Spice was brought in our lives June 2001. Shawn brought her home from
the pet store and when I came home he held her up at the door and said
"don't be mad"... well look at that face... how could I even think of
being mad.... She was soo cute and I had so much to learn. I had never
seen ferrets before! Shawn said he had no choice but to bring her
home... she had attached herself to his chin J

Spice is a Canadian Ferret from our local pet store here... they get
small breeder ferrets instead of buying in "bulk". Not knowing anything
about ferrets we didn't know that the stitches she still had in her
needed to be pulled... she was only 7 weeks old. We took her to the
vet and they pulled her stitches and sent us home with amoxi for the
infection... She actually liked the medication!

She always had dirty ears so she got use to me cleaning them out all of
the time... never needing to be scruffed to do so. She also let me trim
her nails while she just laid there.... I didn't know about ferretone
on their bellies!

Spice proved to us just how smart ferrets were and how she could always
get her way

She loves the camera... but ONLY when SHE is ready

This is a clean girl... always use the litter box in the cage and most
times out of the cage... only missed when she was mad at you and would
do it right in front of you! Even when she would throw up she would put
her head in the litter-box so she wouldn't mess up the cage.

I thought for sure that ALL ferrets were going to be this easy to take
pictures of! (yeah right!)

In January 2007 Spice got sick. She was down to under a pound. I was
on a business trip when it happened, her daddy Shawn was home with her.
I was only gone for 5 days... When I returned she started to gain her
weight back. She was put on medication to help in case there was an
infection. She gained most of her weight back and went back to getting
everything she wanted again.

She started going downhill again in May 2007. Then she couldn't use
her back legs... I took her to the vet and they couldn't find out why.
Nothing was broke and no infections from blood work. No insulinoma. She
had pain when she moved. Her pain has somewhat subsided and she was
eating soup on her own if I held her. However lately she is having to
be force fed soup.

Last night... in her eyes I could tell she's had enough.... She isn't
getting better and just lays in the sleep-sack and is in pain again..
She has a hard time getting out to pee or poop on the puppy pad but
does manage to finally get out of the sleep sack or whatever she was
in... she doesn't like to be dirty so has to find a clean dry spot.

Tomorrow morning we are going to take her to the vet for the last
time... We know it's time for her...

Spice got her middle name (Ruby) from my mom's name. Spice has been the
best ferret in the world and so smart... so stubborn and so loving....
Just like my mom was.

She became Queen Spice when we added Princess Pepper to our family...
Spice always ruled her crew (Bugz, Pepper, Kuri and Dodge) but did it
in a way that the other kids did the work for her.

Spice is the reason we got into ferret rescue... Spice showed us how
wonderful ferrets are... had it not been for her we never would have
had over 200 ferrets come through our shelter doors... she is truly a
blessing...

Forever in our hearts....

Mommy and Daddy (Joanne and Shawn)

[Posted in FML 5633]