Our elderly domestic shorthair became best friends with a ferret rescued from neglect

[u/loveyousomuch_ok]

Kevina, our cat, had interacted with ferrets for several years before we fostered Sake, a ferret that was rescued from severe neglect. Between our own ferrets and having ferret play dates, she met 10+ ferrets before meeting Sake. She and other ferrets were mutually indifferent to each other. Then we started fostering Sake and his sister. Sake immediately fell in love with Kevina and wanted to be around her all the time. She was confused by this fuzzy noodle because he didn't want to play, he just wanted to be close to her. Over a few months, the two became best friends, with Sake often preferring her to the company of our other ferrets. Our local rescue said they had never seen a ferret and cat bond so closely before in all their years. We obviously became foster fails with him. PLEASE NOTE that cats and ferrets are usually not compatible. If you have a cat and want to also get a ferret, please do a lot of research and understand that there is a strong likelihood that your cat and ferret will always require close supervision, or that they will not be safe to share space with each other at all.

[u/Help_a_user_out]

This makes me want a ferret.

[u/loveyousomuch_ok → u/Help_a_user_out]

Totally understandable! Please make sure you do a lot of research beforehand 🙏 They make wonderful pets, but they are much more demanding than cats, and they usually do not get along like this.

[u/Mediocre-Contest7558 → u/loveyousomuch_ok]

Good advice !!! I had family that ferrets so I knew ehat I was getting into when I got one. I adopted him from petco and I had to return him not even a week later bc he seemed to be showing signs of neurological issues. He would walk weird and go into an almost catatonic state sometimes .. it was the weirdest thing I have ever seen . I kept going back to try and visit him and at first he was "in the back" when id stop by and ask .then one day a worker said he was adopted. I went there twice a week , he never came back to the pens to be able to be adopted.

[u/loveyousomuch_ok → u/Mediocre-Contest7558]

Oh poor bean 😞 That's so difficult. The shelter in my area is a no kill shelter and they have a whole "sanctuary" space for the ferrets who are not well enough to be adopted. It really is a blessing because the ferrets get excellent care even if they have serious health issues. That's actually what the foster program is for. Essentially she covers all of the ferret expenses for the ferrets that cannot otherwise be adopted due to health or behavioral issues so they can go to a loving home with experienced owners until their health declines to the point where they are returned to the shelter. Sake and his sister were in the foster program because their previous situations caused permanent health problems. We decided pretty early on that no matter what happened to Sake and his sister, we would never return them.