I got this in my email from my dad, I thought you all would enjoy
reading it :)

My first experience with ferrets was about 20 years ago. My daughter
volunteered to care for the class pets over summer break. The 2 ferrets
were named Jasmine and Aladdin. These were the meanest animals i had
ever been exposed to. They constantly fought, and when you opened the
cage to separate them, one of them usually latched onto your finger and
drew blood. We couldn't wait for the summer to end so we could return
these animals to the school.

About 10 years later my daughter got involved in ferrets again. It
started out with 2 ferrets that her friend had and could no longer
keep. Eventually she was rescuing ferrets and their numbers approached
close to 10. As long as she took care of them and I didn't need to get
involved it was fine.

One day I was sitting at my computer and one of her ferrets came into
my bedroom and sat looking up at me. I called Val and told her one of
her rats was loose. This soon became a habit with Noodles. She soon
discovered that by climbing up on my bed, hopping onto the nightstand,
jumping onto my desk, it was then easy to hop into my lap. Soon Noodles
discovered it was easier to just lick my ankle and get lifted into my
lap. This ritual was a constant routine now. Noodles would run to me
anytime i was on my computer and lay on my lap. Every once in a while
she would hop down for a few minutes run into the ferrets room and
return a few minutes later. Val made a lap belt with a fuzzy pouch
that Noodles could snuggle into while i sat at the computer.

We noticed that Noodles was losing a lot more hair than usual so
Valerie took her to the vet. We found out that Noodles had an adrenal
problem and needed an operation. By now i was use to seeing Noodles
hairless and i think she enjoyed her Fuzzy pouch all the more because
of the warmth. Noodles pulled through the operation and started getting
some hair back, but it just wasn't to be. She started to have problems
walking with her back legs. We were afraid that maybe her back had been
hurt or broken, so off we go again to the vet. This time the prognosis
was much worse. It seems that Noodles had a cancerous growth on her
spine. The vet said she didn't have long to live as the cancer was very
aggressive.

This didn't stop her desire to be held. One day as i sat on the
computer, she dragged her limp rear legs next to my ankle for the
customary, "I'm here and I want to be held" lick. After that day,
anytime I wanted to use the computer, I made a stop first at Noddles'
cage and put her in her lap pouch. One day at work, I could hardly
understand my daughter on the phone, but i knew what it was about ,
Noodles was no longer with us. I don't know who took it harder, myself
or my daughter, but to this day my eyes get misty just thinking about
this loving animal. Since then we have had a multitude of Carpet
Sharks. Each one is so different a few were lovers, a few were jokers.
Luckily none were like the first ones we were ever exposed to. Even
then, I think if I had the knowledge of ferrets back then that i have
now, I would have been able to help those poor weasels.

Jim Wahoski


Thanks for reading the story, for me being away from home for the next
year and a half (headed to Iraq) this will be printed and kept in my
bullet vest :)

Thanks everyone.

Valerie
Ferrets Rule

[Posted in FML 6842]