Asterisk, Historical Fact

[featherynscale]

This is a no shit, real conversation I just had.

Coworker: Is a ferret a cat or a dog?
Me: Neither. A ferret is a ferret.
Coworker: But is it more like a cat, or more like a dog?
Me: It's not like a cat or a dog. It's like a ferret. They're probably rodents, or some other such thing which is neither a cat nor a dog.
Coworker: Who the hell cares about ferrets anyway?
Me: Um....ferret owners?

Comments

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

The answer is Cat.

Science aside, if you play with one, clean up the sh-t from one, piss one off, or take one to the vet, they are more like cats than any other animal. They do not have rodent teeth, they actually have small dog-like teeth. But they eat cat food and sh-t cat sh-t. they also hiss when you drop them or piss them off. They purr and cuddle like a cat.

They are long goofy cats, with a hamster's tendency to get into trouble, and a dog's tendency to chew.

So in reality, David's answer is right. But the general answer is cat. ;-)

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

No, they're more like rats than cats.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

The biggest argument against that is the teeth and poo. But they do have rat-like fingers.

Oddly, the ferret we had used to pounce at me much like our bunny does. I've not had a rat though, so I might be missing something.

They also have issues with Feline Leukemia, oddly enough.

Rats?

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

They aren't like rats, they eat rats...

Re: Rats?

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Cats eat rats, too!

But do ferrets eat cats?

Re: Rats?

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Cats have been known to get along with rats. I've not heard of the same with ferrets.

Cats usually avoid ferrets if they can. One person talks about how their cat walked along the curtain rods so as to not interact with them.

Re: Rats?

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

I'll take that as a "maybe."

Re: Rats?

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

I don't think they've actually eaten cats but I do think that ferrets confuse cats. Cats are used to being master of all they survey. They can't do that with ferrets. But at the same time the ferrets don't lord it over cats. Many cats just don't know how to deal with this...

Re: Rats?

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Suddenly I feel like I'm having a beatnik flashback.

Re: ferrets

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

It sems like you've never had ferrets? One of the oddest things about them at times is that they don't purr. I expect them to after having cats for so long. They do chuckle and they do war dance.

Giving them cat food is generally a bad idea; cat food doesn't have enough protein in it. You can actually starve them to death if you give them a vegetarian diet.