper care for these animals should even attempt it.

So before you post so negatively upon ferrets, please, get an education about them first.

At some point, I developed a vague dislike of the idea of ferrets without knowing exactly why. Then, my partner strongarmed me into getting a ferret (and then another) to keep as a pet in our house. Now, its hard for me to imagine why ferrets have such a bad rap. They are incredibly good natured and playful smart and entertaining. The only problem I have is the smell. They stink and I find that to be problematic when you live in small quarters.

But I sympathize with the critics of this post. We had a ferret escape They're endlessly curious, too much for their own good, so its not uncommon for them to get away from their owners. And that's exactly why its so upsetting for a ferret owner to have lost their ferret. The fear that their playfulness and curiosity will get them into a lot of trouble outside the safe confines of your home, combined with the baseless fear people have of ferrets, as exmplified by this post.

The other problem with ferrets is that when they are raised with other ferrets from birth, they grow very attached to their ferret friends and tend to suffer very real depression that is curable only by ferret socialization. It sounds like this ferret owner is facing just that problem.

Just wanted to weigh in on the pet smell issue. ALL pets (and humans!) smell bad if you feed them the wrong food, never bath them or take care of their teeth or ears, and never launder their bedding.
The problem with ferrets is that people purchase them from glass aquariums (often with no litter box!) in irresponsible pet stores, and never even try to educate themselves about how to care for their pet. This is the same reason that they are sometimes nippy. If a cat or dog were kept in an aquarium, it would be stinky and psychotic too! It is not a universal truth that ferrets stink more than other pets. My mother has three ferrets and one poodle, and her house smells like DOG.

I've been a ferret owner for ten years, and have lived with two ferrets in some REALLY small spaces with no smell, or allergy, problem. After trying many things, I've settled on a stellar product combination- The Ferret Store.com Natural Ferret Food, and World's Best Cat Litter. If you own ferrets, or know someone who does, that have an odor problem, check out these products.
What you feed the pet makes a world of difference, and most ferret foods (and especially kitten/cat foods) are truly gross (and inappropriate for ferret digestion!). If the food smells so bad, it's no wonder the poor pet smells worse after eating it. But please people, stop saying that ferrets inherently smell bad. If they do, something isn't right, and IT CAN BE EASILY FIXED.

For more information check out these food composition charts-
http://www.ohioferret.org/INFO/nutri.asp
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/theferretstore/foodchart.html

I would just like to say that this comment thread is hilarious. You ferret peoples is crazy!

No joking about ferrets! Inhuman monster! Ha ha.. good stuff.

Wow, I'm lumped into the same sentence as David AND Fnarf! Hooray me! For the record, I own a dog, fish, rabbit and a guinea pig. What, oh what, would be their ultimate fate had I been aborted and were thus unable to care for them?

Wow... thank you. Seriously. Despite your personal dislike for ferrets, your blog has drawn attention to my missing "carpet shark" and I don't think I could have gotten better publicity without paying for it.

As to people's unwillingness to approach the little fuzzballs, some neighborhood kids let me know that someone had found Cookie, apparently shortly after she'd gotten loose, and I'm in the process of tracking them down.

In the meantime, I'd be happy to introduce you to her littermate, Mocha, so that you can see how un-rat-like (and odorless) ferrets really are. You may be surprised.

P.S. George Cohan and I say, "thank you."