I really want a ferret!

by Elspeth
(U.K.)

Hi, I'm a 15 year old girl from the UK and for years I have wanted a ferret. I have loved all animals all my life and ferrets are an animal that I have for some reason always liked. I have always wanted a ferret and always been disappointed to hear my parents say no, I can't have a ferret. Every time I ask.

When I was 11 I was finally allowed my first pet. I got four gerbils. They where the next thing I wanted if I couldn't have ferrets. I did a lot of research and did not approve of my friends who had got their pets without knowing how to properly care for them. My gerbils lived a long life and were a brilliant first pet for me. They taught me a great deal and I will always treasure them. When they died I became lonely without my little rodent friends and decided after some time that I wanted another pet. Of course, I wanted ferrets. But again, no matter what I tried, the answer from my parents was always no.

In the end I got two rats. Again months of research and convincing parents but after a while I got my rats from a breeder. they had a pedigree and where very healthy. They lived a long time for rats and everyone said how well I cared for them despite being young. That is how I got my reputation for being an animal lover; Due to my dedication to my ratties. I loved them dearly and created a real bond, but rats do not live long and after a few short years they died.

Now, once again I am lonely, and more so than before. I want a creature that will bond with me and become my friend. I love looking after things and I like the idea of the extra care involved in ferret ownership as I always did everything I could for my pets, including mixing their food for them out of various animal feeds to create the correct values of different things. Rat food often contains cheap procced meat which causes tumours and I wanted to avoid that! That is just one of the many things I did for my rats but I won't go into detail. I also want my companion(s) to live longer than the couple of years a rat does.

I have been researching ferrets for years. I know I can take care of a ferret but my parents just won't let me! They are worried about the commitment, costs and how much time they take up. They are confident that I would look after them well but they are scared that somehow they may end up looking after them which they are not prepared to do. I understand their worry and have talked about it a lot, trying to come to a conclusion but it just seems like a too big an ask for my parents.

I really don't want to have to wait until i get my own place because even when I do, I don't know how long it will be until I would be financially stable enough to responsibly get ferrets. Not to mention other things. I really want ferrets and have really tried my best.

What can I do? :( Help me please!