It's strange places your mind will take you – and often unbidden – when you start thinking about pet ferrets. But it's all good and all fun . . . most of the time. Anyhow, here's our fun and informative compendium of ferret musings. Inside, you'll find:Chapter 1: What is a Ferret?Chapter 2: Basic Ferret-Ownership FactsChapter 3: Some Interesting and Odd Ferret FactsChapter 4: Why a Ferret?Chapter 5: My Husband's Take on Pet FerretsChapter 6: A Straight-from-the-Ferret's-Mouth Ferret ManualChapter 7: Ferret Name GamesExcerpt:My Husband's Take on Pet FerretsA ferret is small creature that possesses the attributes of several animals all rolled up together in one fuzzy package. Ferrets have the predicament-inducing curiosity of a cat, they display the self-abandoned playfulness of an otter, and they engage in the zany and often outrageous antics that dogs do. They simply can't be safely pigeonholed. And that's a little frustrating for guys because we like clear-cut categories. We just don't do well with ambiguity and fluidity.Someone once said (I think it was Chesterton) that husbands need their wives to talk to them . . . because it helps them concentrate on what they're reading. Yes, he was being facetious, but there's still a lot of truth in that. Husbands and wives, after the honeymoon years are past, just don't have a lot to say to each other. But a pet ferret can help with that.A ferret is a convenient, shared conversation piece. Everybody in the household loves a pet ferret. And that also means that everyone is usually ready and willing to talk about the cute critters. So when the kids are grown and gone and conversation flags, a ferret is something husbands and wives can talk to each other about again – with interest.My wife often comes running out of her room and exclaims: "Michael! You'll never believe what Loki and Luna just did!" To which I respond: "What?" She then proceeds to tell me, and then we talk about her ferrets for a while. Without the ferrets, I would still be reading – and we wouldn't be talking.Finally, and slightly related, a ferret is a marriage-saver. There is almost nothing that can lift you out of a depression or turn aside an angry mood like watching a pet ferret play. So when my wife is angry with me – gratuitously and for absolutely no justifiable reason – she will often go play with and talk to her ferrets. And then, when she comes out of her room again, she is in a good mood. Her anger has passed, and she doesn't wish I lived somewhere else. So, thanks to Rikki and Possum and Loki and Luna, my wife's ferrets, our marriage is still intact.