(this is from Susie Lee (with Wes Hurley) at the Ferret & Dove Sanctuary,
and this is all about BabyDoll Babushka, the Gentlest silver mitt ferret.
 
BabyDoll Babushka,was a silver mitt lady-ferret who was rescued by
Wes, bought from a young man who had been keeping her in a small
carrying-kennel in which she had no room to exercise.  For her entire
first five years of life, according to her former owner, that's all the
room she had.  When she was brought to our Sanctuary and home, and let
out of her little carrier, her muscles were atrophied from disuse and she
just wobbled and fell over.  Never again would we put her into a small
carrier.  (for ferret-transports to and from the vets', for BabyDoll
Babushka most certainly!, we would use a more spacious one-floor cage
with all the living-amenities and a handle on it's top).
 
We had, just a month before, gotten a gift of a very large, three"room"
ranch-style (all on the floor) home-made ferret-den built from a large
puppy-box, with a special blanket-sized-hammie in the center of the
largest "living-room" part of this den which fastened with big plastic
snaps and was capable of accommodating 9 ferrets with room to spare.  On
the bottoms were counter-top boards covered by kitchen tile linoleum, and
this covered here-and-there with quilted place-mats (ferret-sized scatter
rugs!).  This no-need-to-climb, but extra-spacious super-den became
BabyDoll's main New living den, still with daily excursions out into the
Great Ferret Play-room with her new cage-mates.  BabyDoll Babushka was
an extra-gentle "beta"-type personality, which means she got along with
everyone by allowing anyone else who cared to, to go ahead and be the
"boss".  Soon after her rescue, she was diagnosed as a diabetic
hypoglycemic, and had been diet-controlled, with diazoxide from her
vet)she made friends with Felicia Ferrette, and then Simone So-Lovely,
too, and after two peaceful and happy years of freedom, with just the
diet-controlled hypoglycemia, she had developed insulinomas (cancer of
pancreas) and was being treated with vet-ordered medications and special
feedings for this (including the extra enzymes to help her digest her
food)..
 
Dear little BabyDoll Babushka lost her fight with cancer on March 10th,
2003.  She had just made it past 7 years of age, and her extra-gentle
soul, seen here (on
http://www.angelfire.com/theforce/ferret_rescuer/index.html )
in her first Christmas photo,(from 2001) has blessed our lives and lives
on in our hearts with fondest remembrance.
[Posted in FML issue 4084]