I enjoyed your story about Gizmo. It reminded me so much about my first
visit to the shelter in GA and adopting my ferret.

I didn't know anything about shelters when I got my two girls, Trixie
and Pebbles from the pet store. I read everything about ferrets I could
put my hands on and found we had a shelter in GA, and decided I needed
a boy for my girls.

When I got there I had no idea what to expect. There were 3 or 4 people
in the shelter, with lots of ferrets milling around on the floor. It
was totally overwhelmed. I said I wanted a boy, and they said to let my
girls out and see who they liked playing with the most. The foster Moms
had brought several boys that were adoptable from their homes, so that
way why there were so many people and ferrets (I learned that later).
Well, my girls loved playing around but didn't pick anyone special.

I walked around trying to get an idea which one they liked. A little
dark nosed sable boy nipped my ankle and I jumped ... I never had been
nipped before like that. I moved away from him, and he nipped me again.
I picked him up to get a good look at him, and asked the shelter Mom
about him. She said he was a bit older that mine (mine were only 6
months old) and she knew I wanted one close to my girls age. (I didn't
know better that it was best to have different ages.) Well, he was
about 2, with a good bit of tarter on his back teeth and I knew their
life spans were short, and I wanted one younger, so put him back down.
A few minutes later, he nipped my ankle again. Dang .... My girls
didn't pick one out; it was getting later and later... So I decided to
just adopt this dark nosed sable boy, Paco. It was the best decision I
ever made. He NEVER nipped again even when he was playing hard or sick.

A few months later, I brought all three back to be introduced to a
younger guy. All got along well, did the paperwork for KodiBear, and
couldn't find Paco to take them all home. I finally looked into our
carrier that was on top of the foster Mom's carrier. He was inside
sleeping. Guess he was making sure he didn't miss his ride back home.

Paco only lived to 4 yrs old, complications from adrenal surgery (right
before Melatonin Implants came out) but he was the best ferret !!

Florence Love
www.craftyweasels.com
Roswell, GA

[Posted in FML 6667]